A few links and such
Hi! I hope you've been enjoying the summer. I have, which is why I haven't put out a newsletter lately, but I have been doing some writing. Here's a few recent highlights. Enjoy, and please continue being great. That's right: I've noticed.
ps if you find just roundups like this lazy for the newsletter please let me know
Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty About Your Screen Time Lifehacker
I write for a living, which means I reflexively spend a good chunk of my day trying to avoid writing. Computers are perfect for this: I have quick access to every distraction you can possibly dream of, all on the device I should in theory be using to write.
Perhaps the best part of this whole arrangement is how easy it is to feel guilty about all of the writing I'm not doing. The best tool for this is the screen time feature offered on Apple and Android devices, which allow you to review how much time you've spent using each app on your device. These are perfect applications for feeling guilty in a way that doesn't really inspire any kind of self reflection or change: they just make me feel bad.
And you know what? I think me feeling guilty, and not doing anything about it, is on some level the reason these apps are built into phone operating systems. Read more.
How to Quit Google, According to a Privacy Expert Lifehacker
Some companies are easy to quit. If I decide I don't like Coca-Cola anymore I can simply stop drinking Coke. Sure, the company makes more than just Coke, so I would need to do some research to figure out which products they do and don't make, but it's theoretically possible.
Quitting Google isn't like that. It makes many products, many of which you depend on to live your digital life. Leaving a company like that is like a divorce, according to an expert I talked to. "It's not easy, but you feel so much better at the other side," said Janet Vertesi, a sociology professor at Princeton who publishes work on human computer interaction. "Think of a friend who gets a divorce and is so happy to be out. That could be you. That's how it feels to leave Google." Read more.
A few more articles I wrote.
Love history? Explore this interactive collection of old maps. PopSci. I found a good site on the internet, which is increasingly hard to do.
You Can Use Spotify Entirely From the Command Line Lifehacker. Nerdy? You bet. But it's the best interface for Spotify and I will not be taking questions.
This App Will Create Unique Daily Walking Loops for You Lifehacker. I love finding simple apps that do one thing well. Check this one out if you have an iPhone.
