New ideas get stuck in loops in my brain. I learn about a cool science story and want to overshare at dinner parties. Alas, the same happens with the daily political news.
My job as a writer in these challenging times is to synthesize, to respond. But I get dragged down by Donald Trump’s rants and tweets, by the scheming and lying described in the Mueller report. All that distress and dismay, day after day, brings me to a state of stupefaction.
Writer Hampton Sides has discovered the mood-altering brain chemical responsible for my incapacitation. It’s “re-activated each time we turn on the news or consult our iPhones.