Did anyone think the drama around Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter will play out any differently? Normally, that is? Is anything that this guy does conventional?
Yesterday, I ranted about how Youtube is aggressively pushing Shorts in their feeds and recommendations. Of course, the quality had taken a huge nosedive. Well, just look at the explore tab of YouTube. I very rarely do, that section always had poor-quality videos. But at least they were full-length ones. Now it is full of shorts with each having millions of views.
That’s so much collective time wasted. We need to move on from shaming social media and its addictive nature. These short videos are ruining our habits and I see very few are complaining.
A few years back, I stopped watching Elementary after the last episode of the first season. I didn’t like that it stopped being what it was good at - a riveting procedural drama. I recently started watching the second season and even this season had the same arc. I am stopping watching the series this time too.
It has been raining incessantly here for the past week. So when the Sun shone through clouds momentarily, the whole neighbourhood decided to turn up on the roads. It didn’t matter that the skies were still crowded with clouds and it would rain soon. Too much of anything is bad.
As far as time wastage goes, short video services are the new social media. YouTube Shorts, Reels whatever. I have realized this mindless format of the content is eating up too much of my productive time. YouTube, in itself, was bad. But at least there was a chance that I would learn something. With Shorts, it’s a total waste of hours, a minute at a time.
I don’t watch Reels because, well, I don’t use Instagram. Or Tiktok. Or whatever app that’s trending now. But I keep going back to YouTube often when I have short time to pass. I hate that the app is aggressively pushing the Shorts nowadays.
What’s worse is that the videos are trash. They are neither fun nor informative. They register only as much as a dented luxury car would – I go “huh, that’s odd” and move on.
I finished reading The Comfort Book by Matt Haig today. Though I really enjoyed this book, I don’t think I am done reading it. I will keep this book close and revisit a chapter randomly whenever I feel down. Or feel that I need a nudge in the right direction. I don’t think this one is a book. Each chapter is a nugget of inspiration, of motivation, of reminders for what matters, presented in the most no-nonsense way by Matt Haig. π
Almost every morning, I get a notification from Day One reminding me of an entry I had made on this day in some previous year. It always brings a smile to my face. Most entries are from some 8-10 years back when my daughter was growing up. I am so pleased with myself that I have made these entries. I relive the charm and the excitement of spending time with a growing child.
There are no notifications that I look forward to more than the ones from Day One. This is a worthy investment, both the subscription cost and the cost in terms of time to note the entries. The words I might have found meaningless then read like a heartfelt memory today.
My caseless device had the first fall today, thankfully a minor one. But until I picked it up and looked for cracks and dents, my mind was racing like crazy. Not a good feeling this. Yuck!
Read widely. Read some books more than once. Write in your books. Donβt finish every book you start. You might be able to read 2500 books in your lifetime. Maybe a few more than that. Itβs still a very small number. Choose wisely.
Source: My Twelve Rules for Life β
We have unnecessarily complicated the rating system for everything. It can simply be ππ½ or ππ½. A long rant awaits…