On the Attention (Economy) and How We All FALL Short

All FALL Short 🍃

I lied about sending a newsie in September, but I was on a health journey you see?!

Before you read this rant- BIG EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT below - make sure to come say hi on 10/21 for MUNCHIES MEET UP!

Here I am on the other side of yet another surgery feeling like I have another.. chance?

Chance at what, I don’t know, I will keep it a B, but there’s something crushing to the ego when you have long term health drama that makes it harder and harder (for me) to participate in the attention economy—a parasitic life form attached to our already punishing regular economy.

I think of how for many folks born in 1986-89, all we have known since we were fresh, first year teenagers was the fucking internet creeping into our every day social, educational, and eventually professional lives. I think of the ways that needing attention can twist and deform us, EVEN when that need is justifiable. Now we give it (ze internets) our attention every hour, for every need.

How do we build careers, families, communities, when our inherent value to the attention economy has now been attached to our heads with a literal number. They actually found a way to QUANTIFY how many (and precisely how much) people give a shit about you.

But here’s the rub: They (Zuck? Musk? Meredith Corp? Hearst?) all determine if you’re deserving of that precious attention — positive or negative. They actually algorithmized our inner and outer lives, and found a way to turn us all into busses, billboards, and street sheds for layers and layers of ads that they are paid to wheatpaste all over our (online) lives.

THEY determine the value of your account (bus, billboard, park bench, taxi TV) and then your inherent value to capitalism and to ad buyers with an algorithm jacked up on pre-existing biases and terms of service that preserve marketability, fuckability, and the shit status quo over the right to not be bullied and harassed, or in many cases outright silenced.

One day, an algorithm will exist so folks can see how much Meta made off of you in your account lifetime, or in other cases, how much money you didn’t make because Meta kept your account in ATTENTION JAIL.

Until then, use your eyeballs more judiciously, a reset is long overdue.

LATEST WORK: 😎💨

(The below commentary is my own and does not reflect the opinion of Lifehacker, the sources in the article, or anyone else really.)

Delta 9 is a hot mess. What I didn’t say this in my article, a neutral-ish explainer made to educate is this: Fuck hemp delta 9!! Obviously this is my own opinion, and while there is an ‘right’ way to sell naturally derived hemp d9, and I legitimately love many hemp products, CBD, flower or otherwise, this current boom is outright skipping over the needed progress and the 40K people still in jail for your right to sell it in the first place.

Read the piece if you want the education and less opinion though 😉 

INFLUENCED: Buying Insights 📲

Ayrloom - Black Cherry

Not much to say about my new favorite cannabis drink except the absolute basics:

It’s low dose; low cal; doesn’t have alt sweeteners; bubbly; and also has CBD.

The Black Cherry is so good that I want to keep her stocked eternally.

9/10 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒

Lady’s First Gaga 💋

Are we obsessed with small things like I am? Tiny products have been my favorite since my aunt’s mini perfume collection caught my attention and stole my heart. Tiny anything makes sense if you don’t need a lot: and with the Haus Labs (Gaga!!!!) PhD Lip Oil, two dabs of this slightly warm berry gives me glaze and accentuates the natural violet tones in my own lips.

Vegan collagen, squalane (my frickin fave) and more make the ‘sealed’ effect long lasting—even on chapped lips. When celeb beauty is actually good— it’s good! ($14)

8/10 👄👄👄👄👄👄👄👄

EEEEvents

Check out these fun events in NYC, the West Coast, and beyond!

Links to Love 💕 or Hate 🫀

Furniture, fashion, cannabis, services, everything is being shredded by the race to the bottom. Even resale involves creating new waste (transportation gas, paint cans, upholstery), so how exactly do we find long lasting, well made clothing, furniture, homes, and, well, lives, when they’re all made to fall apart?🖖

It’s really time to chill on this. I don’t mean online, or even in your work, just on each other. Calling a friend in an emergency is one thing, turning every hangout into a therapy sesh for one? Cringe. Cornering your service provider with sadness but never joy? Not only cringe, but potentially harmful. I know I’ve been guilty of taking a perceived heart-to-heart too far, but in constantly reforming our own boundaries, values, and how we practice them, it’s time for a bit of a refit. 👀

You know you love disco. I know I love low and no alc options at cute and chic bars, so why not explore how the two are mingling in this new (old) trend! ☄️

No thoughts, just tea, pure tea.⚡️

Trauma!!! Here’s some! This one hit home but it’s not my story to tell. Humans are terrible and yet, terribly remarkable in the same stroke. 🙏

The beauty of shifting your values is in reminding yourself of your blessed humility, even when you’ve lost it. Grab it and hang on tight!🧠

THIS is so good. In making everything about ads and ranking and algorithms, these tech companies are overstepping, and it’s finally getting dissected to the ugly, capitalist, core. 🦾

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Ciao amici 😘😘