Soothing

Many commenters have said they found the videos “therapeutic,” he said. “Even though I presented in an educational format, they were using it as more of an entertainment source.”

In the book, I quote Amanda Montell, who explains this perfectly in Cultish : “Modern cultish groups feel comforting in part because they help alleviate the anxious mayhem of living in a world that presents almost too many possibilities for who to be.”

But regardless of my use in any given week, what’s important is that the small thing has led to a bigger thing: realizing I have much more agency than I thought I did, and that corporations are built on the back of us thinking we don’t have any.

A new Harvard study finds that Gen Z adults are struggling more than any other age group across 22 countries, with 18–29-year-olds reporting “unprecedented” levels of unhappiness, poor mental health, and a lack of purpose.

The internet has also made us all acutely aware of crises in the world. We're bombarded with a firehose of information every day as algorithms amplify the most inflammatory and disturbing content. There is no going back to the pre-2016 state of ignorance that many people, especially upper middle class white people, were immersed in.

There’s a story in The Times today about how A.S.M.R., the pleasant, brain-tingling feeling we get when hearing certain sounds or watching certain comforting scenes, has become a feature of all viral internet content, not just specialized videos devoted to inducing the sensation. You can still put on a very specific video of someone whispering into... See more

Now, it feels like anything bad that happens anywhere in the world is somehow relevant to me and my responsibility. It’s like, I’m not allowed to be happy as long as someone, somewhere, is having a bad time.

Especially with global problems, it’s like, how are you allowed to smile when there’s climate change? These problems are really bad, but you

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Ann: There's sort of something in the atmosphere—an aura as the days get closer. It's very different than last year. It's getting a little bit more intense. We've had a shooting and a man hunt. And also the election. I think there's a little bit of an edginess.

Glen: The second I put on the suit, people are just like, 'Santa!' They're so relieved to... See more

When the World Feels Messy, I Turn to PowerWash Simulator