to recoil	to draw oneself back in fear or disgust
recoil	a sudden backward movement
livelihood	income, means of living
blithe	happy and carefree
to keep sb at bay	to hold sb in a safe distance
prodigious	great in size, amount or degree
apprentice	sb that learns how to do a particular job
ever-increasing	always increasing
to posit	to suggest, to postulate, to assume sth as a fact
to ascend	to go up
to descend	to go down
the bedrock values	fundamental, basic
to juggle	to change the arrangement of sth constantly
a raft of	a large amount or number
mind-numbing	making unable to think clearly
to overtax	to put huge taxes/ to do more than one is able to do
to hold in check	to put sb in control
to empower	to give the necessary power to do sth
whistle-blower	sb who tells the public or sb in authority about alleged dishonest, illegal activities
a surfeit of sth	too much of sth
staycation	a holiday that is spent at home
to bemoan	to show sorrow for sth or sb/ to complain
information fatigue	too much of information
a barrage of sth	a large number of sth
defiant	disobedient
rambling	disconected, not keeping to the subject
to debilitate	to make sb less intelligent/ to make sb very weak
to chafe at	to become irritated or impatient
influx	a sudden flow of people or things
normative	describing or setting standards/ rules that should be followed
stasis	equilibrium/ a state of inactivity
salient	main, the most important
info-glut	a situation in which supply excedes demand
to default to do sth	to fail to do what one is supposed to do
there's the rub	here's the difficulty or drawback
the rule of thumb	a practical method of assessing things
to tap into	to draw on/ to make use of sth
surefire	certain to happen, imminent
to separate the wheat from the chaff	to distinguish valuable things from worthless ones
warped by sth	distorted or biased by sth