A smaller, cuddlier Internet

We're all friends here, right? RIGHT? In that case, I feel comfortable admitting to you, albeit with some trepidation, that one of my first AIM screennames was hailheartbreakr7 (as if I was breaking hearts at 13, lol) and it was inspired by the Spill Canvas song of approximately the same name. I don't know what about the early aughts/adolescence made people choose such horrifically embarrassing screennames, but NPR did a whole story on it. RIP AIM. Now, the links!

1. The dream of the '90s is alive on Ello. The buzzy new social network -- much like Tilde.club and Facebook's new chatroom app, Rooms -- seems to spring from some nostalgia for a smaller, cuddlier Internet. (A circa hailheartbreakr Internet, I think.) The question is whether we can ever take these massive communities back ... and whether we'd actually want to.

2. Is smartphone addiction an actual thing? Psychiatrically speaking, not really. Even if you use your phone a lot -- even if its use is pretty disruptive! -- medical experts don't categorize it that way.

3. A peak inside Tinder hook-up headquarters. Lots of nerds, lots of money, and less action than you'd think.

Maru vs. Lil Bub: Who wins best Internet cat??

Pocketable: The economics of online sugar daddies: "intrinsically creepy," but profitable! (5252 words/21 minutes)

Postscripts: Flying potatoes. Rejected buzzwords. Award-winning beards. Misogamy. This is a short history of the corkscrew and this is a longer history of annoying banner ads. Seeing Sandy by Instagram. Visualizing Gamergate tweets. Last/least: Why we gossip and how to behave in the 21st century.

Until tomorrow,
@caitlindewey

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