#701: Millennial core and nerd-on-nerd beef
Plus a *very* brief reintroduction to Links
Hello and happy weekend from BEAUTIFUL Buffalo, N.Y., where we have at last traded the grey skies and snow for grey skies, grass and tree pollen. My allergies are so out of control that I panic-bought an air purifier at 5 a.m. yesterday without so much as a cursory cross-check of the competing affiliate-linked product recommendations.
It occurs to me that many of you are here for the first time, and a proper hostess might tour you around. I, however, am the sort of hostess who finishes cooking an hour after the guests arrive and compensates by making the drinks too strong. So instead of explaining how I compile this, or what my ~curatorial vision~ is, let me just say that I read an AWFUL lot each week — think thousands of links, not hundreds — to dig up the recommendations paid subscribers are calling “interesting,” “entertaining,” “informative,” “scary,” “devastating” and “hilarious.” (Not simultaneously, tho. That would be ridiculous.)
A quick word on the Links paywall policy
I do link directly to paywalled stories, but only if said paywall is metered or soft. That means you can always read any article in Links by (a) opening it in incognito mode (b) using 12ft, archive.today or any of a million other simple paywall-hopping tools/tricks/extensions or (c) kindly and generously subscribing to the outlet in question. I don’t hop the paywalls for you, because that feels a bit ethically ambiguous at scale. But I also won’t link to sites with impenetrable paywalls, so take heart from that.
Thanks again for making the relaunch such a blast
The past four days have exceeded all hopes/expectations. Continued thanks to everyone who hyped the relaunch, bought me a coffee or sent a kind note — and EXTRA thanks to the hundreds (!) of wonderful people who upgraded their subscriptions. Your support will make it possible for me to spend more time on original writing, reporting and analysis. You can read more about that here. And in case that’s not adequately persuasive, let’s also trot out the parade of additional subscriber offerings:
Free access to links from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic, courtesy those outlets’ gift article programs
Early access to experiments and features, including a likely online book club
All posts to IRL, my nascent personal blog
A free link on your birthday (I’ve sent two of these so far and they’re extremely fun)
Until next Wednesday, May 8 — a Links laptop sticker designed by Elena Lacey, who did all of the new Links art.1
Take it from long-time subscriber Kevin, who upgraded to paid this week: “The words? Good. Good words for sale.” I could not have put it better or more succinctly!
If you read anything this weekend
“All Internet Roads Lead Back to 2014,” by Steffi Cao for The Ringer. Has a more Links link ever been published? Offhand, I’d say no. The internet gods have clearly blessed this relaunch. (In exchange, I’ve lost both my attention span and eternal soul.) Worth it, though, for the stunning realization that Gamergate, #BlackLivesMatter and the Ice Bucket Challenge all kicked off within the same one-month span; zoom out to the year, and you can add in institutions like the viral Oscars selfie, the Kermit tea meme, girl bosses, affiliate marketing and #BreaktheInternet. This piece doesn’t quite weave those threads together, nor does it really make their long-term impact clear … but I like even the mere thesis that 2014 was the modern internet’s foundational year.
“The End of Cultural Arbitrage,” by W. David Marx for The Atlantic. This essay smells strongly of that no-more-teen-subcultures piece that ran in the Times a few months back, and I both like and question it for many of the same reasons. Per Marx, the grand hipster tradition of “cultural arbitrage” — sharing niche or subcultural knowledge for mainstream social clout — disappeared as the internet “made almost everything immediately … knowable” everywhere and to everyone. It’s hard to feel truly bad for the tastemakers of yore, a possible antipathy Marx acknowledges, but it’s also hard to claim the democratization he describes has produced vastly more interesting or original cultural products.
Three reads on doxxing and the campus protests. The pro-Palestinian movement sweeping U.S. colleges is unprecedented in many respects. But for *our* middlebrow, internet-themed purposes, let’s focus on the consequences of widespread doxxing and digital surveillance. In The New York Times, Nicholas Fandos reports on the steps student protesters are taking to hide their identities from the press and other observers. On the ground at Columbia for The Verge, Gaby Del Valle writes that protesters’ identities have become “a weapon” for outside “bad-faith actors.” In Wired, meanwhile, Sofia Barnett has a story on the rank underbelly of all that anonymity: Sidechat, the no-wiser Yik Yak knock-off, has predictably become a hotbed for hate speech.
“Facebook’s AI Spam Isn’t the ‘Dead Internet’: It’s the Zombie Internet,” by Jason Koebler for 404 Media. I have lost hours of my life hypothesizing about the people who “like” grotesque AI spam. Is it … cultural? Generational? Is there some arcane joke here I simply do not get?! The actual explanation is far more simple: It’s not *people* doing the liking, at all. Instead, these apparently popular, AI-generated images of vegetable bikes and mutilated children are circulating largely among … bots. (As goes Facebook, so goes the internet — which bodes poorly for us all.)
“Can Joanna Coles Tame the Daily Beast?,” by Justin Miller at New York. Crying staffers, Miranda Priestly-esque airs, spiked stories about Trump’s farts — this is just delicious, deranged, scoopy media gossip from start to finish. I want to say it also doubles as a commentary on how poorly some legacy news orgs understand the current internet moment … but let’s not detract from the all-out spectacle with those more hypothetical considerations.
In case you missed it
The most-clicked link from last Saturday's round-up was the Mastodon bot “I Hope This Email Finds You,” a pristine throwback to the halcyon days of art-bot Twitter.
The Wednesday edition announced the Links relaunch and the new subscription tier. WHAT’S THAT, you say? You … missed it??? (I will continue flogging this particular horse until PETA’s called in.)
In a delightful addition to the growing list of dumb water trends, Eater had an interview last week with a man who sells artisanal ice for $32 a bag. Quoth the ice man: “I’ve learned that … if people would rather just use their ice machine or a mold they already have — there’s usually very little I can do to convince them.” Yes, that.
Bustle also reports on the recent rise of so-called “photo dump accounts” — semi-anonymous, pop-up Instagrams that hearken back to the era of the Facebook party album. “Trends are coming back,” one Instagram creator told Bustle. Aesthetically, yes! But there’s no bringing back the insecure, newly online social dynamics that fueled the “photo dumps” of my late adolescence.
Postscripts
The last of the stock photographers. The technology of stamps. Science knows surprisingly little about the quality of relationships that start on dating apps. This week, in purported resurgences: digital cameras, human curation and homepages. If you think streaming platforms are getting pricey, you should see what they cost in prison.
YA readers are too old. Botox patients are too young. “Millennial core never fails to make me feel physically ill ❤️.” (Related: Millennial CAPTCHA!) This is the best thing I think I’ve read on “Tortured Poets.” This was my fave of the great Hate Reads. Internet sleuths have found the origins of a famous lostwave track, and it’s … 1980s pornography! “Video doorbell derangement syndrome.” Lonely teens become loony adults. How Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” challenges philosophy and how it feels when your therapist’s on TikTok. Subreddits that spark “peculiar joy.” Profoundly competent TV that still feels kinda meh.
Last but not least: living for this nerd-on-nerd beef between cheating Pokémon Go players and the volunteer cartographers of OpenStreetMaps.
Until next week! Warmest virtual regards,
Caitlin
Paid subscribers: If you haven’t done so already, please check your welcome email for instructions on getting your birthday link and Links sticker. I wanna make sure these go out to everyone who wants them!