What I'm Thinking About This Week? The End

By luck or fate or some other reason, you’ve found yourself reading an email from Thinking Is Cool, *the* podcast to listen to if you want to have better conversations. If this email was forwarded to you, sign up for regular correspondence from me, Kinsey, right here:

Good morning! You might be wondering why this email is hitting your inbox a little later than usual and the answer is because I was taking my own advice—don’t force productivity for the wrong reasons. Last night, I was feeling uncreative and tired so instead of wringing something lackluster out of myself, I went to bed.

And lo and behold, I woke up this morning beaming. I made friends with a man and his dog waiting for my coffee (the dog’s a little shy when they’re in the city but she’s getting used to the sights and smells). I wore my favorite fall jacket. I started working on my annual Christmas playlist. I turned on my radiator. Life is good.

So, for the last time this season, let’s together enjoy a Friday brimming with interesting things to think about. Time to take it anywhere.

What I’m Thinking About (Spooky Edition)

This email is mostly a Season 2 farewell, but I can’t help myself from this:

Facebook/Meta/the frivolity of what's nothing more than a modern notes app apology. Yeah yeah yeah, whatever, I know this is an obvious choice for what I, a noted Mark Zuckerberg critic, am thinking about. But I’m nothing if not consistent.

The Official Thinking Is Cool Take on Facebook’s Rebrand as Meta: This is so dumb.

For how much I love to hold a grudge, deep down, I’m the kind of person who believes that accountability is always better than unilaterally canceling (she said in influencer). But in the case of Facebook, this so-called rebrand did little if anything to atone for the company’s blatant disregard for, um, the whole of humanity.

To me, the Meta rebrand reads as a feeble attempt to use a play for the future to distract from the sh*tstorm of the present. Companies evolve, sure, but announcing the biggest evolution in the history of one of the world’s most important companies right as said company is staring down the barrel of numerous potentially life-threatening headlines is nothing but phony.

“I know some people will say this is not a time to focus on the future,” Zuckerberg said yesterday (yes, Mark that’s exactly what they’ll say??), noting that he thinks it’s important to keep trudging toward the future even if mistakes happen along the way.

Didn’t we learn our lesson with “move fast and break things” the first time?

Mark (I’m calling him Mark) said this: “Our mission remains the same. It’s still about bringing people together.” As my cofounder Josh put it yesterday, bringing people together to do what, exactly, Mark?

The idea that Facebook could responsibly lead the charge into the digital future as Meta? It would be funny if it weren’t so terrifying. I can’t think of any corporate leadership entity less capable of ensuring a fair and free future for our online selves than Facebook’s.

So with that small soapbox, I present in no particular order a list of random thoughts I had about Facebook/Meta as I parsed through the coverage this week:

1. How many of Facebook’s—sorry, Meta’s—45,000 employees will have to say “well, Facebook” when they’re met with blank stares at the words “I work for Meta” ??

2. You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and other farm animal-related things my Dad always says.

3. I can’t wait to read what Charlie Warzel and Casey Newton write about this.

4. Meta is making Twitter more fun. At least we have that??

5. Facebook was as much an engineer of the modern world as it was a product of the modern world. So maybe there’s still hope that a new iteration of both could produce something less given to fomenting hatred and insecurity and mistruth. Here’s to hoping.

My DMs are open, Mark.

Making the internet fun again. I've been hard at work this week, clearly:

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This is my last regular Friday email for a while—Monday’s episode marked the finale of Season 2 of Thinking Is Cool. It feels like my whole life changed over the last 10 weeks, and here at Thinking Is Cool we celebrate change. So in the spirit of reflection, let’s revisit the themes from this season to see what’s different:

1. Dating apps. Still hopelessly in love with my dating app boyfriend. Still believe that we can use relationship tech for good.

2. Greek life. Still think Greek life won’t exist for my kids’ generation. Still think it breeds racism and classism and sexism. A little less worried about the girls at Alabama.

3. Drugs. They’re still frickin’ tight. Got really into the “stoned ape” theory after making this one. Becoming open to the idea of trying “California sober” (no drinking or drugs aside from weed).

4. Apple. In light of this week? Could definitely be worse. Still feel pretty okay about Apple’s impact on human history. I just wish it had more competition.

5. Investing is cool. Yeah, investing is cool.

6. Solving homelessness. The only change here is that I’ve become a lot more passionate about actually doing this. And my family has too—my mom texted me recently asking why Jeff Bezos is going to space when he could solve homelessness in one fell swoop. My life, my legacy.

7. Online free speech. This one has become trickier for me. Turns out, when you talk about free speech online, a lot more people decide to disagree with you online.

8. Living forever. Yeah no. Not interested.

9. Buying a house. Still feels impossible, but I did learn about a ton of really cool startups trying to bridge the down payment gap.

10. Friendship. This one came out this week so I haven’t really had enough time to potentially change my mind. You should listen to it if you haven’t yet: Apple // Spotify // everywhere else

And here comes the sappy end-of-season stuff:

I was doing a little reflection the other day, thinking back on this season of life as this season of my show comes to a close. My life isn’t perfect (I’m increasingly convinced that no one’s is), but I truly am living my dreams. At 26 years old, I’m running my own business, meeting incredible people, facing change with grace, and writing about concepts that inspire and move me...and best of all? It’s mine. I own my future and I own these words I’m sending out into the world each week—for so long, the idea of ownership felt like a pipe dream. And today it’s my reality.

I was thinking about what my goals are as I continue on this unfathomably lucky, one in a million kind of life and it hit me: If nothing else changes, I’ll be happy. I aspire to so much (SO much), but I feel so fulfilled by my life right now that I’d be happy to do just this for a long, long time. For the first time maybe ever, I’m satisfied with what’s right in front of me. I still struggle and I still get frustrated and I still get scared, but I’m also proud of the work I’m doing and the people I’m doing it with. And that makes such a difference.

It’s because of you, and I really mean that. To know I’m not shouting into the void is all the validation I’ll ever need, and this community provides in spades. You’re thoughtful, compassionate, supportive, and funny. You lend me perspective when I lose my own. And I’m so grateful that you’re here.

I’ll be back with Season 3 in January. For now, it’s time to 1) celebrate the third best holiday of the year, Halloween and 2) explore some creative ideas. I have some very fun and different episodes and newsletters headed your way throughout the rest of this year, so keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your inboxes open.

Thank you for thinking with me this season. See you soon.

-Kinsey

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