I have been meaning to apologize for falling off the Substack wagon. Over the last few months, I have been disengaged from the Substack community–from my own readers but also from the many newsletters that I follow. I’ve been traveling a lot over the last few months, so I blamed it on that.
But last night, as I scrolled through the recent posts in my Substack feed, I started getting suspicious. I am a paying subscriber to several newsletters that I (obviously) enjoy reading—how come they had escaped my attention for so many months? I started searching my email for the newsletters that used to regularly populate my inbox, but my searches came up empty. Nothing had reached my inbox since before the summer.
Investigating further, I scoured my Substack settings and discovered the culprit: a button allowing “smart notifications.”
I’m not exactly sure what these smart notifications entail, but I think it’s something like Substack organizes all of my newsletters into one aggregate email instead of sending each post directly to my inbox. Sheltered within the Substack email (which I never opened), I never once saw a single post from the newsletters I subscribe to all summer and fall.
Perhaps I pushed the button, although I tend to stay away from anything that labels itself “smart.” We all know that “smart” in this technological age means unnecessarily complicated and opaque. Call me old fashioned but I don’t want a “smart” refrigerator or a “smart” house. I don’t even want a “smart” phone but unfortunately I’ve become one of the masses who can’t exist without their digital device.
I suppose I should reflect on why it took me several months to figure out that my supposedly beloved newsletters had disappeared from my life. Partly, I have ADHD and that may have something to do with it. I’m not known for being particularly observant; sometimes, my husband will make repairs around the house and then count the weeks (or months?) that it takes me to notice the changes.
But also, I have been leaning into being out of touch with “culture” lately. Our summer trip to visit family in Germany felt like a welcome break from the never-ending hamster wheel of intaking content: newsletters, podcasts, articles, reels. It’s good stuff, and I usually enjoy immersing myself into all of it, but it can feel stifling after a while and clutter the mind from our own internal dialogue.
I’ve heard of people taking “media sabbaticals” where they abstain from intaking all different kinds of media for a determined amount of time—newspapers, radio, some might even cut out books. The past few months hasn’t been an intentional media sabbatical for me, but it has definitely been a trimmed down version of my usual media diet. And now I feel like I’m returning to the media landscape a bit more refreshed (although I keep falling into deep rabbit holes about momfluencers—particularly Ballerina Farm! I can’t look away.).
All of this to say that I’m back on the hamster wheel. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed (and encouraged!) by the omnipresent conversation happening all over the internet about smartphones/social media and how they’re impacting our lives—basically the topics that I write about in this newsletter. Which has me wondering – what do I have to add to the conversation? Is this still something that I’m passionate about?
The truth is, it is. I still struggle mightily on a daily basis with my relationship to devices and the digital world. For now, I’ll continue sharing what I learn from my struggles here with you all.
🧹Housekeeping
🌀Podcast: I have been conducting many interesting interviews for the SCROLL SANITY podcast. If you have any experience with producing podcasts and editing audio, please get in touch!
✍️Represent! I am seeking representation for a nonfiction book based on this newsletter. If you or someone you know works in the publishing industry, please contact me.
🚀 Growing this newsletter! Please forward this newsletter to all of your friends! And don’t forget to post about it on social media (if you’re into that kind of thing — and if you are, add me on TikTok and Instagram).
🔥Something new: I added a paid subscription option. For now, the content will be the same for both paid and free subscriptions. I’m just giving readers the option of paying for my newsletter if they so desire!
Great to see you back. I noticed your emails weren't in my inbox. Guess I'm not smart enough to have smart notifications.