An extremely mediocre hell
This week: therapy apps, beauty filters, internet mobs, shady pizzas, bellicose bagels and ascendant sobs
Friends! Hello!!
This week’s edition is coming to you two days late and a bit on the short side courtesy my older dog, Dory. Dory is actually the sweetest dog in the world1 — this is not just my opinion — and on Tuesday she got very, very sick, very, very suddenly, causing us to miss a lot of work and sleep in an attempt to get a diagnosis. Six vets, one veterinary neurologist and a very expensive hospital stay later, we think/hope she’s gonna be okay with time, new medications and bedrest. I really can’t stress this enough to the dog-owners in the audience: do not ever let your pup drink out of puddles. They contain some bad shit!!
Anyway, while I spent a whole lot of time on the internet this week, it was mostly to read articles with names like “Protein-Losing Enteropathies — Low Albumin Is Not Always a Bad Prognosis.” Next week, hopefully, will look different. Until then, scroll down for a picture of Dory from happier times and the reading recs I squeezed in between all her appointments. And thanks for your patience as I work through all this.
P.S. Per chart in header: 😭 has overtaken 😂 on Twitter. Feels about right to me.
P.P.S. Happy Easter to those who celebrate.
If you read anything this weekend
“The Mental Health Therapy-App Fantasy,” by Molly Fischer in The Cut. I tried Talkspace’s text service for one hot minute a few years ago, and was baffled by how deeply impersonal it felt. It would appear that, for all the competing ads I now hear on popular podcasts, the therapy-app industry hasn’t improved much since then (!!). If you’re feeling therapeutic (lol, god knows I am), two other reads under this umbrella: “The Rise of Therapy Speak,” in The New Yorker, and “Can Artificial Therapists Replace Human Therapists?,” in The Wall Street Journal.
“Beauty Filters are Changing the Way Young Girls See Themselves,” by Tate Ryan-Mosley in MIT Technology Review. This issue strikes me as *wildly* under-covered, given all the attention paid to conventional media and teen body image during my adolescence. Kids once had to wrap their heads around the Photoshopped magazine shoots of models and actresses … now everyone looks perfect all the time, and they can essentially Photoshop themselves.
“When the Mob Comes,” by Lyz Lenz in Men Yell at Me. This is a very good companion to all the news this month re: female journalists and online harassment. (“News” “this month” — you know what I mean; this is not a new problem.) This conversation, between two women who have really been in the trenches, is illuminating and nuanced and full of practical tips on how to deal if the mob comes for you. Which is sadly relevant to an ever-expanding swath of people, not just media workers.
“NFTs Weren’t Supposed to End Like This,” by Anil Dash in The Atlantic. Are NFTs “ending”? Might we be so lucky?? Regardless: a thoughtful read on capitalism and opportunism and the trampling of ideals by one of NFTs’ very earliest advocates, for those of you not yet burned out on them.
“The Mysterious Case of the F*cking Good Pizza,” by Emilie Friedlander in Vice. We all love a good internet mystery, and this is one I’ve wondered about myself: the sudden proliferation of delivery-app ghost kitchens with mortifyingly try-hard names and transparently off-the-shelf brands. The backstory is even weirder than I thought, though — fair warning — this story takes a very long time to get to it. Order a shady pizza and settle in.
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Postscripts
School of screens (a comic). Gradiations (a video). The Facebook dating group for people who love public transit and a dad who deserves more followers. The worst Silicon Valley decorating trends. The best use of NFTs I’ve seen to date. Remember that game where you guessed how people voted based on their fridges? This is like that, but impossible (for me, anyway!).
“Old memes are becoming hip and fresh again.” “An extremely mediocre hell.” “His very young child took advantage of the situation.” In defense of Covid shaming. (This link is an endorsement.) Last but not least: Zola trailer dropped, and it is fantastic.
That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Warmest virtual regards.
— Caitlin
Photographic proof that Dory is the perfect dog:
I did audibly gasp at the Dory proof.