Bill Maher brilliantly termed TOD as a new mental disorder: Terminally Online Disorder. Do you suffer from an diagnosed/undiagnosed version of addiction to being online?

• The average American spends roughly 2.5 to 3.5 hours daily doomscrolling.
• Over 76% of Americans watch less than 1 hour of CNN, FOX News and MSNBC, combined, per month.
• While over half of TikTok users have posted once, the top 25% of users produce 98% of all public content.
• 73% of U.S. Instagram users aged 18 -29 check it daily. 59% of Instagram users visit the platform daily.
• Instagram is used by 50% of Americans but it is the second most-used social media site among U.S. adults, behind only YouTube.
• Streaming, which includes watching TV channels online, has become the dominant form of viewership, accounting for 44.8% of all TV viewing time in the U.S. as of mid-2025. About 83% of American adults use streaming services, with smartphones serving as a top viewing device for many, while 6% of households watch exclusively on mobile.
• Some studies suggest up to 36.4 days are lost to scrolling annually.
• 64% of Americans identify as doomscrollers, rising to 81% for Gen Z.
• 26% of adults prioritize this screen time over sleep, while many engage in it upon waking or before bed.
• The average American scrolls the equivalent of 85 miles on their screen annually. 
• The paid commenters on social media distort everything to drive narratives or skew them. Many are not based in the US which is cheaper.

I've analyzed what content is being "sent" my way. I tested this by liking stuff I didn't really like, only to be followed by more of it. Lots of it is old, not newsworthy at all. We are being manipulated on a level that is pretty astounding and paying for it. Dearly. Not just in our mental and physical health, but also in our pockets.

In the world of real estate, being online is almost non-negotiable. The ONLY upside I can find is that sometimes you can read sentiment, and being a true professional with substantive knowledge allows you to be the editor of facts versus fiction for your clientele. Accurate, ethical editors are becoming increasingly more valuable in a society flooded with falsehoods. Being specialized in this field, I'm now 100% convinced the loudest, most scandalous voices (not the most accurate ones) are promoted, pushed, and rewarded. Yes, financially too. The more outrageous the better.

You and I have a choice: reward this with clicks and likes or ignore it/omit it. I know what I will be doing from here on out.