#734: Instagram cringe and millennial redemption

Plus: What JD Vance memes tell us about political alienation

Hi, hello!, and happy weekend. I’m delighted to report that millennial culture is getting the respect it has long (?) merited. Since late February, this chaotic montage of early-to-mid-2010s touchstones — including Portlandia, Broad City and (of course) Girls — has wracked up millions of views on X and TikTok, to say nothing of the thousands of longing comments from disillusioned Gen Zers.

“We hate on millennials bc their 20s actually had a spark of hope,” one wrote. Quoth another wistful 20-year-old: “This is why I’m a born again millennial.” Even the once-embattled founders of Reddit and Digg think the aughts internet is now ripe for some kind of revival.

I have often wondered, in my own head and with similarly aged friends, if things were actually better in the late aughts and early 2010s … or if we’ve just succumbed to the chauvinism of all aging people by assuming our glory years were the most glorious. But between this “millennial redemption” discourse and the continued misery out of D.C., I do in fact believe the world was an objectively better place when I was in my mid-20s.

---

If you read anything this weekend

“The Strange Repulsion of Instagram Reels,” by Alex Abad-Santos for Vox ($). Alas, millennials as we exist in the present day — with our pick-me posting behavior and middle-aged preoccupations — are still apparently “uninspired,” “corny” and “uncool.” Which explains the general cringiness that pervades Instagram and some other online spaces where 30/40-somethings gather. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“The Nicest Swamp on the Internet,” by Adrienne LaFrance for The Atlantic ($). This unequivocal celebration of Reddit seems to ignore or overlook some of the site’s recentish scuffles — among them, the great blackout of 2023 and issues downstream from the site’s IPO — but it nicely captures a sentiment I’ve heard/felt a lot over the past year or so. Reddit may be the last good platform online, in large part because it’s the last platform where humans interact with other humans in a generally humane and intelligent way. “The only two questions that people ever really ask on Reddit,” LaFrance writes, are “am I alone?” and “am I okay?”

“Why JD Vance’s Face Is the Meme of the Moment for Both Right and Left,” by María Luisa Paúl for The Washington Post. I initially believed that Vance’s rabid/rapid memeification — seen, for instance, in all these posts — sprang from what The Guardian’s Marina Hyde termed his “backpfeifengesicht” (… the quality of being slappable). But there’s something about the nihilistic, freewheeling spirit of the memes, something very Pepe-circa-2015, that seems to express a deeper sense of political/spiritual alienation. As one expert put it: “When people feel detached from politics, they turn to online expression.”

“The Diabolical World of Phone Scams,” by Sarah Treleaven for Maclean’s. Canadian police believe that every adult in the country — all 33 million of them — have been targeted, at some point, by the so-called “CRA scam.” The ubiquitous online grift, a successor to the IRS scam in the U.S., has persuaded tens of thousands of people that they owe back taxes to the government. More than that, it’s encapsulated a powerful trend toward professionalization, “transforming what were once small, scrappy criminal enterprises into something more like corporate offices” — with griege cubicles, scheduled shifts and performance bonuses.

“Two Americas, One Bank Branch, and $50,000 Cash,” by Patrick McKenzie for Bits About Money. Speaking of scams: It’s been just over a year since Charlotte Cowles published this viral, tell-all account of financial self-ownage in The Cut. Celebrate with a pathologically thorough fact check by finance bro Patrick McKenzie, which ends up validating Cowles’s story in full (… but in oddly compelling and readable fashion).

---

In case you missed it

The most-clicked link from last week’s newsletter concerned the kindly Australian couple who, on a recent long-haul flight from Melbourne to Doha, were forced to fly next to a … deceased passenger.

#733: Digital packrats and AI inspo

For our last weekday edition, I made a visual essay about the tension between “absorbing” and “capturing” experiences.

The endless internal struggle of phone photography

---

Postscripts

• The death of the paperback (WSJ $)

• The latest pointless evolution of “the dirtbag left” (GQ)

• A tool that turns any text into “brainrot videos” (via WSJ $)

• Like a baby shower, but for … going to college (NYT $)

• The manosphere as a “demand-side problem” (

  Untangled with Charley Johnson
  )

• Some tips and tools to help you scroll less (Vox)

• From slumping sales to petty vandalism to Mardi Gras boos … you best believe the Tesla backlash (Mashable, 404 Media, Futurism)

• How newsletters are filling London’s local news void (New Yorker $)

• Why wedding drama is reliable TikTok gold (Rolling Stone $)

• On decentralized social media, anything “seems possible” (NYT $)

• A look at Trump’s influencer strategy (WaPo $)

• A look at the Democrats’ lack thereof (Garbage Day)

• Vaguely misogynistic celebrity news as right-wing gateway drug (User Mag)

• Why Joe Rogan believes in fake archaeology (Current Affairs via Web Curios)

• Why everyone believed in the fake woolly mammoth mouse (Defector)

• “Big-reveal content is the ultimate commodification of our emotions” (The Cut)

• Last but not least, an observation that strikes me as deeply and regrettably accurate: “The way Substack Notes is evolving is starting to remind me of Medium, which promoted itself as a platform for writers … [but] ended up largely hosting, and boosting, kitsch.” (

  default.blog
  )

Below the paywall, paid supporters can find additional viewing recommendations, a tiny adventure in hyperlocal online drama and unlocked links from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic.

That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Warmest virtual regards,

Caitlin