I felt like doing a touchdown dance when I found paper towels and veggie burgers in the grocery store this week.
Life is simple in the Pandemic Times. You stay inside and learn to cook. You watch just about everything there is to stream and you try to remember why exactly you hated squeezing into crowded bars with reckless abandon.
Even if you're one of the many unemployed, your problem is clear. The solution might not be here yet, but there is little doubt about the problem.
In the Before Times, there was no end to the problems you could solve. We had infinite choice and the fear of missing out. It was a recipe for anxiety. I blame the Internet. That's right, the wonderful tubes that bring us fail videos and free porn is at fault. The Internet revealed an endless list of things we might ever want to do and the reminder that we can't do them all. That last part stings the most.
The Internet did offer ways to improve, though. In an NPR article titled The Millennial Obsession With Self-Care, Hyepin Im, an expert on mental health and digital literacy, said, "In a way of having that affordable free access to information increases awareness to these areas we didn't know from schooling or families." He continues, "Once you're aware, these new tools and apps equip us ... to actually make that investment."
It's not a bad thing. Solving problems is how we got this species to where we are. But you could say we're not just problem-solving machines, we're problem-making machines too.
Shreyas Doshi, a Product Manager at Stripe, noticed this phenomena in some of the most influential companies of our time. He calls it the Preventable Problem Paradox. Doshi says that complex organizations, like Facebook and Google, end up incentivizing problem creation instead of problem prevention. Why? Because creating problems provides the sexy and very visible opportunity to solve them. After all, the Silicon Valley credo is move fast and break stuff. But the flip-side could be more important - no one is celebrated for preventing disaster. It's boring, seemingly unnecessary, and, worse of all, invisible.
I think this might be the problem with people too. We'd rather make problems for ourselves to solve than prevent them altogether.
Most times, we're brainwashed to buy our way to a solution. People want to show off products of wealth and wellness instead of accepting that sleeping enough, without your phone, and drinking water, not tequila, are healthy practices.
Charlotte Lieberman offered another good example in an article titled How Self-Care Became So Much Work: "Although knowing our daily step count may provide the illusion of control in our lives, quantifying the “work” we are doing on ourselves (and ostensibly for ourselves) not only reinforces the idea that self-care should be work but also presents excessive opportunities for self-criticism."
What if the answer was just to do less? What if we're spinning our wheels to complete more bullshit, only making more useless anxiety for ourselves?
I know it's not that easy, I struggle with it myself. Every single day I have a to-do list longer than I can possibly finish in 24 hours. And in the back of my mind, I know there is no end to these problems, at least until I achieve Nirvana.
But the systematic shakedown of this pandemic might be the breath of fresh air we all need. It might be a reminder of what's essential. As Laurie Penny wrote in a Wired article titled Productivity is Not Working: "The idea that hustling can save you from calamity is an article of faith, not fact—and the Covid-19 pandemic is starting to shake the collective faith in individual striving."
Life can be the problems you choose. If any of this makes sense, take some time this week and ask yourself if your problems are worth the effort. Or are you making fires just to put them out?
With that being said, lets' check out some rad shit from the past week:
Summer is around the corner. It won't be like years past at all. No wandering humid New York City streets, making memories. But if that makes you sad, Casey Neistat's old vlogs offer a healthy source of Before Times nostalgia. I recently watched Customize Everything. Got any recommendations?
Need some new Netflix? Middleditch and Schwartz is a three-part long-form improv special. The two comedy actors put together a series of wacky scenes from just a few minutes of dialogue with their audience. A great choice for a lot of silly, unscripted laughs.
Need more reasons to laugh? Of course you do. Enjoy Mashable's outtakes of John Oliver and Cookie Monster reporting the news.
Just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any worse, the Gathering of the Juggalos was cancelled. Seems the Insane Clown Posse didn't want to risk even one Juggalo life. Maybe they should get Trump on the phone.
If you're a fan of experimental skate videos, Russell Houghten's Urban Isolation offers a beautiful and eerie glimpse of tricking through an empty Los Angeles.
Until next time...