The hotspot for underachievers
The other day, I sent a good friend of mine a book excerpt on The New Yorker's site that I was surprised they'd published. She and I got to talking about book excerpts in general, but also specifically on The New Yorker. Book excerpts, she told
Missed the earlier installments?  Vol. 1 ,  Vol. 2 ,  Vol. 3 , Vol. 4 Why do we share on the internet? What is it about being online that makes people want to post, share, connect, comment, whatever it is they do? Is it different from sharing in person, or
Missed the earlier installments? Vol. 1 , Vol. 2 , Vol. 3 As a rule, I do not love starting out with housekeeping (I don't love housekeeping, period), but on the off-chance folks don't read to the end, I want to make sure everyone sees this: First,
Hi friends. I need your help figuring something out. As you know, I've been writing this newsletter consistently for a solid year and a half now. Exactly a year and a half, in fact! I started Meets Most in 2023 but didn't fully commit to it
Missed the earlier installments? Here's Vol. 1 and here's Vol. 2 . Years ago, more than a decade now, I edited a series of personal essays for a magazine called Pacific Standard . This was toward the tail end of the personal essay renaissance, those years when first-
Missed Vol. 1? Read it here. Depending on your propensity for philosophical noodling, you may have occasionally pondered elements of social media beyond the usual questions like "why is everyone's life more fun than mine" and "why am I doomscrolling at 2 a.m."
I apologize for interrupting my Add Yours story so immediately after beginning the saga but you'll understand why I had to. A friend of mine texted me earlier: "Claude lied to me. Did I tell you?" Claude, I asked, as in the GenAI tool? Yes, that
A few weeks ago, in a conversation with a friend who knows a lot more about tech than I ever will, I told him about what I actually did at Instagram. Not because he doesn't know what user research is, or because he was unfamiliar with the companies
Hello! When you receive this missive, I will be in the true throes of moving. I've done a lot of work leading up to this day, but today is when the movers come to take all the furniture and boxes I couldn't schlep over myself. Today
A few weeks ago, I wrote the best research proposal of my career. I normally do not look forward to writing proposals at all, as evinced in part by the book proposal I'm still staring down. To be honest, I don't love most documentation or paperwork.
Last week, my friends at Scratch reached out to ask if I'd be interesting in answering questions about why I moved my newsletter off Substack. Of course I would! I've written some about it here, as you know, but I'm always game to talk
Earlier this week, I remembered that I currently set my own work schedule, so I took Monday off. First I had lunch with a dear friend at a beloved establishment that's sadly closing , and then I meandered over to The Frick to see a fantastic exhibit before it,
One of the most challenging things for me about doing a newsletter is that I feel like I have to come up with a new topic every week. It's a funny thing to admit because I always have a million ideas romping around in my brain, and there&
Did I promise to write a specific newsletter last week? Does anyone remember? (Please don't go check.) Yes, I did, and I should know better. Chris, my apologies, but I won't be writing about your comment this week because—like a total jerk—I&
If I were to be completely honest with you, there were a lot of things I disliked about being a user experience researcher. Don't get me wrong, it was often a good and interesting job. It was just frustrating one. As a user researcher, you have a lot