MONTCLAIR, N.J. — My routine is the same every morning: I wake up, pour a cup of coffee and write to the president — or occasionally, to another politician. This month, I’ll mail my 450th postcard to Washington.

The house is quiet as I feverishly fill every bit of white space with suggestions and complaints. My husband sits across the table, holding the newspaper at an arm’s length because he refuses to wear reading glasses.

Our opposite stances illustrate the way we approach the news: I dive in, consumed by news alerts and social media. My husband assesses the situation from a distance, joining the churn only once or twice a day. By the time he wraps his mind around a story, editorials have been written. Rallies have been organized. On the rare occasions he uses social media, he does it from our dog’s account.

Nevertheless, I persist in engaging him in conversation about my postcards. I’ll say, “Can you believe the killer legally bought 33 guns in 11 months/Kids are living in cages at the border/Trump joked about climate change again?”