some thoughts i'm having

as I swipe away a notification that yet another one of my contacts is on substack, in sort of a bulleted run-on sentence format

• suddenly everyone and their mother has a substack. Everyone and their mother has a pov. If everyone here is a thought leader, is anyone? Why does everyone on this platform seem to think they’ve found the answer?

• Substack used to be a place I went to escape the information overload of social media. Now I find that it contributes almost equally. The marketplace of ideas is becoming rapidly homogenized here.

• For example, if I read one more think piece about grieving the life you thought you’d have in your twenties or practicing the art of detachment or how to curate your personal taste I’m going to throw my laptop out a window (I have written such think pieces before).

• Sometimes I enjoy not having an opinion on something. Sometimes it’s nice to let myself go a little smooth-brained and if someone has a strong opinion and solid evidence they want to present to me, I can hop right on board until a different opinion with stronger evidence is presented. Not always. But sometimes.

• Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is how I used to feel such a sense of urgency to keep people who matter to me in my life and I used to proudly pour all of my care and effort into the keeping of those people with what can only be described as tenacity; but after observing myself navigate a recent situation as if from a bird’s eye view, I cannot help but notice a sense of resignation in myself and I’m not sure if it’s because the caring side of me has been tamped down too far in the name of self preservation or if I’m just becoming better at detachment. There has to be a think piece about this somewhere.

• My friends and I cannot for the life of us pass the Bechdel Test these days and that, perhaps, may be worthy of a think piece.

• A growing epidemic: we think about ourselves too much and we’re losing the ability to ask people questions about themselves. Take a break from looking inward and ask someone how their week is going or what their favorite food is.

• A friend of mine recently posed this question to a group of us: What is something really niche that you enjoy? Mine is the sound of bagpipes.

• Proposed solution to the Bechdel Test issue: We all pick a really niche thing that we enjoy to research and report on. Bang my line if you’re down.

• Some of you need to pipe down for a minute and pick up a book.

• I am not trying to discourage anyone from writing long form. Truly. I have been writing long form for years now, since well before it was trendy and cool. (Ironically, some of my most adamant haters of yore have substacks of their own now.) I am simply suggesting that perhaps instead of rushing to give our takes on the internet’s current favorite therapy speak, we pivot towards more original thoughts (see above bullet).

• The titles on everyone’s lips last month were Strangers and Yesteryear; particularly when read in succession, they opened a public forum for a referendum on red pill culture, female agency, and the more sinister side of heterosexual relationship dynamics. I’d like to present to the court one more piece of media to the mix: love island USA season 8. James and Caleb walked so that KC and Corbin could run.

• Now I’m worried that everyone is going to think I’m a substack hater or a self expression hater. I swear that’s not the case. Write whatever you want. My thumb is just a little tired from swiping away notifications that yet another one of my contacts is on substack and through all the think pieces that ensue.

• In the spirit of original thought, everyone comment something really niche that you enjoy.