Rabbit Holes
I’d probably heard this at some point in my life, but the origin story of “going down the rabbit hole” came back to me recently.
It came back to me because I looked it up. After I went down a rabbit hole.
The phrase originated with Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She chased the White Rabbit down into his home and, lo and behold, discovered a very magical place. But in the 160 years since Carroll’s book was published, going down the rabbit hole has broadened in definition to include heading into dangerous places.
I was on Facebook one night and a friend of mine had written a post castigating our president over the Epstein issue. Someone replied to her in a nasty way, and I jumped in to defend my friend with a sarcastic response about our president (not to the responder). After which the responder replied to me in a nasty way. My mistake? Telling the responder in one short final sentence to enjoy gargling her Kool-Aid.
Which led the responder to threaten to “expose me” to my bosses as someone nefarious, including an image of our exchange.
In an ideal world, expressing my First Amendment right on my friend’s private Facebook page (same thing the responder had done) should not constitute going down the rabbit hole. But in our fragile world these days, posting on political issues can incite people to “gotcha”-level revenge. Even if they don’t “gotcha.”
I suppose as a clinical mental health counselor I should be taking the experience I often share with my clients of avoiding “enmeshment” with others in social media. But my sense of social justice when a friend is “dissed” runs strong. And I could not stop myself that night, perhaps driven by the latest political tussle to hit the airwaves.
So henceforth, I will put to mind tips out there to modify the possibility of getting sucked down that rabbit hole.
You don’t have to doom scroll. But if you feel compelled, limit the amount of time you do it daily.
When commenting on social media about political news, consider whether what you offer is necessary, whether it makes a new point and whether it is stated in a reasonable tone of voice.
Don’t go back and forth with someone you don’t know.
To me, the most significant tip is finding an organization to volunteer with or support financially that backs causes you believe in or assists those you know are under attack.
That’s a form of empowerment that can pull you—and those truly in need—out of the rabbit hole.