The Long Road Back

Part 1

On October 1, 2024, while walking my dog, I was struck by a car. The accident left me with a litany of injuries: I dislocated both thumbs, torn ligaments in my wrists, thumbs, elbows, and shoulders, and, most painfully, hamstrings torn from my hip. On November 11, 2024 I underwent proximal hamstring surgery to repair the damage. I have abdominal surgery and shoulder surgery yet to go later this year.

To be clear, this isn’t a “woe-is-me” tale—I’m acutely aware of how much worse things could have been. I’m grateful for my incredible wife, who has been an unwavering pillar of support, my two loving kids, and of course my dog, who remains my steadfast companion. I’m fortunate to have a warm home for recovery and access to excellent healthcare—luxuries many in this country tragically lack.

Yet recovery has been a challenge. For weeks before and after surgery, sitting was excruciating, and is still uncomfortable to this day. Reading became difficult, with dislocated thumbs writing was impossible, and focusing on anything required herculean effort. In these quiet, painful moments, I found solace in sports and television—thank you, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA, NCAA, the myriad streaming services that allowed me to curate content to my liking, and a special shout out to Rick Beato on YouTube providing great music and interviews. But what I craved most was connection. The healing I needed most was to feel tethered to the world outside my home, to engage with family and friends scattered across the country.

That’s where social media was supposed to step in.

That’s where social media let me down. That’s where social media consistently lets us down.

A Digital Diet of Disappointment

As an active, healthy, and vibrant 64-year-old, I’ve spent my life in motion. A high school and college track athlete and avid cyclist, the week before the accident, I completed my favorite 30-mile bike ride, and I regularly hike, kayak, paddleboard, and hit the gym as often as five days a week.

Hiking in Yellowstone

My immobility was a hard adjustment to say the least. During this period of forced stillness, I turned to social media for a sense of connection and community. What I got was a relentless barrage of misinformation, divisive rhetoric, and mindless content that left me feeling more isolated than connected.

To the architects of the digital world - all social media outlets, and all the other algorithm-driven platforms, where faceless AI dictates what it thinks we want to see, replacing our intellectual curiosity with a distorted digital reality - this is a direct and unfiltered message: You’ve failed us. More personally and specifically, you failed me when I needed you most, when I needed connection, not manipulation.

Let me break down what I see:

• Ads That Don’t Understand Me:
  Instead of thoughtful, relevant content, I was bombarded with ads for things I neither need nor want. Products like Hims, Ro Sparks—I never once clicked on your links and why do you think I need help in that department? Ozempic, really!?, I am still the same weight as I was in high school. I received ads for kitchen gadgets I’ll never use, clothes that don’t fit my lifestyle, and AI cat litter cleaners (I have a dog). It’s as if the algorithms are mocking me, failing to see me as a whole person.

• Content That’s Not Content:
  My feeds were clogged with people I don’t know, don’t care about, and certainly didn’t ask to follow. Worse, every click seems to lead down a rabbit hole of bias. Click on one conservative story? Your entire feed shifts to that side. Click on something left leaning? Prepare for an avalanche of opposing slants. There’s no balance, no middle ground—just extremes designed to provoke, not inform.

• The Bots and the Hacks:
  Bots galore! Apparently, I’m fascinating to a million fake accounts featuring suspiciously attractive young women. And then there are the hacked profiles of friends and family, turned into digital zombies trying to lure me into scams. Social media feels less like a community and more like a battlefield littered with bad actors.

What I believe is a Broken Promise

Having been a small business entrepreneur born and raised in the dark ages before the internet, I experienced firsthand the hurdles and limitations to connectivity during that era. I was excited for the advent of social media and the outreach and true connections it promised to provide. I have been active on social media since day one and loved being able to connect with friends and relatives around the world.

Social media once promised connection, empowerment, and community. Originally it offered us the ability to share our lives, celebrate our milestones, and comfort one another in times of hardship. Instead, it has devolved into a cacophony of ads, misinformation, and meaningless noise.

Dear Social Media platforms and company, why have you chosen this path? You hold the power to foster understanding, spread knowledge, and strengthen relationships across the globe. Instead, you’ve created a system designed to profit from outrage and confusion.

You’ve alienated users like me—people who genuinely want to use your platforms to connect, not just consume.

The Call to Do Better

This isn’t a rant; it’s a plea. Social media could be so much more. Imagine a platform that prioritizes truth over clickbait, authentic relationships over bot interactions, and meaningful engagement over meaningless distractions. You have the tools, the resources, and the global reach to make this a reality.

Until then, I’m left wondering: Why have you chosen this path?

I could be wrong, but one would think you are smart enough and certainly resourceful enough to balance both profits and the people using your platforms.

To all the platforms out there: you can do better. You MUST do better. WE DESERVE BETTER.

Sincerely,
A frustrated user who just wants to connect.

In the coming weeks, please look forward to my continuing this limited new series in Bartender in The Kitchen titled “The Long Road Back”, where I will continue to outline my journey back to health from my 10/1/24 accident and subsequent surgeries. I will offer my insights into the fantastic doctors, physical therapies and health care I have received and some respectful criticisms of others in the medical field. Of course, I will provide recipes for the healing juices, smoothies and healthy recipes I created to help me on my journey, discuss my PT and rigid regimen of rehab and subsequent re-training, and thank my incredible support system of family and friends. My current goal is to get back on the bike by August and at least do an easy 10-15 mile ride.

Please help me on this journey and give me feedback along the way.

Thank you

Nick

One of my favorite rides along the shores of Lake Washington…I’ll be back!