The internet is not built for comfort
This week’s weird idea
Any ad, for any product or any service, on any screen or any app, is designed to to do one universal thing: make us unhappy. We can’t be sold things (eyeliner, accounting software, political parties) if we're in a state of satisfaction. Happiness does not help to advance capitalism.
There’s even a term for this unhappiness in marketing: “the pain point.” All these adds and marketing on my devices are there to remind me of something in my life that is causing pain – or even better, tell me that I have a brand new pain I never even knew I had before. That’s the whole purpose of advertising. And the internet is now suffused with ads. Pain has been injected into it, like CO2 into soda.
So simply, the internet is pain. And anything fed by the internet – phones, apps, streaming service, social media – is a pain delivery system. Sure, necessary at times. But all the time?
You know what’s not pain? Trees. Distant mountains. Another person telling me — in person — about their pet. So, I keep reminding myself to get out there. To take in the view. To find out how Mittens is doing (that little scamp).
Go see
Bryan Fuller
Boy, I thought I knew where Dust Bunny was going, and reader, I was deliriously mistaken. More Amelie than Léon: The Professional, it’s a lush urban fairy tale with literal teeth. Deserves an Oscar for the parquet work alone.
Have a listen
Come to gain focus from the music, stay for the mesmerizing archery. A treat for eye and ear.
Do you know?
Click to answer this week's question:
Finally, breathe
I’ve been trying out this breathing stuff, and you know what? It’s pretty great. Nothing fancy, I just like to a take a moment now and then to pay attention to how breathing feels.
Be well, and I hope to write again soon. Until then, I remain,
Your pal,
Jamie
P.S. I was looking for a stock image for “pain,” and Unsplash suggested this. Well played, Unsplash. I didn’t know you spoke French:
