The Story I’m Writing Without a Keyboard

The Story I’m Writing Without a Keyboard
By: Chloe Papadakis
From the fictional town of Cedar Valley, where characters from Quiet Echo continue to respond to real-world events.

A one-week break from social media reduced depression symptoms by nearly 25 percent and anxiety by 16 percent, according to a Harvard study published this month—and I’m sitting here wondering why I needed researchers to tell me what my grandmother knew all along.

I borrowed Teresa’s copy of The Power of Authors after reading her editorial yesterday about Ahmed al-Ahmed, the Syrian fruit seller who tackled a terrorist at Bondi Beach and took multiple bullets saving Jewish families at a Hanukkah celebration. Teresa wrote that he authored his story without words—that he wrote it with his body, his choices, his willingness to act. I couldn’t stop thinking about that. About what it means to be an author. About the story I’m writing with my own life.

I’ve been troubled for months by the online contention. Every platform feels like a war zone. People who probably agree on most things find reasons to tear each other apart. And I’ve wanted to do something about it—to speak up, to push back against the ugliness, to add my voice to the fight for decency. But every time I tried, I came away feeling worse. More anxious. More discouraged. More convinced that the problem was bigger than any comment I could post.

Then I read what Jonathan Haidt told the World Economic Forum earlier this year: “Almost every great truth that we get from the ancients about how to live a better life, to become a better person—’judge not lest ye be judged’; ‘be slow to anger, be quick to forgive’—the online life, the social media life, the phone-based life, tells us to do the opposite.”

He’s right. The ancient wisdom tells us to be slow to anger. Social media rewards the fastest, angriest take. Scripture tells us to be quick to forgive. The algorithms promote the grievance that never lets go. We’re told to judge not—and we spend hours judging strangers we’ve never met based on thirty-second clips stripped of context.

I thought involvement meant engagement. I thought caring meant commenting. I thought making a difference meant adding my voice to the noise.

But Ahmed al-Ahmed didn’t post about standing against hate. He stood. He ran toward danger while everyone else ran away. He wrote a story so powerful that $2.5 million in donations poured in from strangers, and when asked if he deserved it, he said, “Be together, all human beings.”

The Power of Authors talks about how every person writes a story through their choices, their actions, the legacy they leave behind. You don’t need a publisher. You don’t need a platform. You don’t need followers or likes or shares. You need only to live in such a way that your life becomes a narrative worth reading.

Elena is four years old. She watches everything I do. When I reach for my phone at dinner, she sees it. When I scroll instead of listening, she notices. When I get agitated after reading something online, she feels it in the house. I’ve been so worried about the world she’ll inherit that I forgot I’m building that world right now, in our kitchen, in our bedtime prayers, in the thousand small moments that make up a childhood.

The Harvard researchers found that people who stepped away from social media didn’t reduce their overall screen time—they just redirected it. They replaced scrolling with something else. The question isn’t whether we’ll fill the hours. The question is what we’ll fill them with.

Haidt suggests a “digital Sabbath”—one day a week completely unplugged. He says it’s easier with community, with friends who commit to doing it together. That sounds like something Cedar Valley would understand. A day to be present. A day to listen without distraction. A day to write our stories with our hands and our voices and our attention instead of our keyboards.

I’m not leaving social media entirely. I’m not asking anyone else to. But I’m done believing that engagement equals involvement. I’m done thinking that my angry reply to someone’s angry post is the same thing as building something good.

The story I want to write is smaller than a viral moment and longer than a news cycle. It’s the story of a mother who was present. A neighbor who showed up. A woman who chose peace in her own home before demanding it from the world.

Ahmed al-Ahmed said his target was just to take the gun—to stop a man from killing innocent people. He didn’t think about being a hero. He thought about what was in front of him, what he could do, what the moment demanded.

Maybe that’s the story we’re all being asked to write. Not the grand gesture that trends for a day, but the quiet faithfulness that shapes a lifetime. The dinner without phones. The conversation we actually finish. The child who grows up knowing what it feels like to have a parent’s undivided attention.

The book asks: What kind of author will you be?

I’m still figuring out my answer. But I know this much: I won’t find it in the comments section.

This editorial is part of the fictional Cedar Valley News series. While the people and town are fictional, the national events they reflect on are real.

Want to know the full story behind Cedar Valley? Teresa, Caleb, Dan, and the community you’ve come to know in these editorials first came together in Quiet Echo: When Loud Voices Divide, Quiet Ones Bring Together. Discover how a small town found its way from fear to fellowship—one quiet act of courage at a time. Available on Amazon: https://bit.ly/3ME4nSs

It’s free, live, and fresh! Quiet Echo—A Cedar Valley News Podcast is live on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/4nV8XsE, Spotify: https://bit.ly/4hdNHfX, YouTube: https://bit.ly/48Zfu1g , and Podcastle: https://bit.ly/4pYRstE. Every day, you can hear Cedar Valley’s editorials read aloud by the voices you’ve come to know—warm, steady, and rooted in the values we share. Step into the rhythm of our town, one short reflection at a time. Wherever you listen, you’ll feel right at home. Presented by the Publication Consultants:  https://publicationconsultants.com/

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