I Don’t Get Tired of You

I love Rumi’s howl:

“I don’t get tired of you. Don’t grow weary
of being compassionate toward me!”

And though Rumi probably didn’t have in mind the effects of the internet on the 21st century soul when he wrote these words, I’m wondering about the new and ongoing depths of our screen fatigue. I think we’re so fatigued that we’ve stopped questioning how it’s affecting us. We know. We’re there. And a lot of people have just dropped off, who can blame them? or scaled back, or added a blocking app to control their time on addictive sites, or just generally lost interest, or run out of time. Generally though, we’re all still there (wherever our there is) a bit too much. My only rule for the internet is that everyone gets to use it exactly however they like. I have no real advice beyond that. We all know it’s good, at times wonderful, funny, entertaining, beautiful, and at other times complete and utter and scary rubbish.

And you don’t know if you’re seeing what you want to see, what others want you to see, or just some oddball mix of advertisements and memes. For me, I’ve decided that there’s no point in missing or feeling nostalgic about those lovely authentic moments you often got from your real or unmet friends on social media in the good old days. That moment has clearly passed us by. (I mean, sure they’re there, but one has to sift a lot to find them).

I’ve talked before about the #backtotheblog movement which Kerry Clare brought to my attention, and I think blogs can be a kind of saving grace of the internet.

You might already do this, but I’ve found subscribing to newsletters is also a bit of an antidote to the whole potential glargishness of the internet. So here’s a list of ones I like, that you might like. And feel free to add any you love in the comments. Of course, you can subscribe to this blog in the form of a newsletter by hitting the button at the bottom of this post. It’s not quite as pretty as the online version, but saves you from going to the internet, where one click can lead to another. That said,

Let’s start with Kerry Clare’s Gleanings.

Probably one of my favourite newsletters is from On Being.

Amplify is the Globe and Mail’s newsletter which highlights inspiring women.

I receive Raptitude as a newsletter. (The link is in the right sidebar to subscribe).

The Bustle has a list of bookish newsletters.

Austin Kleon’s newsletter is great and not just for writers.

Kimmy Beach has a newsletter for her editing and also a blog with editing tips.

Shameless self-promotion, kind of, my partner, Robert Lemay, sends out a newsletter every few months too.

Need more poetry in your life? The Poetry Foundation has a newsletter and Poem of the Day.

I could probably go on endlessly here. But, as I said, I’d love it if you left a comment with your favourite newsletter.

For me newsletters mean less sifting, more reading. And what’s not to love about that?