Fear and Loathing on the Internet
Social Media’s Mad Again—Should You Be?
This week marked one whole year of A Home for All Seasons being out in the world! To celebrate we have a competition to win a copy on Instagram right now. You can check out the post here.
Also, if you have purchased a copy, firstly thank-you so much and secondly, we would love it if you could leave a review here so other people can find and enjoy our book. Thank-you. ❤️
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Hello Friends,
Happy Friday
Based on my Substack feed this week I feel like I should be writing to you all about The Salt Path. I know though, that many of you who have signed up for these weekly emails aren’t even on Substack. In that case maybe you none the wiser. Are you like, what about The Salt Path?
I’m not going to get into it here, but long-story-short: a lady wrote a memoir and it turns out that some of it was based on lies and seemingly the whole of Substack is outraged. I get it. It’s wrong to lie, but I can’t help thinking; surely there are far worse things going on in the world right now to be morally outraged about. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read The Salt Path myself — I have no emotional investment in the story, so don’t understand? Yet, I can’t help feeling the reaction seems overblown.
Is it a byproduct of lives lead by algorithm, as they are on social media. I mean, rage sells there. One person’s indignation breeds more indignation which grows rapidly like a virus in an algorithmic echo chamber. A couple of months ago the algorithm was obsessed with the supposed over-sexualisation of Sabrina Carpenter, no doubt in the not too distant future it will have moved onto some other (probably female) victim to be morally outraged about.
Maybe this current bout of rage is the heats fault. I mean, something strange seems to happen to British people in the heat. All that passive aggression; normally kept in check, just simmering under the surface, starts to boil over. Our ‘I’m fine’ mode malfunctions and for a time the population of UK’s aggression is no longer just passive.
Perhaps though, all the moral outrage, about things that aren’t truly harmful is actually a reaction to all the awfulness going on in the world that we have zero control over. Maybe, in a bid to regain a shred of autonomy, we find someone else to direct that rage toward. But scrolling social media and getting stressed and angry at the internet’s latest persona non grata won’t do much. Maybe what we really need to do is step away from our phones and get out of the echo chamber.
I don’t want to be all: ‘it’s fine, ignore the world burning around us while stupid old men make it worse by the minute.’ But all that stuff really is largely out of our control. All we get to control is how we show up. Yes we can write letters to MP’s, protest, boycott, but sometimes we just need to let it go. Put our phones down, get outside and take a breath.
Sorry — this letter ended up being saltier than I planned. I blame the heat.
Until next week.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
Becca x
News & Updates
This week marked one whole year of A Home for All Seasons being out in the world! To celebrate we have a competition to win a copy on Instagram right now. You can check out the post here.
Also, if you have purchased a copy, we would love it if you could leave a review here so other people can find and enjoy our book. Thank-you. ❤️
P.S If you love Interiors and Seasonal Living then please consider purchasing our book, A Home for all Seasons.
If you have already purchased the book, firstly thank-you SO much for your support and secondly, we would love it if you would consider leaving a review?
Thank-you, Becca & Kay x
