Another troubling characteristic of our modern age is that it’s awash in “stories.”  This is profoundly different from the conditions in which we humans have spent the bulk of our existence—where, apart from campfire tales, made up on the spot and quickly forgotten, people were exposed to only a handful of compelling narratives, which were often mythic accounts of their tribal origins.  In an environment like this, there wasn’t much need for us to develop effective ways of handling stories.

Not so today.  Whether in the form of TV or web sites, movies or books or blogs or podcasts, there’s always a glut of narratives we can choose from.  If we don’t like one (possibly because we find it too depressing, or maybe it’s just boring), all we have to do is change the channel or click someplace else to replace it with another tale better suited to our mood at the moment.

We’ve become so accustomed to this behavior that, with barely a thought, we’ve carried it over to forms of stories that are meant to convey actual facts about the real world.  If a news story or magazine article doesn’t please us, we tend to treat it exactly the same as any shoot-em-up or romance:  simply pressing the remote or tapping the device to move on to something more in line with what we’d prefer to be told (which is typically something we already believe).

These habits can put us so badly out of touch with what’s actually going on in the world that we might as well be driving down the highway wearing virtual-reality headsets.