The modern world is great. We live in a time that is the safest in known history. The healthcare available is phenomenal, and there is a plethora of technology available cheaply to make our lives easier. Yet, in many respects, I sometimes think that it’s almost too easy.

I am not saying I want to go back to times where I had to worry about ever returning from a walk in the countryside. However, there is something about the way that technology, and even at times the world, allows us to do things, or get away with not doing things. I could, if I chose to do so, stay here, sitting on my couch for days on end and barely move.

I can have food delivered, be entertained by watching pixels move around on the screen, and even pretend I’m socialising by texting some friends. With the internet at my fingertips, I could do any number of things, strap a screen to my face, and even convince myself I am outside, whenever I choose. I can exist here in a bubble, yet barely exist at all.

What do I have to complain about, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? - Marcus Aurelius

I don’t, of course, because that’s not in my nature to do so. Some people would say I barely sit still, but my predilection for action doesn’t allow me to stay in my bubble for very long. That doesn’t mean I don’t succumb to the temptations of easiness. It’s easy to waste time scrolling through social media, easy to look up things instead of working them out, and far too easy to comment on other people’s experiences.

I have lost count of the times I have stopped short of replying to someone on social media. Or perhaps deleted the post a few moments after hitting send, because it’s just too easy to get involved. To know things about people living thousands of miles away, to take in the information they are sharing, and to make your own thoughts known. That’s the great thing about social media, the ability to share and debate, but I am of the opinion that it’s too easy to reply.

In the excellent book Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari talks about gossip and storytelling being important for our human development. That might be the case, that my sassy replies are somehow a result of our human nature to survive - but they don’t do me nor others any good. It’s too easy for me to throw in my two cents and upset everyone, including myself. There is no friction between seeing a post and hitting reply, when some barriers would do us all good.