Is Summer coming?

Andy Murray just won his semi-final at Wimbledon, so it must be summer. The weather doesn’t appear to have caught on.

Ah well. Maybe the sun is on its way.

Terrible events unfolded in the US – lots of shooting. Horrible.

The UK remains devastated by Brexit. Those who wanted to Remain – continue to voice their fears and concerns, as is their right.

An unfortunate side-effect of this is what the markets call sentiment. A large portion of the population and a majority of the media are constantly warning everyone how the Leave vote will lead to a huge financial downturn. Sentiment is, well, negative. The markets therefore are, well, negative. The doom and gloom becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There are many brighter people than I talking about each individual element and what it means – but frankly, I’m bored of it. I urge any and all thinking people to be measured and sensible – and question every ‘fact’ you hear.

I was in Dublin for a weekend with friends. As a consequence, I switched back to my iPhone, to give me internet access while away. This was a change from my ‘logged off’ state that I wrote about here.

I was soon checking my e-mail every hour, posting photos onto social media and was never more than six inches from the phone. Upon my return, I found myself in the midst of many social media debates on Brexit.

I found myself feeling anxious – not specific, just a general malaise. It took me longer to go to sleep at night. I didn’t sleep too well. My productivity plummeted.

Yesterday, I moved my sim back to the Punkt ‘dumb’ phone. I’m now ‘in withdrawal’ – wanting to check my phone all the time, but not being able to: However, I’m already more relaxed and productive and I know that I will reap increasing benefits over the next couple of weeks. I even managed to get some writing done today.

This technology stuff; be careful folks. It’s as addictive as heroin.

One thing that I won’t miss from social media is the vitriol. I have had friends message me that they voted ‘Leave’ but are frightened to admit it on social media because of the trolling. I have tried to be sensible and reasonable in all of my posts – sometimes in the face of very strident, righteous proclamations.

I have also learned that I am a ‘xenophobic cockwomble’.

So there.