chickenfries

It's definitely the format and the quantity for me. Seeing an old friend in person and having them tell me about their life and accomplishments, even showing me pictures, does not make me feel the same way. I think it's also the fact that I turn to social media when I'm feeling lonely, so seeing a feed of people at their best moments, on vacation with friends, getting married, having children, etc... makes me feel even more lonely and isolated. Also, social media is full of people that I have lost touch with, who never check in with me or reach out to see how I'm doing. I've found that I feel much more connected by reaching out to old friends one on one and catching up with them via texting or phone calls. Likes and comments just don't cut it.

I agree with you that I wish social media was full of more posts like this, but foodgrams and humble brags as you put it are also one of the reasons I avoid social media these days. Seeing a feed of the best moments of other peoples lives leaves me feeling depressed. "Comparison is the thief of joy." I'm happy for my friends, but seeing it all collected in one place makes my own life feel inadequate. I'm much happier when I avoid social media.

Thank you for your answer. Personally, as a gamer the idea of cross game microtransactions and collectibles does not interest me. Minecraft skins are free and easy to create, you can make yourself look like Mario if you want, or anything else. The idea of putting that on the blockchain instead seems dystopian. On top of that, I’m pretty sure that Nintendo would never want to do such a thing.

> The possibilities of NFTs fascinate me, especially for portable, digital identities and assets that transcend any specific virtual realm and can't be arbitrarily erased by any central authority.

I'm struggling to understand the possibilities. Can you enlighten me? It seems like people buying these things are just speculating. Can you paint a picture of what kind of possibilities you're excited about?

I was with you initially, but after thinking about it could be argued that creating classes that are overwhelmingly white in an overwhelmingly non white district are something approaching segregation. In the end, all that is being done to the “advanced” students is that they’re being offered the same education that their peers are getting. Resources spent on the advanced learning program could have been spent on offering a better quality of education for the entire school. I’m sympathetic to both sides of this issue but I don’t find it simple.

> Fifty years on, the last man is here, placidly enjoying his lockdown thanks to Zoom, Netflix and Uber Eats, totally comfortable with the prospect of a future controlled by artificial intelligence and big data. Perhaps we need a modern day Mishima to shock us out of our complacency.

Is this a real person? I don’t think I know anyone unconcerned by the future, no matter how much they may distract themselves with modern convenience, as the author describes. But maybe there are people who think everything is going just fine, and I don’t know them.

You think this “sword attack” was coordinated by WhatsApp and therefore they should all be cut off?

The main problem with suicide is that it forecloses the possibility that your life will get better. And it can. The fact that you care about leaving your connections in distress tells me you care for people. This is normal and good and makes you human. We need human connection to live. Even now, you take others feelings into account. You seem like a good person, and the world would be worse without you.

I don’t know what has brought you to this point in life, but I’m sorry that it has you considering suicide.

For me, being a workaholic left me feeling disconnected and isolated from the world. The antidepressants didn’t help, they just numbed me to my own emotional pain enough that I could keep functioning.

The holidays are a depressing time for a lot of people, and to a limited extent, I can see the harm reduction in working through them. But for me, finding a reason to live involved spending time outside of work to make new friends, revive old friendships, and improve my family life. I truly believe that work is no replacement for friends and family, the only things that I have found worth living for.

I hope things start looking up for you, friend.

Listening to the audiobook while smoking is how I quit. Took me two attempts but it really wasn’t some grueling, terrible ordeal the whole time. Smokers and non smokers alike romanticize smoking excessively. Listening to Carr helped me realize that smoking is actually a huge pain in the ass that makes your life worse instead of something so pleasurable that living life without it seems like asceticism.

Chewing gum is a fine. There’s a lot to be said about caning in Singapore but you’re not going to be caned for chewing gum.

And "Babel-17" by Sameul R. Delaney.

Debunked linguistics sure make for interesting sci-fi.

There’s a good chance some of them are. Or Drupal, which is very similar.

You talk as if every person in every developing country is desperately trying to leave, which is absurd.

> Avoid over-engineering

I would consider this list to be a little over-engineered