This morning, I went for a swim and listened to one of my favorite shows, Raadio 4's "Razbor poletov," while riding my bike with headphones in. That's how I found out that in addition to the recent mass protests in Serbia, demonstrations have also been taking place in Slovakia. Slovaks have been protesting Prime Minister Robert Fico's Kremlin-friendly policies. I checked Euronews and found out that Fico once even promised to pull Slovakia out of the European Union. That made a lot of people angry and triggered large protests in 40 municipalities. When people in 40 towns and cities take to the streets, that's a serious action — yet somehow it hadn't made it onto my radar at all.

There's so much happening in the world right now, and it's all moving so fast that one event quickly overshadows another. Sometimes it feels like life has turned schizophrenic. For example, it's gone largely unnoticed in Estonia that anti-government protests have been taking place daily in Georgia since the end of October. And these aren't small gatherings in the capital — they're coordinated actions happening regularly in nearly a dozen cities.

I'll admit, I didn't expect this level of consistency from Georgians. As far as I know, protesters there take to the streets according to a schedule to ensure someone is out every evening. Honestly, if it weren't for a couple of virtual friends on social media who post protest photos almost daily, I wouldn't know anything about what's happening in Georgia.

As for the events in Israel and Gaza, I'm vaguely aware of them because I regularly listen to BBC News, and what's happening there is significant to the British and gets good coverage. The situation I'm probably most up to speed on is Ukraine — thanks to Rainer Saks' daily updates and a few podcasts that I follow with near-religious devotion. But beyond that, I simply don't have the time, energy or capacity.

That's why I was genuinely surprised when I got a hate-filled message from Russia a few weeks ago. Apparently, something President Alar Karis said in an interview with Finland's Yle made waves there. Karis stated that Estonia would do everything in its power to bring Russia to its knees. Since Russians are big on vlogging, dozens — if not hundreds — of video bloggers clipped that moment and ran with it.

At first, I was a bit skeptical — did President Karis really say that? But after checking, it turned out he did. Yet another story that had completely passed me by.

To summarize a somewhat longer back-and-forth with my acquaintance in Russia: they demanded that I apologize on Karis' behalf. They also wrote that statements like that damage Estonia's reputation in Russia. I replied that, since I'm unlikely to travel to Russia in the coming years anyway, I honestly don't care much about what people in Russia think of Estonia. That prompted a torrent of abuse, during which I learned that many Russians believe Estonia is preparing to attack Russia any moment now. Supposedly, our F-16 fighter jets are ready and could launch strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg within hours.

I really don't know where to begin with how off-base my Russian acquaintance's understanding is, but the idea that Estonia's border might one day extend to the Great Wall of China is absurd — outside the context of a song lyric, anyway. The problem is that efforts to block Russian propaganda have also made it harder to stay informed about what's actually going on in Russia.

Since access to the Russian information space is restricted, it's increasingly difficult to monitor what's happening there. As a result, Russia is gradually fading into the background noise of global information. Honestly, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Russia is the kind of country where, just when you think nothing can surprise you anymore, it surprises you again. Recently, I came across a social media video showing how Yakutian children are being raised with patriotic fervor in kindergarten. The kids were dressed in military uniforms and bursting with love for their president. The video also showed their beaming parents. The whole thing was deeply unsettling.

It would be good — necessary, even — to stay informed about what's happening in Russia, but the level of absurdity and surrealism there has reached such extremes that it feels like Russia isn't just across the Narva River, but on a whole other planet. My mind simply refuses to process certain things.

What's happening in Georgia, Slovakia and even some Central Asian countries is understandable and logical in its own way: people are protesting corruption, pro-Kremlin politics or state violence against citizens. But keeping track of what's going on in Russia requires more and more effort.

And yet I'm left wondering: is there a limit? Is there a point beyond which life in Russia, increasingly surreal as it is, simply can't go any further? Right now, that limit is nowhere in sight.

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