A few months ago, I found myself doomscrolling through X (first mistake) when I found a thread about how “everything is getting worse.” The author had assembled an impressive collection of graphs showing declining trust in institutions, rising polarization, increasing mental health issues among teens, and various other metrics of
Social media runs on conflict. This isn’t exactly breaking news — but what’s worth thinking about is how this has spawned an entire class of what we might call “professional conflict entrepreneurs” and their cousins, the “trauma grifters.” These are the folks who have figured out how to monetize
“Once the bear’s hug has got you, it is apt to be for keeps.” — Harold MacMillan A pattern, common to the internet in 2024. Someone has a conflict with a member of Group X. Let’s say they get called out, publicly shamed or — yes — cyberbullied, by right wing
There's been a lot of hand-wringing about social media moderation of late. "Platform X isn't doing enough to stop harmful content!" "Platform Y is censoring too much speech!" "Platform Z needs better content moderation!" But there's something deeply
In the 1990s, we were promised a digital utopia. The internet would be a uniting, democratizing force, they said, bringing diverse voices and perspectives from every corner of the world into dialogue. Local cultures would flourish as they found their global audiences. Niche interests would thrive in their newfound ability
Last week, I tried to find some photos from my college graduation. Despite being only fifteen years ago, they proved surprisingly elusive - trapped on a defunct Photobucket account, lost to a crashed hard drive, and scattered across social media platforms that no longer exist. This got me thinking about
The Matthew Effect was first coined by sociologists Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman in 1968, who noticed that eminent scientists tended to get disproportionate credit for collaborative research compared to their less-well-known colleagues. The same paper would get more attention if a famous name was on it, even if
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, fracturing the unified Catholic hierarchy that had dominated European spiritual and social life for centuries. In 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath. These
The world isn’t falling apart—it’s being pried apart, one stolen moment at a time. Attention has become the most coveted commodity, and we’re little more than unwitting marks in a global grift. The apps, platforms, and systems sucking up our time aren’t tools anymore. They’
Last week I recorded a podcast with a friend who works in private equity. More on that later. He mentioned that his firm looks at education the same way they looked at housing in 2007 - a market propped up by cheap debt, artificial scarcity, and mass delusion about underlying
In 1973, sociologist Mark Granovetter published one of the most influential papers in social network theory. "The Strength of Weak Ties" demonstrated something counterintuitive: when it comes to finding jobs and opportunities, your casual acquaintances are often more valuable than your close friends. This makes perfect sense when
I’ve been thinking lately about the “anti-identity trap.” It works like this: Someone starts out reasonably disliking something — let’s say corporate greenwashing. Fair enough. They join online communities dedicated to mocking greenwashing campaigns. Their social media becomes a steady stream of eye-rolling screenshots. They develop an eagle eye
Hey! I’ve got something new to share—The Westenberg Podcast. Most episodes are quick dives, clocking in at 5–10 minutes (never more than 20), designed to get you thinking about the systems shaping our lives without eating up your day. The latest episode just dropped: “Understanding Digital Oligarchies:
The last few years of my life have been a whirlwind of change. Everything I thought I wanted, everything I thought I was building toward, began to feel hollow. A sense of unease crept in—like I was running on a treadmill that kept speeding up, but I wasn’t
Moscow, 1959. The Cold War is in full swing, and the U.S. government has organized an exhibition to showcase American prosperity. Their goal: prove to ordinary Soviets that capitalism delivers a better life than communism. But while President Eisenhower dreams of ideological victory, a 30-something Pepsi executive named Donald
Imagine spending 400,000 years climbing to the top of the food chain, only to lose the will to live because your GrubHub driver forgot the extra ranch. We’re surrounded by the husks of tools that were supposed to make life easier—once indispensable, now crutches, then chains, and
Imagine you’re offered a bet: You can have $1 million today, or you can have ownership of one square mile of Manhattan real estate, but you can’t sell it for 100 years. The catch? You’ll never personally see the payoff — only your great-grandchildren will. Would you take
It’s Monday morning. The first thing you see (yes, before you see your kids, your partner, even your coffee) is a Slack notification. That Slack notification leads you to a Confluence document, which is supposed to prepare you for the upcoming Zoom meeting. In the Zoom meeting, you’re
Looking back at the last two years feels like watching someone play geopolitical Jenga while juggling flaming chainsaws. We've seen Trump's comeback, European coalition collapses, AI breakthroughs, and climate disasters that would make Roland Emmerich say "maybe tone it down a bit." But prediction
The human body has become the altar at which modern society worships, a shrine of flesh and bone draped in sweat-resistant fabrics and glowing filters. Everywhere you turn, someone is preaching the doctrine of “Wellness,” a euphemism for sculpting oneself into a socially acceptable object of admiration. Influencers hurl their
The world is collapsing under the weight of its own stupidity, and somehow, we’ve all collectively agreed that it’s perfectly fine. No, better than fine — it’s preferable. If you’ve got a PhD in molecular biology, you’re just some nerd with a clipboard. But if you’
Ever stood in the notebook aisle of a stationery store, staring at countless journals and planners, every one promising to revolutionize your organizational skills? Ever downloaded the latest productivity app that made it to the front page of PH or HN, only to abandon it weeks later because it felt
The night my friend died, I spent 20 minutes debating whether to order takeout or just scavenge through my fridge for leftovers. I’d already scrolled through three different food delivery apps, weighing the pros and cons of pad Thai versus a burrito bowl, when my phone buzzed. The text
The slow death of liberalism is not something you can mark and point to on a calendar. No monuments will be built to commemorate its passing. There won’t be a funeral, no chorus of mourners gathered in the streets. There’s something far too theatrical about the notion of