What are the appropriate ways to ignore people?

Vanity Fair, the establishment glossy that recently brought you this bit of belated hand-wringing over the selfie "phenomenon," has decided to make a somewhat less stodgy foray into the Internet space: They're doing a series of profiles on Twitter-famous people. And the first one is great! I, for one, had no idea there was "a loose cadre of Twitter dads," but am hoping to learn more about this club. They sound more my speed than Weird Twitter. And on that note, the links!

1. William Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" and predicted the Web way before it was a thing. But the prophetic sci-fi author never imagined Facebook, and he never predicted the degree to which we're all constantly plugged in. "It's incredible, the ubiquity ... I no longer have the luxury of being as removed from [the Internet] as I was then."

2. On the immortality of Internet memes. When you hear the word "meme" -- or "may-may," as one acquaintance (mis)pronounces it -- you probably think of doge or Alex from Target or some other goofy Internet thing. But a meme is just a cultural idea, and there's an entire science devoted to its study. That science explains why some memes survive years longer than we expect them to.

3. In my next life, I would like to come back as this "digital prophet" who gets paid six figures to travel the world and do ... basically nothing.

Endless lolz.

Pocketable: On the faux Instagram art project that gets "disturbingly close to the truth of contemporary culture." (2268 words/9 minutes)

Postscripts: Pointergate. Grammar bullies. How the cat came to be. Why celebrities love their Polaroids and how fan girls revolutionized publishing. The dark side of YouTube. The bright side of gaming. A very modern etiquette quandary. ("Digitally, what we're trying to find out is -- what are the appropriate ways to ignore people?") Today, in further WTF: Dorito-flavored soda, this whole "Too Many Cooks" phenomenon, four grown-ass adults dancing to "Shake It Off," dressed up like corgis. I'm all for T. Swift-flavored shenanigans but no more of that, plz.

Until tomorrow!
@caitlindewey

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