From my corner of the internet to yours
Or, a handful-ish of things that made me think this week
Do you ever think about how much your experience on the internet is similar or different than other people’s? We’re all using the internet, sure, but we’re using it in such different ways that we also wind up knowing about what’s going on in our corner of the internet — but not necessarily a different corner of the internet than where we hang out. You may be tracking something — sports, say — that’s bringing you to different corners of the internet than where I’m frequenting (uhh, eBay?).
As a result of our varying paths, our consumption habits are being fed to a lot of places that then serve us tailored stuff — whether we fully realize it or not — that’s different than someone else. This involves ads, sure, but also news or even what our Google search results look like. It’s such an individualized experience these days on the internet, and that’s likely neither good nor bad, but the result is we may not know about the corners other people are finding themselves on — well, that’s unless, of course, we chat about it.
Well, I’d love to hear about some of the interesting things you’ve come upon — but in the meantime, I have a newsletter and perhaps you don’t, so here are some things I ran into on my corner of the internet recently. They made me think.
1. What if this happened to you?
You, like me, may go through periods where you don’t consume a lot of news about a tragic event at a given time — maybe it’s a mass shooting or a weather event or some other disaster. Don’t feel guilty, I do it, too. There are times when I’m running low on my capacity for the really sad news — the type of news that feels gut-punchingly sad. Maybe there’s some hope to be found in it; still, you must feel compassionate at some level for a stranger's plight. (Or maybe not, I don’t know.)
My approach as a news junkie of sorts is there are times I feel it’s “my duty” to know about something that’s happening, but without feeling so obliged to know the details. Yes, such-and-such happening to my fellow Americans is really sad and I feel compassion for them, but I don’t necessarily need every last detail. So you maybe turn down the spigot on the amount of the sad news you consume, even if you have a general awareness about it.
But hopefully you don’t turn it all the way off. Because there is often good buried in that tragedy. The story below about the fires in Maui is one that gives you that gut-punch feeling of compassion for these people and maybe stirs up other emotions — say, anger about how this played out or a slight fear it could happen to you. In Montana in summer, you can’t ignore fire. It’s not a corner of the internet on this one, it’s just reality. And so once that’s a part of your reality, I think you have a different appreciation for this type of fire than if it’s never really been a part of your reality. It is really crazy to consider that one minute you could be at the house, and the next you’re packing up the last of your possessions and fleeing for your life. Sidenote: The east coast experiencing those smoky days maybe made fire more of a reality for east coasters, something that may be new for many of them.
This is a long lead-up to the below story that is really sad on so many levels, but also gives you some hope about the state of society and that people will come together to help their neighbors in a time of tragedy.
They were alone in a fight to survive. Maui residents had moments to make life-or-death choices
2. Are the folks commenting on YouTube okay?
Ever skim through the comments on YouTube videos — particularly for videos of instrumental music? Yea, people have a lot to share.
When I worked in an office, I was the type who had headphones in listening to music all day. All day. Ok, except meetings and walking around. But working in open offices, as I have, I gotta drown out other people. I don’t want to hear it. The loud breathing. The king-konging of the keyboard. The phone calls. Don’t wanna hear it. And it’s the same at co-working spaces and coffee shops and the like for me.
Working from home? I don’t do this so frequently. There’s not as much annoying stuff to drown out. But my productivity at home also isn’t ideal at times, and sometimes I cross my fingers and hope that music will do the trick.
For certain types of work, I prefer instrumental music. And Ludovico Einaudi is my man. I love him. He’s my go-to in this space, to the point where I’ve contemplated going to a Ludovico Einaudi concert. (Sidenote: Non-Spotify person here, so I’m not sure if this is how stuff works for y’all.) On free Pandora, you can listen to a station based on 1 song or artist that serves up other artists you may like…but this is the only way to stream. No playlists or whatever.
Anyway, the Ludovico Einaudi station recommended a new-to-me pianist, Ólafur Arnalds, and I’m in that “getting acquainted” stage with a new musician. I was listening to one of his songs the other day on YouTube and then found myself on the comments. Whew, music means a lot to people. I’m using this music to try to get stuff done, other people are using it to work out some bigger emotions. And the song means so much to somebody somewhere that they looped it on repeat for 2+ hours!
3. When was the last time you talked to your sibling(s)?
Chances are you, like me, know of some sibling dynamics that range the spectrum:
On one extreme: Siblings who, as adults, have chosen to live together / nearby or work together or have some other dynamic by which they see each other multiple times each week
On the other end of the extreme: Siblings who have no relationship whatsoever and haven’t spoken in years
And everything in-between…
One thing with siblings we don’t talk so much about is that a lot of people wind up having some sibling squabbles at some point in life. Yes, even you. It may not be a full-fledged squabble but you may have a sibling you just don’t talk to so much — or go through a period of not talking to so much. People change. Or they can. But no matter, it should be the longest relationship of our lives. This headline caught my eye and while I had higher hopes for this piece, it’s an interesting read.
The Longest Relationships of Our Lives
As brothers and sisters grow up, what they do can determine whether they stay stuck in their childhood roles—or break free of them.
4. Speaking of the comments section
Reddit is just the comments section, and I’ve gotten more into it lately. Blame Elon for this one, because while “X” has gotten better in some ways (I get served a lot of freelance-focused content, which is helpful), it’s also gotten a lot worse in other ways (namely: the algorithm).
Reddit seemed like the worst of the Internet — anonymous commenters?? — but thanks to the policing of the crowd and moderators, I’ve come around on it somewhat. That said, it’s still far from perfect.
If you don’t know Reddit, quick tutorial: Everything is grouped together by topic on subreddits, where all of the related discussion appears, and then people pose questions or share stuff and that all gets discussed on a different page. It’s actually a more logical venue for discussion than Twitter in many, many ways. I follow local subreddits and find out a lot of stuff that would never be “news,” for example.
Anyway, I found myself on the r/antiwork subreddit recently (productivity problems, ahem) and uhh, yea. It’s a very active little corner of the internet. I guess I knew it existed, in theory, but then you’re there and it’s like: Oh yea, people are just fucking fed up with working. And they come to vent or commiserate or look for community or whatever. Anyway, I was reading this discussion — What did/do you do after the “effective immediately” convo — and the answers were all over the map. (If you’ve ever been through this experience, it’s weird. One minute you’re working, and literally within minutes your tenure at this place is over. And it wasn’t your decision. Like many things, it’s something you don’t fully appreciate until you’ve experienced it.)
But then I saw this comment from a guy talking about a tradition he came up with over time when he abruptly left a job, because apparently he experienced this more than once. How great! What a way to turn a negative into something positive.
5. Something I’d never thought about mixed with something I have thought a lot about
Back on Twitter, I saw a tweet about a topic I’d never really considered: How people who are incarcerated can lose access to things we all take for granted, namely your email account and phone number.
I’ve been toying for a while with the idea of changing my phone number. Why? I have a Chicago phone number. I don’t live there. I haven’t lived there for a long time. I routinely have to give my phone number to people for conducting interviews. This causes confusion, at times, if people make an assumption about my time zone. But on a more practical level: I get a lot of questions about why I have a Chicago area code when I don’t live there and I didn’t grow up there. Sometimes that’s annoying.
But the prospect of changing my phone number feels like it would be really annoying — and if it’s unnecessary to change it, why would I? I don’t really see keeping my number if I move out of the country, but otherwise, it doesn’t really feel necessary to change it. In theory, it should be easy — you may not even need to send out a notice that you have a new number — but odds are, if like me, you’ve had that number for a while it’s tied into other things — password recovery options or the primary way certain companies contact you or whatever. You’re gonna have to update your number with a bunch of people and in various places, and is that really worth it? Even if you do a really great job ditching your ties to your number — do you trust the person whose phone number you’re about to inherit did so? What’s to say that’s not going to be annoying to get somebody else’s phone number? I still get phone calls for Julio, my phone number predecessor, and I’ve had this phone number since 2004.
Abandoning my Gmail account at this point? Forget about it.
Of course, I’m being a bit dramatic. I can choose to change this stuff, but that’s the point — it’s a choice. What if it weren’t? There’s understandably a price to pay for being incarcerated, but that follows you after release in so many ways — access to housing, job prospects, finances, behind on technological advances, etc. — and that can quickly become a conversation where people have various opinions. But maybe, like me, you just hadn’t really considered this idea before:
https://twitter.com/GrahamStarr/status/1693119093526671859
6. The Bear is great — you should watch it
For a variety of reasons, my TV consumption has been really low for much of this year. I haven’t seen a lot of the stuff a lot of other people have seen. If you’re referring to anything that’s been available exclusively on…Apple TV? HBO? Amazon Prime? Basic Cable? Disney+? Movies? Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.
But I am somewhat-ish up-to-speed on stuff that’s available on Netflix or Hulu. And while I’m indeed late, yes, I just finished season 1 of The Bear. (Haven’t started season 2 yet.) Seen it? It’s a great show! Really great show, a show that doesn’t necessarily feels like it’s getting made all the time. There’s no sex. There’s no violence (really). There’s no subplot that evokes much mystery. There’s not a crazy amount of cursing. It’s just a good show that tells a story well and has a great soundtrack.
If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant — and specifically in the kitchen — the show will remind you of that world. I was recently talking with someone who worked in the kitchen at the same restaurant I did years ago and we were swapping little anecdotes from that era, and just little things here and there from this show also remind me of that job. Feels like a different life ago now.
Anyway, feel free to chime in, pro or con regarding The Bear. And if you’re unfamiliar, here’s a preview:
On that note, time to start the second season of The Bear.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week.