junior high popularity anxiety, just rehashed

For a really beautiful piece of writing about discontent and feeling like you’re losing out on the popularity contest that is Being A Writer On The Internet (AKA, how we all feel like 80% of the time), you need to read Anne Helen Petersen’s latest newsletter, gimme that sweet sweet dopamine.

Two of our fave excerpts:

“this relationship to writing — in which the thrill is derived from other people reacting to your story, and a relentless desire to recreate that feeling — has been accelerated and made increasingly toxic by the feedback structures of the internet, which makes it feel like you're not a journalist if you don't publish something in a month, you're not a vital voice if you take a weekend off Twitter. This need for constant engagement disincentivizes the things that are often so crucial for good writing (distance, contemplation, extensive research and reporting, fact checking, and editing) and incentivizes hot takes and immediate, passionate, and often (but not always) sloppy reactions.”

And:

“The discontent is the driver: it's what pushes me towards the pursuit of excellence. But I've gotten better at thinking about where it comes from, and how to lay it flat before me, cognizant of what it is, and what it does to me.”

Read the whole thing, then subscribe to AHP’s words of extreme wisdom here.

Deez Links is off until Monday; have a great weekend!