I do feel like smartphones are close to essential in modern society. I can’t say I like that, but it is what it is. From all the things you describe to stuff like sending money between each other and paying for services in today’s cashless society you really kind of struggle without one.

For me, I got my first phone at 11 or 12, but back then it was of course not a smartphone but a regular cell phone. Times were different then. Kids still interacted with each other during recess, the best distraction your phone had available was Snake. The internet as we know it wasn’t a thing. The main thing you used your phone for was actually calling people.

I also felt like there was a certain whiff of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace about it, like how years are names after corporate sponsors.

That this has not yet been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature can only be described as a crime against humanity.

I’m usually pretty thick-skinned about stuff like this but man, that picture made even my stomach knot.

This is phenomenal.

I think the most persistent earworm I’ve ever had is Elliott Smith’s Son of Sam, which has been constantly popping into my head the last 17 years or so. I’m not even sure I think it’s his objectively best song, but it’s the one that’s been most earwormy for sure. Usually pops into my head when I shower.

That was incredible, honestly. Fantastic reading. Kind of reminded me of Son House, actually. I feel like the hammer blow rhythm of this poem would match up perfectly with some rattling resonator guitar licks.

After being reminded of it by suggesting it to someone else on Lemmy I’ve been re-watching Kieślowski’s Dekalog. Been doing an episode a day and have seen four so far. They really are just masterpieces. I’d almost forgotten how uncomfortable episode 4 was (in a good way), but it’s impossible to forget just how much humanity Kieślowski is able to capture and put on display. Some really gorgeous shots and visual symbolism too, mixed into the fascinating stories that always pose questions and never provide any answers. For a series about the ten commandments there is a complete lack of moralising, he only ever presents you with dilemmas and lets you draw your own conclusions. Phenomenal series.

Now that is some great fucking accidental renaissance.

The John Oliver bit about the sound of Trump vs Drumpf was an alright punchline to a show ten years ago, before even the first installment of this madness. Those were simpler times, though, and fundamentally I agree with you.

I don’t know that it’s renaissance per se, but an absolutely stunning picture for sure.

I can vouch for that, Belgian fries are by far the superior kind. In a way I’m glad I don’t live there or I’d have the circumference of a small planet by now.

I think the confusion stems from some people assuming an implied “turn up [the temperature of] the AC”.

It’s mostly a holdover from the early days of the internet I think. I remember in the olden days when Wikipedia was fairly new, and the amount of contributors back then were much smaller and the rigorousness with which sources was provided was also completely different. I was in what, middle school back then, and every teacher would remind us for every assignment: “remember that Wikipedia is not an admissible source”. I think the reputation remains from those days, basically. In today’s day and age I consider Wikipedia a fairly reliable source, honestly.

Reminds me of the classic Bill Hicks bit about Jesus and crosses.

Seconded. Maybe I just enjoy them more than most but I think it’s a missed opportunity to not make more hay with the punnerific nature of “Lemmy”. Like !lemmybewholesome@lemmy.world

Happiness and peace of mind.

Time is just an illusion anyway. We can’t measure time, because time is the measurement. It’s how humans measure change. Fundamentally a second is no more “real” than a centimeter. You can’t have a bag of either, so to speak. They’re just abstract concepts.

I’ve never once given a single thought about needing to be subscribed to communities to participate, but I can heartily recommend curating your /subscribed feed in that manner to have a front page that (mostly) doesn’t make you reach for the noose constantly.