Humans are creatures of habit

Published 12:00 pm Monday, April 18, 2016

Unfortunately, I get very little sleep.

So, last summer I upgraded to a king-size bed that you melt into. I decided if I was going to sleep so little, I might as well be in style, in a higher-up frame, and in supreme comfort. So I have gotten used to using my feet to push myself up a little bit to roll myself toward the edge of the bed and get on out in the morning.

Last week I was in a hotel in Hernando for Leadership Mississippi. It was a harder, double bed, but the accommodations were nice. However, in my morning stupor, I did not realize I was not in my bed at home.

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I pushed up, rolled, and fell right on out of the bed.

Thing is, as I was at the edge of the bed and realized I was going to fall out of it, I came to terms with it. I knew I couldn’t stop myself, and I think I even said out loud, “OK, this is happening.”

Us humans are such creatures of habit.

That has stuck with me for a week or so. Another thing that has stuck with me also relates back to us being creatures of habit and gives me hope for the future of newspapers.

I received an email that said to not lose hope in the future of newspapers as printed materials that are delivered to your driveway. The email said people are close to falling victim to technology fatigue.

We used to be creatures of habit where we woke up in the morning, or in the case of the EAGLE, came home at lunch or dinner and grabbed the paper in the driveway, sat down with coffee or a drink at the table and caught up with what’s going on in the community.

With everyone’s life being so busy, sometimes the paper doesn’t get picked up like it used to. Our phones are picked up first. We absolutely must check our email and Facebook or see what news has posted on Twitter. But more and more people these days are sick of dealing with their phones and want some peace. I have one friend who hides her phone under a pillow and runs away from it across the house.

I’m thinking eventually everyone’s eyesight is going to change from squinting at phones and computer screens all day and people will embrace the days of the larger font on newspapers and books. While today we are still creatures of habit and have addictions to our phones, that addiction will hopefully morph back to wanting a newspaper in our hands daily.

Stephanie Rebman is editor of The Oxford EAGLE. Contact her at stephanie.rebman@oxfordeagle.com.