Our lives are increasingly dictated by the frantic pace of social media; it’s time to reclaim the space to slow down and thinkHe didn’t get to nationalise the railways or dish out free broadband, but right at the year’s end
Jeremy Corbyn made one undeniable contribution to politics, culture and human understanding. In the wee hours of 13 December, as the scale of Labour’s drubbing became clear, he said he would be stepping down after the start of a “process of reflection”. Online, this phrase was combined with another P-word Corbyn had used in the same speech, and yet another viral sensation was born: #PeriodOfReflection was rapidly everywhere, and its use became more and more ironic as the noise around the contest to be
Labour leader increased. The apogee of absurdity probably arrived last Wednesday, in the mid-afternoon, when #CorbynwasRight was the number one hashtag on
Twitter, and calm and introspection seemed very far away indeed.
![In a world of online everything, a real #PeriodOfReflection could benefit us all | John Harris](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d04c420d4ab4c5444fe7b2cc08d1838dc60e3693/0_88_5220_3133/master/5220.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctb3BpbmlvbnMucG5n&enable=upscale&s=68b3256503d87cb80489c75b94f61242)
Thumbs that endlessly jab at phones attest to the fact that for many of us, stepping back from the fray is unthinkable