An act of jokey desperation
Digital nomads, Nextdoor politics, Instagram beauty standards, old dogs, soft-swingers and indestructible pagers
ChatGPT has trained extensively on smutty Omegaverse fan fiction but NOT, apparently, the archives of this newsletter — a fact I learned when, in an act of jokey desperation, I asked it to help me with some ideas for one of the past month’s missed editions.1
I apologize for the unannounced hiatus; the dual benefit and hazard of treating this thing like a hobby is that it’s easy to abandon when I’m traveling or swamped with other work. I live in actual awe of writers who get their Substacks out at regular, consistent intervals. Do they partake in extremist morning routines? Hire interns? Prompt-engineer with more patience than me, a woman who said “oh but you know about KNOTTING huh” and then x-ed out of the chat window?
Yes, maybe! So here I am, apologizing again. But until I learn, let’s read these links. You never know when they’ll be back. 🙃
If you read anything this weekend
“When Digital Nomads Come to Town,” by Stephen Witt in Rest of World. One truly wonders how this story was described to all the clueless white people who bumble through, bemoaning their mere six-figure salaries and marveling at the prices on Colombian menus. None of them come off looking particularly thoughtful … and they don’t seem to be enjoying themselves that much (?), either. Kinda highlights the hollowness at the heart of the whole ~nomadic~ endeavor.
“Local Politics Was Already Messy. Then Came Nextdoor,” by Eli Sanders in The Atlantic.2 If you too have lost hours scrolling Nextdoor, marveling in slack-mouthed horror that you live among these people, then you might enjoy this vaguely alarming investigation into the site’s lax-bordering-on-laughable moderation.
“Digital Culture is Literally Reshaping Women’s Faces,” by Elise Hu in Wired. This is excerpted from Elise Hu’s new book, and that means it reads a bit … abruptly? … but I am *fascinated* by her analysis of what she describes as a new, globalized, transracial standard for beauty: “Internet platforms for rentals like Airbnb have led to a sterile, recognizably similar aesthetic across living spaces.” Instagram’s doing that for faces.
“There’s Some Very Official Military Business Happening on Reddit,” by Daniel Johnson in Slate. If you complain about your military experience in a forum like r/Army, there’s a fair chance someone from the Army will reach out to you and offer to help. This in no way comports with my understanding of the U.S. military (or Reddit, for that matter?), though it perhaps suggests some failings in the military’s more official channels.
“Puritanism Took Over Online Fandom — and Then Came for the Rest of the Internet,” by Aja Romano in Vox. Did the crackdown on sexual expression in fan fiction communities predict the wider return of “purity culture”? I don’t think so, personally, but puzzled over the question long enough to merit a share.
👉 ICYMI: The most-clicked link from last week’s newsletter was this deep dive on the misogyny, homophobia and other assorted violence that kids now habitually encounter online.
The classifieds
» Let that shit go!
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Postscripts
The world’s oldest dog and its oldest porn star (… self-evidently not suited for work). An oral history of “Top Chef.” 800k Americans still use pagers. How misogyny and racism spread on Discord. Twitter is officially a right-wing media venture. In the year of our Lord 2023, teens never know their best friends’ phone numbers.
The tyranny of ratings culture. An ignominious AI first. The odd behavioral psychology of TikTok movie clip accounts and the impending death of QR menus. Europecore and Gen-Z-Span. Grimes reviews AI Grimes songs. The soft-swinging Mormon momfluencers speak and TikTok’s Tinx tells all. Inside the secret network of abortion pill vigilantes. The novel-writing AI is not that bad (?). Last but not least: “If we didn’t have limits [… on voicemail accounts], we would gorge ourselves to death.”
That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Warmest virtual regards.
— Caitlin
To be clear, you can ALWAYS expect 100% pure, natural, human-penned writing in this newsletter … I’m not exactly racing toward my own obsolescence? … but I’m also not above checking (just checking!) if an AI armed with the sum of all human knowledge can brainstorm better intros than me. It can’t.
🔓A note on paywalls: I frequently link to paywalled content, but only on sites whose paywalls are easily dodged. If you find yourself dodging the same paywalls often, maybe consider a subscription!