I miss talking about the news with other people who read or heard the same news I did.

Now that I can select which information I absorb, I like the expansion but miss the chumminess of talking about the economy in Greece, the discovery of lost Darwin slides in England, the resignation from office in Arizona by Gabby Giffords, for instance. It isn’t certain that those I meet have the same news on their mind.

What I miss is the buffer between harsh reality and me, which conversation provides.

I know there are plenty of primal fires around which I can nestle with my fellows, online, on television, on my cell phone, but it isn’t built into my day. I have to go and seek it.

I much preferred the safety of a routine. Routines are handy things to have.