Feeling Joy-Hungry? LinkedIn-Speak Translator and First-Gen Dating App Babies

One big idea cushioned by a few smaller ones.

I often find myself hoping you see me as less of a blogger and more of a conduit between you and the Internet. Here I reside, logging hours upon hours of screen time so you don’t have to, all to deliver you the latest and very occasionally greatest.

Okay, if not a conduit, perhaps consider me a cat and this is my dead bird left at your doorstep. I’ll continue to workshop this metaphor until we nail it.

Linkedin-Speak Translator

More often than not I’m harboring ill-will toward LinkedIn. Its content, its algorithms, its relentless pursuit in trying to teach me something about ‘B2B sales…’ it’s the worst.

Most of all I hate the proverbial suit and tie one puts on before posting anything on the platform— corporate-posturing designed to let others know that your vocabulary is robust, your stream of consciousness-outputs refined, you’re not just capable of thought, but Thought Leadership.

If you’ve found yourself scratching your head and expediting a copy of Strengths and Leadership, save those brain cells for pursuing something less sinister. Welcome, LinkedIn Translator:

The First-Generation Dating App Babies

…the oldest of which are 16 years old. Emphasis on app, I’m hip to the fact that eHarmony and Match walked so Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble could burst into flames. While these FGDAB’s are a mere handful of years away from being able to use the apps themselves, it seems less likely as Gen Z is avoiding them in pursuit of IRL connection. Stay fighting the good fight angels.

However, Gen Alpha is the most online in history. Time will tell!

Insatiable Desire to Not Feel Like Shit for One Second? I’m Calling that Joy Hunger.

Here’s me introducing a cultural shift or something. LMK what you think 👇🏻

That aching growl that won’t go away no matter how many times you attempt to satiate with another shopping-spree or scroll? The high of seeing one positive shift in the news-sphere suddenly replaced with the dread of Aaron Parnas’ voice (I love you Aaron, I promise) leaves us with a pang of emptiness.

That chasm is where meaning and purpose used to go, and lately despite some of my best efforts, a venture to a “third space” or dinner spent with friends hasn’t been enough to fill me up. In fact, that low grade rumble that used to be filled by things like “dopamine dressing” or analog hours has become more urgent.

“Needing a little pick me up” is different than Joy Hunger. JH is frenetic, operating with a low-buzz of chaos that looks everywhere to find meaning. At present, I see it manifest in the quick about-face from Millennial Cringe to Millennial Optimism.

Arguably a time that had more clarity than the last ten years, offering a blueprint for ‘How to Have Hope When Everything Feels Bad 101.’ Revisiting this with fresh, less irony-burnt-out eyes, feels like watching a Survivor-esque round table made up of people who graduated in 2008. The illusionary promise that there’s no problem that Mumford and Sons can’t solve.

As the despair starts to feel more extreme, I wonder if the ways to mitigate it will too. My current hunches start with the growing move toward religion among young people (the OG way of meaning-seeking, I guess) Forrest Frank’s Child of God II hit 200 on the Billboard charts last year. Questions over metrics aside, that’s still pretty high for Christian music.

My next hunch rests squarely on the Wellness movement, I spoke to Women in Brand last week about the industry need to take a hard look at themselves in the coming year, because surely that bubble will burst. From Joy Hunger to Joy Hangry, I’m willing to bet that all that diet, exercise, and regiment-rigidity could easily give way to decadence, hedonism, and a hard swing in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, my last hunch is probably the darkest (sorry!) When the anger, resentment, and dread rise to the very top will we outdo ourselves when it comes to public shaming? The morality policing, passive-aggressive commentary, and frankly irl road-rage (guilty!) is already well-baked into the fabric of current culture… but when eviscerating your self-defined enemy starts to feel good, does that kick it up another notch?

As we frantically search for meaning and fulfillment in a culturally-uncertain climate, we’ll inevitably have to turn over several stones to find it. Whether they’re nostalgic, unexplored, or even outright wrong— someone will eventually find the meaning and joy we’re been starved of. And when you do…

email me.

Legally, It Really Is the Damn Phones

Meta and Youtube were found liable in the social media addiction case, to the tune of roughly $6 million dollars in damages across both platforms. To me, there’s never been a better time for this case to have been heard. It’s been pretty easy to write-off social media addiction as a problem that rests on the individual’s shoulders— lack of self-control, lack of self-esteem, etc. But the last few years all those dark patterns have come to light, five years ago internal Facebook communications acknowledged they knew their site was toxic to teen girls.

Akin to gambling, when you’re winning likes, engagement, or comments it’s like hitting a triple 7 on the slot machine: addictive. It’s designed that way.

I get it, you’re all saying “no shit, Anna.” No shit, indeed. In addition to the proven harmful and physical effects of these socials, it hits a particular beat that I’ve been worrying about for some time: the more addicted to inaction we become, the more our mega-billionare, pervert politicians and businessmen can get away with.

Your algorithm addicts you to apathy, the horrors become too frequent to metabolize so instead of (literally) getting up, one flick of the thumb makes them “go away.”

What this means for the evil tech bros, I’m not sure. Is it as easy as taking a cue from the tobacco industry and patching advisories across homepages and fine-print agreement statements? We’ll see.

People Are Really Pissed at Southwest

Bad: Kind of a masterclass in how to pivot your consumers from brand affinity to brand disdain. I have to admit, I laughed when the brand’s new advertisements tried to position seat assignments as the Great Relief consumers had been begging for. Now, my TikTok is flooded with tales of discriminatory rules, shoddy customer service, and employees on the inside acknowledging just how bad things are at a corporate level.

Better: In the meantime, United has popped out with economy seats that can be turned into beds… (something new to pay for that once happened serendipitously or a gracious offering to consumers?)

Best: Delta said, “no perks” to congress members until the DHS shut down is over.

Before I go, I want to tell you that after lots of Googling, YouTube, and TikTok videos I successfully made poke at home using farm-raised (crucial: farm-raised!!!) Costco salmon. I ate it for multiple meals from Sunday to Wednesday and can proudly report that I did not get sick. Information to use at your own risk!

10mg hates to see me coming,