Whoa. Beth. If I had a highlighter I would have underlined every sentence. I especially liked the “making ourselves more coherent for people to sell to us” line. And- because I can’t help myself- I immediately thought of the proliferation of microtrends. Like “Mermaid Mother” happening right now is a way to package the trends for the summer and sell them to us under a “vibe” or a character we can inhabit for the day/week/month/season. Am I totally guilty of this too? Hell yes, but also wow.
PS- the quote from the book written in 2000 is eerily accurate even 25 years later.
this is a great piece! your'e absolutely right it feels so dystopian right? is it peak capitalism? I ditched my Apple Watch I didn't want ANOTHER thing telling me what to do or how badly I'm doing. I certainly dont want an Oura ring, recently I feel super rebellious. I want people to be themselves and not try to categorise themselves as if they were a product!
I have been inspired to come up with some ridiculous personality test that I can make money from - ha! but that is not something I would do as its gross, be yourself, you don't need an algorithm to tell you who you are and what you like. I just like what I like. I see all this nonsense like 'mob wife' or 'coastal grandma' and I think please just be YOU
This is fascinating — the global “personality assessment solution” market stats floored me! I’d be curious to see if there’s any data/analysis linking this current surge for self-understanding (through capitalism) with the rising national and global unrest — seems connected somehow!
Whoa. Beth. If I had a highlighter I would have underlined every sentence. I especially liked the “making ourselves more coherent for people to sell to us” line. And- because I can’t help myself- I immediately thought of the proliferation of microtrends. Like “Mermaid Mother” happening right now is a way to package the trends for the summer and sell them to us under a “vibe” or a character we can inhabit for the day/week/month/season. Am I totally guilty of this too? Hell yes, but also wow.
PS- the quote from the book written in 2000 is eerily accurate even 25 years later.
Ha petition to build Kelly a special highlighter. Agree re MM. And agree re that 2000 book...so much has changed in those 25 yrs but also, has it...x
this is a great piece! your'e absolutely right it feels so dystopian right? is it peak capitalism? I ditched my Apple Watch I didn't want ANOTHER thing telling me what to do or how badly I'm doing. I certainly dont want an Oura ring, recently I feel super rebellious. I want people to be themselves and not try to categorise themselves as if they were a product!
Rebellious is a word I keep hearing from interesting ppl like you. This whole thing is so interesting!!
I have been inspired to come up with some ridiculous personality test that I can make money from - ha! but that is not something I would do as its gross, be yourself, you don't need an algorithm to tell you who you are and what you like. I just like what I like. I see all this nonsense like 'mob wife' or 'coastal grandma' and I think please just be YOU
Ohhh yes. If you haven’t seen this, it might ring your bells https://patternrecognitionbytomorrowism.substack.com/p/is-the-algorithm-making-us-less-stylish
Excellent! Some great insights.
thanks Bob!
This is fascinating — the global “personality assessment solution” market stats floored me! I’d be curious to see if there’s any data/analysis linking this current surge for self-understanding (through capitalism) with the rising national and global unrest — seems connected somehow!
Oh almost certainly. That is a great parallel. You should write this!!
Adding to the never-ending topic list :)
Hahaa
Had to give a shout-out for quoting Zygmunt Bauman and his book Liquid Modernity which helped me SO much to understand the world we live in today.
Hi fellow ZB reader! Agree agree agree with you.
LOVE this piece! Wow!
Tysm!
Fantastic piece!
tysm!