my digital brain 💻 🧠
spring cleaning my browser tabs
pandemic stuff, if you’re not tired of this topic
Between park hangs, going aways, welcoming brunches, movie nights, weeknight dinners, weekend dinners, non-solo hikes, last minute cocktails, and my four hundreth picnic — I’m brimming with joy and excitement seeing everyone all the time again. I’m running around town, and it feels sorta like May 2019, except with fabric contraptions on our faces.
Some say there are 2 competing impulses that drive post-pandemic social life: Team Yes and Team Couch; the former feels this urgency to take up all the socializing that life has to offer and to make up for all the things we didn’t get to do for a year, and the latter who have gotten used to the sweet taste of setting boundaries and don’t intend to let a reopening change that.
I’ve always been Team Yes, often to a fault, well before any pandemic. And lately? I don’t know. I catch myself wondering if I’m spending my time intentionally, but to be honest I’m still Team Yes, except it’s more like a Team Yes-Well-Should-I?-Okay-Lets-Do-It-I-Miss-This.
recommended listening: two options!
Any Song by Zico
if you’re Team Party
or
OK - with Remi Wolf & Solomonophonic by Wallows
if you’re Team Couch Party
obsessive documentation of this moment
Anyway, it’s all fun and (board)games until Sunday comes and I’m yawning at dinner, my brain feels foggy, I’m drained, and I have no physical or emotional capacity for anything beyond, apparently, going through all the browser tabs that have accumulated through the week.
I used to have a recurring calendar event to “clean up” all of my open tabs. The intent of this hour was to read through all the articles I’d opened up during the past week and close all of them out. I’ve never successfully completed this chore. Ever.
You can tell a lot about a person from their web browser history, and you can learn even more about the contents of their most recent thoughts based on what tabs are currently open in their browser.
The tabs open on my desktop and phone feel like a live reflection of my digital brain, and I have a desire to take a snapshot of this moment in order to move on from this moment. I need to document it before I can exit out of everything, let my computer (and myself) sleep easy, and open it tomorrow to a blank slate of possibilities. I crave the feeling of inbox zero but for my digital brain.
In this moment, I have 37 tabs open across my desktop and phone browsers (excluding emails, chats, and this very Substack draft). Here are some of them:
Some standouts
#158 Exit Planet Dust (Kneeling Bus): Some thoughts on the internet, our attention, and information pileups. An extremely fitting piece to begin with.
Start a Virtual Listening Club—It’ll Change Your Life (Pitchfork): I really really really want to do this. Hmu if you’re down.
Your Book Review: Why Buddhism Is True (Astral Codex Ten): A long read, but the book is even longer so I’ll settle for the review. tl;dr no thoughts head empty?
Instagram Is the New Evite (The Atlantic): When we’re completely done with this pandemic thing, definitely watch out for a party invite on insta from yours truly.
Nadia Eghbal: The Making and Maintenance of our Open Source Infrastructure (The Long Now): Title says it all. I’m only halfway through this and am hooked. Can’t close this tab yet, unfortunately.
When a Dating Dare Leads to Months of Soul Searching (NYT): A highly-resonant Modern Love story tying in race and expectations against the backdrop of San Francisco.
1Feed: Consolidates your feed so that you can better manage your digital content consumption. I dropped off during onboarding because I got overwhelmed thinking about the amount of stuff I follow on the internet (this entire post offering several examples), which might itself be the problem. Might make another attempt, might not.
Things On Sale at Oak + Fort: This one is self-explanatory. With increasing social obligations, I feel compelled to be caught appearing too cheugy.
FLASH THRIVE: an uber cool, uber inspirational art collective ✨✨
Links that people have sent me that I’ve kept open because maybe I’ll want to read it someday. lol.
Welcome to the YOLO Economy (NYT): Courtesy of Nancy. I skimmed and got distracted.
The Fermi Paradox (Wait But Why): Courtesy of David. This one is, like, very long.
I have a process for finding purpose (The Confusing Art of Meaningful Work): Courtesy of Nancy again. I should’ve read this yesterday but I plan on reading this later 🥴
The fractionalization of NFTs will lead to better social tokens (Jamm Session): I have more questions than answers here. The conversation from whence it came has long passed.
Everyone Loves Attack on Titan. So Why Does Everyone Hate Attack on Titan? (Vice): Courtesy of Rosa. This is one I won’t read until I’m done watching the latest season. Please do not discuss spoilers with me.
Tabs that I have kept open for an inordinate amount of time for no good reason
Top Eight Chord Progressions of All Time (Uke Hunt): I haven’t touched my ukulele in months.
The Type of Love That Makes People Happiest (The Atlantic): A nice quick piece I keep coming back to because it’s heartwarming, sometimes.
An apology
I realize that the one cruel flaw of this post is that I am encouraging you, reader, to open up more tabs on your end. So, I’m a bit sorry but also not sorry. I just hope you found something interesting! Let me know if you did :)
a closing song recommendation
Need Ur Luv - Japanese Wallpaper Remix by Charlie XCX