60 Plus Omaha - November/December 2020

60 OMAHA s u l p

Nov./Dec. 2020

Peter Bolay

60+ ACTIVE LIVING

To the End of the World and Back: Peter Bolay’s Arctic Adventure

STORY BY SEAN ROBINSON // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

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R. OLIVER IS on high alert. The Welsh terrier has spotted something a smidge bigger than his 35-pound frame. Outside his tent is an American black bear, massive in size and, likely, in appetite.

Gulp. Tail flat to butt.

There’s not much stopping the bear from turning Mr. Oliver into a late-night snack. It’s just the dog and his owner, Peter Bolay, camping alone amid hundreds of miles of tundra. Technically, this duo are guests in the bear’s home. On hind legs and silent as a petrified pooch can be, Mr. Oliver’s strange behavior catches Bolay off guard. Then, the man also realizes they have a visitor to their campsite.

So, he follows his dog’s lead and keeps quiet until the bear continues his stroll to some other twilight-lit stretch of the vast nothingness.

Exhale.

Bolay and his four-legged traveling companion can now catch some zzz’s in peace. After all, they have another big day tomorrow. They’re in the midst of a 7,000-mile journey up to the tippy-top of North America. Adventure—and the Arctic Ocean—await.

“Is it courage that keeps me going? No, it’s not that,” said Bolay, a 73-year-old retired investment adviser who is proud to call Omaha home when he’s not coming face-to-face with some of nature’s wildest. “The world is out there. I think you’ve got to go out every day and embrace life.” ►

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60 PLUS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

// 60+ ACTIVE LIVING // uring summer 2019, embracing life for Bolay looked a lot like an episode of Discovery Channel’s Expedition Unknown.

Instead of lounging beachside, going the all-inclusive route, or becoming a cruise vacationer, Bolay’s summer trip was a 7,000-mile trek spanning from Anacortes, Washington, to Tuktoyaktuk, a hamlet that borders the Arctic Ocean in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

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As if all that didn’t sound daring enough, this was a completely self-reliant, 100% vehicle-dependent type of odyssey called overlanding—a hybrid of camping and offroading. It was Bolay, a tricked-out Land Rover that included a tent mounted to an attached trailer, and thousands upon thousands of miles ahead of him. Of course, Mr. Oliver kept him company through the entire two-month ride.

“He’s a good guy, Mr. Oliver. He did a lot of traveling in his life,” Bolay said of his nowlate dog.

Overlanding isn’t as easy as booking flights and packing bags.

Bolay owned the Land Rover for 15 years, but it took six months of planning to fully prepare before his journey north began. First came hours of online research, followed by a bit of elbow grease to transform his trunk into a mobile galley kitchen.

Bolay constructed wood drawers for storage, had a propane stove and refrigerator installed, bought tires tough enough to stand the wear and tear of gravel arctic roads, and even took a pre-trip to California in May to mount a roof rack for extra storage. Also placed atop his vehicle were lights to pierce desolate darkness at night and a solar-heated road shower.

This is a tank of water and an accompanying jet nozzle to provide the convenience of pressurized water, even when in the middle of nowhere.

After California, Bolay continued his prep in Oregon, where he got his clamshell-shaped tent, and then motored on to the ninth annual Northwest Overland Rally in Plain, Washington. This annual four-day event is part expo and part roughin’ it 101, with expert-ran courses to help guide travelers like Bolay.

“Peter is one of those guys who sets a goal and does it,” said Jim Holley, a longtime friend and former travel buddy. “There were definitely more logistics to this trip and a little more danger. However, it doesn’t surprise me he would do it. Really, I was in awe of him.”

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60 PLUS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

The journey from Anacortes, Washington, officially began—much of it proving to be slow-moving and teeth-rattling—on July 7.

Beyond Dawson City, Yukon, Bolay drove the mountainous Dempster Highway onward.

While there was remote beauty, wide-open spaces, and incredible scenery abound, the rough state of the roads meant he could only drive 10 miles per hour at times for an average of 230 miles per day.

After this path, he took the InuvikTuktoyaktuk Highway in Canada’s Northwest Territories, a road made famous for its treacherous turns featured on History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers.

“The last part of the Arctic, I got stuck,” Bolay said. “It’s this large marshland, so I pulled off to take a couple pictures. Apparently, my right side was too pulled off. People in a nearby town had to get me out.”

It’s these people—those who call one of the most isolated regions on Earth home—that made the trip all the more memorable. Bolay met an indigenous man who could fillet a fish faster than he’s ever seen, shared drinks in small town bars with others from as far as Germany, and loaded up a young longdistance biker with water when he saw the traveler only had two water bottles.

“Part of what drives me to travel is the beauty of the world we live in, but it’s also about the wonderful people who make it up,” Bolay said.

“I like meeting new people while discovering new places.”

Of course, for most of the trip, it was just Bolay and Mr. Oliver.

Those days consisted of nine hours of driving, with energy bars and cups of instant coffee to keep him going. As evening crawled over the horizon, the man and his dog would pull off the road to camp for the night. A small fire was lit, the durable tent folded down from the trailer, and the two rested before doing it all again in the morning.

Things were far from mundane, though. The natural sights along the way kept it all exciting.

“I saw glaciers. Just gigantic glaciers.

Mountains split two ways. Waterfalls. Bald eagles as prevalent as robins. Bison in big herds,” Bolay said. “There were many times I’d come around a pass and it was nothing but oohs and aahs.”

As for the Arctic Ocean itself, the water wasn’t too different from something he could see right here in the Metro.

“It looked like the Missouri River. Kind of like chocolate milk, but more greyish, blackish.”

Bolay finally made it home in mid-September, motoring a total of 11,000 miles when including travel for preparation. That’s the equivalent of driving across the continental U.S. four times over.

However, what’s exhausting for most is old hat for Bolay. Adventure and him are old friends, going back to his childhood when his family would pack into the station wagon to go fly fishing or make short trips around Pennsylvania.

Since then, he’s lived in Italy, roamed through much of Europe, sailed extensively across the Caribbean, fallen in love with the lush greenness of New Zealand, and motorcycled to Nova Scotia. There seems to be hardly a corner of the globe he hasn’t covered.

“Traveling is in my blood,” Boulay said.

As evidenced by all the wheres and whats he has experienced, Bolay is very much a variety-is-the-spice-of-life type person. That spontaneity is also shown in his wide array of hobbies.

When he’s not smoking cigars with his pals at the Old Market’s Havana Garage, he’s woodworking, creating everything from bowls to chairs to 15-foot boats. If he’s not doing that, he might be sailing up the coast to Alaska on the Dobro. Translated to “good” in Croatian, Dobro is the name of the trawler boat he docks in the northwest of Washington state.

Somehow, between it all, he still works part time as a managing partner for NAVIQ Wealth Management. Following a career of managing equity portfolios, he retired as first vice president of investments from Wells Fargo Advisors in 2018, but keeps his passion for all things financial alive. “‘You’re never too old to set a new goal or start a new dream.’ I live by that C.S. Lewis quote,” Bolay said. “I think life is full of lessons, and I want to learn as many as possible.”

Lessons that come in the form of tundra stretching and sprawling beyond the Arctic Circle. A 35-pound Welsh terrier turned expert traveler. Even curious black bears who disappear as quick as they arrived.

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W 60+ PROFILE // STORY BY LEO ADAM BIGA PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONTRIBUTED // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

ith his

continental charm and killer cooking skills, Erwin Siegler gained entry to the international culinary scene and its disparate cultures and cuisines. The journey of this former Omaha chef began in his native Germany, where he earned his chops in the lean post-World War II period.

He was recruited to America in the early1960s by the Radisson hotel family. He started his own catering company in 1976 and he gained U.S. citizenship in 1980.

His business enjoyed a three-decade run.

Siegler became a fixture on the local food scene. He was president of the Omaha Restaurant Association, a charter member of the Omaha International Wine and Food Society, and a cooking instructor at Boys Town and Metropolitan Community College. In 2000, he was elected to the Omaha Hospitality Hall of Fame.

Retired Omaha physician Michael Dunn knew him from IWFS. “He put on many five-course meals, both for the society and individual members, and they were always outstanding,” Dunn said. “He’s a very creative, personable guy. Very knowledgeable about matching food and wine. He exposed to me things I never had before.”

Another friend, Phillips Manufacturing CEO George Kubak, recalled sumptuous feasts Siegler prepared for the plant’s employees. “He made the best Thanksgiving meal you’ve ever had,” Kubak said. If lucky enough to get invited to Siegler’s home, as Kubak was, it meant eating “out of this world schnitzel and spaetzle.” Life in the food industry can be difficult, but he found his lane in the field.

“I never complained,” Siegler said. "I had it good all the way.”

l l A r o f A Ma n n i n g s Se aso Erwin Siegler Worked With Dignity for Dignitaries

His passion and ambition took him far from his rural origins in the small Bavarian town of Lohr am Main. He was the seventh of 10 siblings in a Catholic family. His father was a farmer and contractor. Their hometown went largely untouched by the war. Per European custom, Siegler faced a choice upon finishing high school of continuing his schooling or entering a trade. He opted for the culinary field because an older cousin he admired was a cook.

He landed a break when the Bavarian governor, a chef by training, took an interest in him. The governor owned a business making specialty food items (goose liver pates, oxtail soup) for hotels and he got Siegler on as an apprentice under its master chef.

He succeeded on the food side, but it wasn’t enough to save the hotel. Seeing the writing on the wall, he followed its former manager to the Ramada Inn, where he routinely achieved the lowest food costs across the company’s national chain.

The chef soon felt established enough to start his own business, Siegler’s Catering.

He didn’t want for clients. “I had so many people calling me.” He catered major events for Creighton Prep and Duchesne Academy. “You make your money from the big parties.”

He ran the food operation in the Mutual of Omaha Dome cafe.

Siegler credited the governor for the chance to learn his vocation. “He just loved the way I was interested in it,” Siegler said. “He called me ‘my son.’ He helped me all the way.”

Upon graduating with special honors, the apt pupil got placed at a first-class hotel in Interlaken, Switzerland, courtesy of his mentor. Siegler said, “Going there was the best choice I made in my life.”

Another mentor advised he learn English.

He did, and it led to a gig in northern England, where he learned under an Italian chef. A new opportunity brought him back to Switzerland, this time to the Kulm Hotel at St. Moritz. Between resort seasons, he worked on the Rotterdam and New Amsterdam Holland American cruise lines to New York, the Caribbean, and Cuba.

Wherever he went, his personality paved the way. “I am an easy guy to befriend,” Siegler said. “I make friends right away.”

Being a people person, he said, “Is how I got through life.”

He was driven enough to earn certifications in all the stations—from sauces to soups—at the Kulm, whose head chef recommended Siegler to the Onassis family.

They owned a hotel chain in Greece, and Siegler helped open two new properties.

At the first, on the island of Corfu, he improvised with fresh, local ingredients (lamb, lobsters, figs, and fennel) when its power failed.

Then America came calling. Radisson wanted him so badly the hotelier arranged with the Swiss consul in Zurich for the Sieglers to receive expedited visas.

He'd worked three years in Minneapolis when the company acquired the Blackstone in Omaha, and Siegler was dispatched to turn around its food operations.

“It was a challenge and I like challenges,” Siegler said. “I especially like it when you see an improvement. It makes you feel good.”

“I am an easy guy to befriend.I make friends right away.

Being a people person, is how I got through life.”

“Then I got all the politicians,” said Siegler. “The first was President [Gerald] Ford. The Republicans hired me to do the party. Then came George Bush I. A big GOP donor hosted it. Then came Bill Clinton and after him, Hillary. Both Clinton parties were at the home of a big Democratic Party donor.”

Siegler led culinary-spiced tours of Europe for Omaha business execs with gourmand tastes.

Back home, churning out volumes of meals got to be too much.

“It was hard, hard, hard work. I had 16-17-18 hour days. I had some help, but the cooking I did more or less all myself.”

He never intended making America his permanent home, but it’s where he made his greatest mark pleasing people.

“We [he and wife Edith] wanted to go back home after five years and we did go home,” he said, “but nothing was right for me after being away. I wasn’t satisfied enough. I’m glad we came back to the states. The opportunity was here and I could make my own business.”

He firmly believes the American dream is intact.

“If you want to work here, you still can make money, and I was a hard worker,” Siegler said. “My wife always said, ‘We won’t get rich, but we’ll have a good living.’ That’s what we did.”

Editor’s note: Siegler died on Sept.

11, 2020, following a brief battle with cancer.

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60+ NOSTALGIA // STORY BY ANTHONY FLOTT // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

Is it any wonder we don’t celebrate Christmas like we did in the 1950s and 1960s given the deadly ways we once decked the halls?

Actually, some people still do, dusting off Christmas kitsch carefully preserved for decades. Roberta Mullen of Papillion is one of those people. Every December, Mullen assembles her 6-foot-tall aluminum tree with foil needles that is illuminated by a translucent wheel that turns the tree blue, red, green, and yellow according to the color passing in front of the bulb.

“This was the tree we had growing up in the ’60s,” said Mullen, who inherited it from her parents.

Those who didn’t get such mid-20th century classics passed down to them have sparked a nostalgic online demand for the originals or replicas.

“It’s a big part of the tradition that people celebrated as families,” said Jeff Jorgensen, longtime owner of Tannenbaum Christmas Shop in the Old Market. “‘Grandma had this; I remember seeing that.’”

What many might not know is why some of the 1950s/1960s Christmas bling went bye-bye. Part of the reason was changing styles—the space-age fascination for shiny and metallic things fell out of favor.

Accidental death and dismemberment had something to do with it, too.

Mullen’s aluminum tree, for instance, was potentially lethal.

“You could not put electric lights on them,” she said, “or you could get a powerful shock.”

Other Christmas decorations also came with hazards, but darn it if they didn’t look good.

That said, Omaha Magazine is going on a Yuletide stroll through these throwback Christmas decorations that will have readers dreaming of a winter wonderland.

Aluminum Trees This was a craze sparked in the 1950s by several manufacturers, including the Aluminum Specialty Co. Its Evergleam tree, introduced at the 1959 American Toy Fair, was an instant smash. Trunk and branches were made of aluminum, the needles of foil. A rotating color wheel bathed it in slowly changing hues. The tree could be put on a rotating stand, too. One problem, though—aluminum is a conductor of electricity, so if a faulty wire was added, it might provide a shock or start a fire. That prompted the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a warning about them. Still, that’s not what crushed the craze. Turns out that all the bashing the Peanuts gang did on such kitsch as holiday commercialization struck a chord with the public watching the 1965 classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. That, along with new trees made from plastic, contributed to plummeting sales. American Specialty produced nearly a million aluminum trees, but discontinued their production in 1970.

Flocked Trees Flocking—putting fake snow on a tree or other decoration—has been around since the 1920s but became popular in the 1960s. It, too, came with danger.

Craftmaster sold a Sno-Flok kit that gave trees “the soft, snowy beauty of outdoors” while “helping prevent needle fall.” And it was fire-retardant. The kit came with a spray gun attachment for the vacuum cleaner to blow the fluff and one pound of “Sno-Flok” in white or decorator colors. One pound of asbestos, that is.

Use of the cancer-causing silicate led to flocking falling from favor.

Tinsel Another great idea was decorating the tree with poison…er, tinsel. Tinsel was initially made with silver, then lead, which is cheaper and doesn’t tarnish. In the 1950s and 1960s, seemingly everyone was globbing it onto trees. The problem was that lead tinsel is hazardous, as a 1971 FDA report noted. Today, the stringy stuff is made from PVC — but hanging remains a chore. “People nowadays are not nearly patient enough to put tinsel on their tree the way we did,” Jorgensen said. “There were only two and then three stations to watch [on TV] then. You could put all the tinsel on the tree.”

Accidental death and dismemberment had something to do with it, too. Mullen’s aluminum tree, for instance, was potentially lethal.

Shiny Brite Ornaments Never heard of them? These iconic decorations were popularized in the 1950s by Max Eckhardt's Shiny Brite company. The colorful glass ornaments came in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, or decorated with snowy scenes of sleigh rides, carolers, and other Christmasy depictions. And they can still be had today. The Shiny Brite brand revived and is sold online and in stores such as Menards.

Train around the Tree So what in the N-O-E-L did trains chugging around a conifer have to do with Christmas? Mostly marketing.

Manufacturer Lionel popularized the tradition in the early 1900s and, like many of these traditions, the practice reached its peak in the ’50s and ’60s. With the rise of cars and planes, it’s one tradition that went off track.

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer Montgomery Ward introduced him in a 1939 booklet, Gene Autry sang of him in 1949, then he got a stop-action special in 1964. Almost from the start, Rudolph was a hit decoration, coming in various shapes, sizes, and colors, but with one commonality—that red honker.

Village People It takes a village to celebrate Christmas.

Not long after World War II, Christmas villages comprised of tiny houses, churches, and other buildings became a thing. These were first mass-produced

by Japanese companies from cardboard or paper. In the 1970s, they were made of ceramic or porcelain. No matter what they’re made of, they seem to multiply like Gremlins. Jorgensen said, “We’ll hear stories, ‘My mantle is full, my dining room table is full, my closet is full, my basement is full, my garage is full … but the kids don’t want them.’”

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 • 60 PLUS

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Facebook is for Seniors Finding Connection & Fun on Social Media

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// 60+ FEATURE // STORY BY KATRINA MARKEL

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ocial media platforms can be an effective way for seniors to stay in touch with family, reconnect with long-lost friends, and forge relationships with like-minded people.

The social platform Facebook is by far the most popular tool for older Americans.

Nearly half of adults over the age of 65 have Facebook accounts and almost 40% use YouTube, according to a Pew Research study from 2019.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN

“I started because, at the time, I was a sponsor for a church youth group and kids were getting onto it. I thought, ‘What is this?’

I was just trying to keep up with the kids.”

-Nancy Brookhart

DESIGN BY DEREK JOY

Steve Bode, 71, is a retired photographer who volunteers with Cyber Seniors, a national organization that provides tech training for older adults.

The Omaha group was meeting at Do Space before COVID-19 safety measures were enacted. When it comes to social media, he noted that the seniors he coaches typically want to set up a new account, recover access to an existing account, or need assistance working with photos.

“Most of the people that we’ve dealt with, the problem was that their kids are on Facebook and they wanted to see pictures of the grandchildren, and the only way they’re going to see them is if they got on Facebook,” said Bode, who also mentioned that his wife uses social media to stay in touch with family, including conducting video chats with a grandchild in Florida.

Jeremy Lipschultz, Ph.D., of the UNO Social Media Lab and School of Communication, said that a benefit of online video is that it can approximate the experience of being in the same space.

“The more rich the technology is, the better from that standpoint, and so if you have a chance to use video, that’s a great way to maintain those relationships,” said Lipschultz, a 2019-2020 Peter Kiewit Distinguished Professor in recognition of outstanding performance in research/creative activity and teaching and author of two books on social media.

Bode, who lives in Ralston, said that he enjoys Facebook affinity groups for photography and hunting. These groups allow for connection and information sharing among people with similar passions.

“If you join a Facebook group it may or may not really serve any meaningful purpose in your life,” Lipschultz said. “But if it’s a community where people share interests, where they share problems and concerns and they’re serving more of a support group function, that can be very positive and very healthy for you. But you have to really think seriously about why you’re doing it and again, to the extent that you can, eliminate the noise and accentuate what is valuable. What’s helpful to you?”

Council Bluffs residents Rand and Nancy Brookhart have been on Facebook for roughly a decade and it serves several functions in their lives.

“I started because, at the time, I was a sponsor for a church youth group and kids were getting onto it. I thought, ‘What is this?’ I was just trying to keep up with the kids,” said Nancy, who is 68 and retired from a career with Iowa Workforce Development.

Rand joined a few years later. He was singing in a quartet and he kept asking Nancy to promote the group on its Facebook page.

“I was saying ‘Could you put this on, would you put this on here?’ and finally she said, ‘No, you do it yourself.’ So, I had to have my own Facebook account then,” said Rand, 69, who is also retired from Iowa Workforce Development.

The Brookharts find entertainment on Facebook by playing games such as crossword puzzles. Rand said that his high school and college classmates keep in touch through dedicated Facebook groups, which is something Lipschultz sees as a benefit of social media.

“From the purpose of sharing memories, sharing relationships, I think it can be a very strong and compelling context,” Lipschultz said. ► ►

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During quarantine, the Brookharts have been able to participate in church services streamed on Facebook from Urban Abbey in the Old Market. Nancy has ataxia, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, which limits her mobility. Getting out of the house even in the best of times presents challenges. She has several social media accounts, which she said gives her something to do, although she doesn’t use all of them.

“I’ve got a Snapchat account, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why that’s helpful. That seems pretty useless to me,” Nancy said.

She also uses Twitter for news discovery and notes the importance of doublechecking the veracity of stories.

“I don’t take what [news outlets] say verbatim and if I’ve seen something that kind of piques my interest, I’ll look elsewhere and see if it’s there also,” said Nancy, who added she’ll check to see if the story is reported in a major newspaper or “tried and true” sources—such as major broadcast networks—before sharing a story.

Social media provides a fertile environment for misinformation and disinformation. A 2019 article published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances concluded that, “On average, users over 65 shared nearly seven times as many articles from fake news domains as the youngest age group.”

One of the researchers, New York University professor Jonathan Nagler told news outlets that a possible explanation for older adults being more susceptible to false information online is that they came of age well before the internet existed, and many lack the digital savvy of younger users.

Even though seniors were the most likely age group to share false stories on Facebook, they still shared those stories at a relatively low rate of 11% during the 2016 election. By comparison, about 3% of adults aged 18 to 29 shared bogus stories. One caveat, those numbers don’t include the countless people who may see the story, never share it, but believe it all the same. // 72 //

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“In the absence of black letter law, we have to individually turn to ethics and hope that people are responsible in their use of social media, but we also turn to individuals to learn and exercise media literacy.” -Jeremy Lipschultz “What changed, I think significantly about a decade ago, is that the social media platforms allowed individuals to begin doing their own storytelling,” said Lipschultz, who explained that the internet has become a “virtual town square.”

He points out that the First Amendment gives publishers a great deal of latitude when it comes to content creation. Since the advent of the internet, the barrier to entry is low when it comes to publishing content. The gatekeepers that existed a generation or two ago, when most Americans received news from broadcast networks and newspapers, are no longer there to mediate the content we consume.

“In the absence of black letter law, we have to individually turn to ethics and hope that people are responsible in their use of social media, but we also turn to individuals to learn and exercise media literacy,” Lipschultz said.

He suggests that news consumers need to learn to “deconstruct” stories and ask critical questions including, “Is the source and message credible or not? Do I need to check it out further? Is there only one source telling this story or many? Can I search it at Snopes and find out whether someone else has already checked for the truth and accuracy of it?”

Scams and privacy are two other concerns that seniors may have when using social media. The Brookharts said they’ve learned not to accept friend requests on social media from people they don’t know. It’s also advisable to be wary of cloned Facebook accounts, a simple scam in which someone with malicious intent copies the Facebook profile of a friend and impersonates that friend in an attempt to obtain personal information.

Bode said that one woman came to Cyber Seniors needing help after she was conned out of $5,000. He said they don’t see scams like that often, but malware— any type of software designed to hijack your computer or information on it—is more common. He recommends that older adults stick with devices that are less vulnerable to attack.

“I’m a big fan of the Chromebook and Chromeboxes because they’re cheap and they don’t get malware and they’re really not that hard to learn.” said Bode, who also mentioned that Apple products are hacked less often.

Users will also want to review their privacy settings on social media accounts.

“And even when you set your privacy settings, people can take screenshots.

It’s not a perfect system. We tend to tell students that it’s not a good idea to post anything that you’re not comfortable with anybody seeing,” Lipschultz said.

Nancy said that she asks permission to share photos and tries to respect boundaries.

“One thing that I think has been helpful is to remember what is my story and what is someone else’s story,” she said.

Lipschultz suggested talking to trusted family and friends about social media privacy. Also, it’s smart to have a conversation about managing social media accounts in the event of illness or death.

He recommends that if an account is left open, a loved one should be available to moderate it.

In the book Antisocial Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Ph.D., compares Facebook to snack food. He writes, “We might turn to Facebook in a moment of boredom and look up an hour later wondering where that hour went and why we spent it on an experience so unremarkable yet not unpleasant.”

Social media is designed to be addictive and Lipschultz recommends that users examine their online habits by “determining ‘Why am I doing this? What’s the reason for doing it? What’s the benefit to me?’”

By reflecting on our interests, goals, and values, Lipschultz said it’s possible to minimize the negatives of social media and maximize the benefits for a healthy and rewarding experience.