In the past month or two, I have read many social media posts about how tired people are of hearing about President Trump. Although the people posting these sentiments are probably hearing about Trump from nearly every news source they consume, the complaints are usually aimed at social media. In essence, what these people are saying is that they are tired of others filling their Twitter timeline, Facebook news feed, and so on with links to news stories about Trump, opinion pieces about Trump, Trump-related memes, and so on. I can relate. In fact, this has been one of the many reasons I've reduced the already limited time I spend on Facebook (although I have been spending more time on Minds).As someone who writes a blog in which I have been guilty of writing posts about President Trump (and I am liable to do so again), I feel that I should share a brief observation about the Trump fatigue. From what I can tell, content dealing with President Trump is still quite popular. I see evidence of this not only in which of my posts are read, shared, and commented on but more broadly across the various social media platforms on which I am active. People complain about all the Trump stuff, but they seem more inclined to interact with it than most other types of content. I suspect this might have something to do with why we see so much of it.
When I make an effort to write less about Trump because I'd like to read less about Trump, think less about Trump, etc., I recognize that I'm doing myself no favors in terms of blog traffic or the degree to which others will interact with my posts or social media activity. If I could stomach it, devoting far more of my time to sharing absurd anti-Trump memes would bring me a considerable boost in traffic and interaction. But I can't stomach it, at least not right now.
You know what this reminds me of? Reality TV. Everybody loves to complain about how awful it is, but somebody must be watching it for us to have as much of it as we do. This makes me suspect that a substantial number of those complaining about it are probably watching it. And yes, I have noticed that at least some of the same people I see complaining about all the Trump-related content on social media are...you guessed it...creating and sharing Trump-related content themselves.
I am sure I will write about Trump again. He'll do or say something that gets my attention, and I won't be able to resist adding to the constant barrage of Trump-related content about which so many of us are complaining. But at least for now, I find that my interest is declining. Perhaps I'm just another victim of outrage fatigue.
