It is in our self-interest as individuals and as people in a community to review our reading skills. At age 70 I find it necessary to engage with social media if only to survive by learning new coping skills.

It is not only the new vocabulary. I have to familiarize myself with more often than not with the nuances of the ideas. Notwithstanding my many years of analyzing print media and teaching literary appreciation I know I have yet to learn so much.

Take for example one Facebook post about a shampoo.

Many people use shampoo in the shower. However, when doing so the shampoo runs down

the body. Printed clearly on the shampoo label

“For extra body and volume”

No wonder people gain weight

I must confess, that for just a second I was fooled. I had gotten used to reading posts about important alerts about dangerous taxi drivers, the dangers of drinking thawed cold mineral water from the plastic bottles, immigration officers tearing pages from passports etc I intently paid attention to that shampoo post.

The lesson for me is to follow a standard Buddhist warning not to believe everything that one is told but to test things for one’s self.