Thank you for this wise and necessary piece, Mirah. Can I file a dev ticket with the many Medium readers who work in tech, and may be able to offer some practical support for the crucial practice you recommend above?

Here it is: Can someone build a browser extension (or better yet, a mobile client for Facebook) that systematically excludes all content related to Trump? I know there are options to replace his face with kittens or insert ridiculous quotes into his full name, but that doesn’t solve the problem of excessive Trump exposure.

I’m not suggesting that we should bury our heads in the sand, but for the reasons Mirah outlined, I think this could be a crucial way of preserving progressive energy and preventing acclimatization. As somebody who checks Facebook an incriminating number of times each day, I have a feeling I will be much more useful to the world if I can do at least some of those check-ins on a sanitized, Trump-free FB. I know that I need to limit my daily dose of Trump as recommended here, but at the same time, I really do depend on Facebook as a way to feel connected to my friends, especially during tough times….and as you may have noticed, Facebook is pretty full of Trump-related agony and content right now (some of that from me!)

I know at least some people will encourage me to just look at Facebook less, so rather than making the case for why Facebook is a legitimate source of social connection and support, let me just say that an awful lot of my Facebook time consists of connecting with my fellow special needs moms so I don’t lose my tiny mind.

Anyone want to help? I know there are significant limitations in what FB allows people to build in terms of client apps (I’m not exactly a stranger to the FB API, sadly) but I am guessing at least the browser extension option should be viable.