I’m completely powerless for 19 years, then suddenly I’m supposed to have autonomy and know what to do with it? Sorry, my only skills are sitting really quietly pretending I don’t exist, taking any treatment without getting mad because I don’t know where the line of “not okay” should be drawn, and spontaneously crying.
i love that moment of absolute acceptance and tranquility that washes over you exactly 1 minute and 35 seconds before an exam begins. when you look at the notes you’ve been trying to absorb and realize that at this point you’re either ready or you’re not and you put them away and all the anxiety and doubt you had up until this moment just floats off you like steam from a hot summer sidewalk after a storm.
i think this exact situation is where actors who have to die on-screen draw their inspiration. that look in their eyes when they realize their wound doesn’t hurt anymore, and they look at their friend, their face awash with acceptance and near-relief, and the light leaves their eyes,
they learned that in a stats class.
the professor: everyone put your phones away and clear off your desks
It’s quite likely no coincidence that that most ‘mismanaged’ and least profitable social media site is also the one that turned out to be most amenable to the formation of actual communities
To clarify, Tumblr is indeed horribly mismanaged, but notably, it’s mismanaged both in ways that harm us (e.g. doing little about pornbots, nazis, etc.) and ways that have greatly benefited us – not asking for real names, hiding our follower counts, a chronologically-sorted dashboard, etc. are big draws, but in the eyes of other social media monarchs, they look like unforgivable mistakes. If I don’t have to give my real name, that’s that much less information to sell to advertisers. If posts are listed chronologically, Tumblr can’t shove the posts of ‘influencers’ in front of me willy-nilly. Tumblr was a ‘success’ because it was too poorly managed to sufficiently atomize us, and so we actually had conversations and communities instead of being the best products for advertisers.
me [sweating]: everything is under control situation normal uh had a slight weapons malfunction but uh everything’s alright now we’re fine we’re all fine here, now, thank you how are you?
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