Slightly More Fun Than Doomscrolling #009
Oh, hello there! It’s been a while...
Oh, hello there!
It’s been a while. In fact, I’ve not sent anything out on this email list since September 2025. That’s light years ago in this modern and fast paced world. Heck, there’s lots going on - probably too much going on - in our daily lives, let alone the lack of attention given to this newsletter from me to get it out the door.
Anyway, for those of you who have forgotten what this is about, here I go again at explaining.
This newsletter - Slightly More Fun Than Doomscrolling - was originally designed for people (like you) who are interested in some of the less mainstream parts of the internet. Those parts that maybe aren’t found on the big platforms, yet are 100% curious to the eyes or ears.
I did also start a podcast where I talked about some geeky things that were on my mind, but I haven’t done any more of those as it wasn’t really hitting the mark for my creativity. If you’d like to listen to this kind of thing rather than read it in your inbox, I’d be curious to hear from you.
So I’ve turned back to good old emails. And this newsletter is #009 in the series. It has been written in Aotearoa New Zealand and sent to your inboxes on March 18, 2026.
The hope is that I’m nearly back on track to start publishing these newsletters regularly - but we shall see.
So, where were we…?
Well, since we last connected, the world has changed.
Not just in the space of AI, but global affairs, technologies, and a whole heap of the usual suspects like global warming, cost of living, etc.
Not everything, however, is doom and gloom... the natural world is still around us, the tech giants have not yet built Skynet, but it definitely does feel like some world order change is getting close.
Fingers crossed it’s not that close.
Now, on with the ACTUAL content…
↓↓↓↓↓
Here’s the FIVE things that recently caught my eye.
#01
Phantom Obligation
📝 by Terry Godier
This is one of my favourite reads of the month. It takes into account so many of the emotions we have about notifications, gamification of our devices and how the majority of us are feeling trapped in the modern digital world without the words to explain it.
Terry talks about how many digital interfaces create “phantom obligations”, a false sense of guilt from unread counts, badges, and banners. Especially the likes of email inboxes and phone home screens. Every time people get a buzz or a ping, it keeps on increasing the number of “unread” so it feels that there is necessity to get back some balance with an “Inbox Zero” state of zen.
His thoughtful and beautifully crafted article (I love the design of it as you scroll) urges developers, designers and actually us - the users - to rethink these painful and psychologically draining screens so we can feel human again without an extra stress to read EVERY LAST THING ALL THE TIME.
#02
Why Movies Just Don’t Feel Real Anymore
▶️ by Tom van der Linden
So this is something a little bit different and no it’s actually not about AI. In this Youtube video, Tom (the producer), argues that modern movies feel less real not because of CGI, but because film-making has shifted toward flat, heavily processed images - and not heavily layered scenes like LOTR, The Great Escape and Jurassic Park, you know - classic films of old.
Real immersion comes from perceptual realism, rich environments, and tactile visual detail that let viewers “feel” the world. When films rely on shallow shots, digital manipulation, and post-production fixes, they lose physical presence and emotional immersion.
ELI5: Hollywood is basically green-screening a lot of scenes now that don’t build on a backstory of scenery and ‘scapes’ - it’s all close ups with blurred “real world” backgrounds which just doesn’t justify the human brain as much.
#03
📝 AI ads are neither
by Seth Goldin
Seth Godin is a daily blogger and one of the great marketing guru’s still active in the space. He puts out great articles with amazing clarity.
In an article back in January, he argues that AI-powered ads undermine both AI and advertising… which is something that I 100% agree with. I’m a bit of a dichotomy in this regard - I mean, I work in advertising but hate being advertised to.
For many years, “search ads” already blur results and ads together into an indistinguishable black text on white page mess. This is especially true on the big giants like Google and Amazon, forcing sellers to pay to compete.
If AI assistants all do end up embedding ads, then we (or they) are in for a rollercoaster of losing users and trust - as it will erode at a quickening pace due to the recommendations being set by the highest bidder instead of the best option.
#04
You don't have to if you don't want to
📝 by Scott Smitelli
This is a great viewpoint about the current state of AI. He argues people do not have to embrace generative AI or the culture around it if they don't want to. Scott critiques AI-generated content as hollow and deceptive (which, we all agree is pretty correct) and he also encourages resisting pressure to adopt it, and prioritising authentic human work, communities, and judgment.
Basically the motto behind all of this is, "do good things" for humans and they will reward you intrinsically and physically much more than just asking robots to achieve the same thing.
#05
In Every Language
📱 by Riley Walz
Riley Walz is a regular feature in my 5, mainly because he brings a fresh perspective to what’s out there on the net. Just like Neal Agarwal does with his site neal.fun.
Here, Riley has built an engine to show how the same concept appears across many languages and Wikipedia editions.
It masterfully and visually reveals how different cultures represent the same ideas with different images - or more importantly even the SAME image.
Such a great site and I’ve searched so many words like war, bicycle, running, empathy and even, you guessed it, AI.
Bonus Links.
Taking a leaf from Manuel Moreale’s email list, Dealgorithmed, I’ve decided to also link some mystery links here… It’s always fun to end up on random sites from across the world. That’s the true meaning of the world wide web.
So, that’s all for now.
See you next time for more things that recently* caught my eye.
*(well, recent-ish!)
P.S. Feel free to reach out if you had any topic that you wanted me to cover here, or anything you read recently that made you think differently about the world.
P.P.S If you want to share it with a friend, you can send them here to subscribe.