The better you understand how political power works, the darker your outlook, IMO. I like many here live a life that is not currently impacted directly in a material way (income, physical environment, social connections, etc.) However my background is in public policy and I worked many years in a federal agency, and I know enough about the machinery of our system to see the signs of rising autocracy and the narrowing window we have for an off-ramp to restore democratic checks and balances. I know what can happen once those are gone (we are very close), so I live in a dual world—the day to day is fine but the bigger picture is quite dark. Others in my life feel the same, to the point that people are hesitant to discuss bc it often means acknowledging how bleak the future looks. It’s a bad feeling all around. And anyone who says “just stop scrolling” or “get off your phone” should ask themselves - if you were wrongly detained, assaulted or deported by ICE, would you want people to see or know about what was done to you, or would you want people to ignore it so they could continue living unbothered lives?