I really enjoy your writing and observations. I was recently at a (mostly) silent retreat at a monastery and at a meal where we could talk, most still didn’t. A guy said to me after sitting together for a while quietly, “I think silence is subversive.”
I had been thinking the same thing. In the world of constant communication, chatter, and slop, extended silence feels like a forbidden pleasure.
…can echo the brain rot and overwhelm of slop on all platforms has probably decreased at least 50% of the cadence of peers I grew up with on the web…there is a vaague lingering meaningless to social media…was maybe there all along but with less and less humanity the gulf between utility/joy and nihilism is quite amplified these days…
labubus, brain rot and dubai chocolate are things that my 12 yr old has spoken of/asked for a lot lately. i’m sure he hears of these things on the cesspool that is youtube. god help us.
You and Cal Newport should sit together in his podcast. I love these insights. I’m also tired of social media stuff and everything feeling like the same everywhere I go. Everything feels so predictable and I feel less awe as a result. Anyways thank you for writing about this topic and keep us from falling back into the traps of the filter world.
I really enjoy your writing and observations. I was recently at a (mostly) silent retreat at a monastery and at a meal where we could talk, most still didn’t. A guy said to me after sitting together for a while quietly, “I think silence is subversive.”
I had been thinking the same thing. In the world of constant communication, chatter, and slop, extended silence feels like a forbidden pleasure.
…can echo the brain rot and overwhelm of slop on all platforms has probably decreased at least 50% of the cadence of peers I grew up with on the web…there is a vaague lingering meaningless to social media…was maybe there all along but with less and less humanity the gulf between utility/joy and nihilism is quite amplified these days…
we don't want to contribute to the meaninglessness! What's the point!?
...pretty sure it might be A.I. seinfled re-runs...i need to ask perplexity to be certain...
Gf and I are getting in the opal train as of two days ago. This addiction sucks
it has really helped me!
labubus, brain rot and dubai chocolate are things that my 12 yr old has spoken of/asked for a lot lately. i’m sure he hears of these things on the cesspool that is youtube. god help us.
YouTube is absolutely ground zero for a lot of this stuff.
You and Cal Newport should sit together in his podcast. I love these insights. I’m also tired of social media stuff and everything feeling like the same everywhere I go. Everything feels so predictable and I feel less awe as a result. Anyways thank you for writing about this topic and keep us from falling back into the traps of the filter world.
Cal is great! We are colleagues at The New Yorker. I like that theme of "feeling less awe," I think my future work will get into that.
I enjoyed the video summary!! Very insightful :) please do more like that, and thanks for the recap!
I'm glad, thank you for saying so! They are fun to do but it really helps to have The New Yorker's help in editing everything together.