The Daily Valet. - 2/2/23, Thursday
✔️ Are You Chronically Online?
Thursday, February 2nd Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
It’s a very modern, tech-y newsletter today. You’re welcome, or I’m sorry …
Today’s Big Story
We’re Now Chronically Online
We spend a lot of time online, more than we know ... and it's changing us
We're all online a lot these days. But how much, would you guess? Estimate how long you spend each week scrolling Instagram, reading news, streaming video, trawling Amazon and the like. If you've ever seen your phone's weekly screen-time report, you might be unpleasantly surprised at just how much time you actually spend doing those things.We're not being modest (or hopeful) when we underestimate our screen time. Time just passes differently when we're online. That's the scientific conclusion of researchers who have spent years studying our perception of time.It seems we've moved beyond the searing millennial cry of “terminally online” and passed into “chronically online”: a term that has grown out of hot takes on TikTok, reports Vice. It's the name we give to those whose lives have obsessively revolved around the social connection found in cyber-space. “Those who can't go a day without their phone, or who are constantly posting pictures of their face on the feed. In the Everything Is A Hot Take economy, being chronically online is lucrative.” And with every new platform, more opportunities to be online—in deeper and stranger ways—are born.Our slow descent into being “online” began in the 2010s with the term “extremely online”. The Daily Dot pointed to an ambiguous Twitter post popularising the term in 2014. Back then, it meant “to be familiar, even obsessed, with the things everyone is talking about.” It was kinda fun, kinda innocent. It was a joke.Then, in the late 2010s, “terminally online” was born, probably (and not coincidentally) in-line with the Western world's internet ecosystems becoming a little less trustworthy, a little more vindictive and a whole lot darker. Today, chronically online refers to the notion that too much exposure to the online world makes people's ideas slightly twisted. So maybe, don't do it just for the 'gram, yeah?
By the Numbers:
Globally, time spent online has actually fallen to pre-pandemic levels, while time spent on social platforms has increased to more than 2½ hours per day.
The Fed Raises Rates Again
But only by a quarter-point, after inflation drops
The Federal Reserve raised its key rate by a quarter point Wednesday, bringing it to the highest level in 15 years as part of an ongoing effort to ease inflation by making borrowing more expensive. It was the Fed's eighth increase in less than a year.Inflation has come down alongside a labor market that has remained solid—and, by some measures, actually strengthened. Does the smaller rate increase mean that the economy is okay? Not exactly. Fed chair Jerome Powell emphasized Wednesday that the central bank's job is not done. “We're going to be cautious about declaring victory and sending signals that we think the game is won, because we've got a long way to go.”But several other factors that weigh on prices, such as geopolitical conflicts and natural disasters, are outside of the Fed's control, reports The Hill. And the Fed can only go so far with interest rate hikes without cooling the economy too much and causing a recession.
FYI:
The rate increase will likely make it even costlier to borrow for homes, autos and other purchases. But if you have money to save, you’ll probably earn a bit more interest on it.
Lonely Layoffs
Angst rippled across laptop screens last month
Some 58,000 tech workers were laid off last month, reports Crunchbase News. And around 140,000 more were let go in 2022 as a whole. And the recent wave of pink slips (delivered electronically) is exposing a harsh reality of the remote and hybrid working world.Thousands of those workers are getting let go in their home offices or living rooms—immediately losing access to email, Slack and their community of colleagues, Emma Goldberg writes in the New York Times. As one study points out, layoffs are among the most challenging life experiences, causing more psychological stress than even divorce.Virtual layoffs add a layer of loneliness and stress distinct from in-person job cuts. Adding to the pressure, those former remote workers may not be able to keep that flexibility and continue working from home. Per LinkedIn data, demand for remote jobs is outpacing supply, with two applications for every remote position.
Dig Deeper:
41% of office workers are confident in their ability to find a new job in a month if they’re let go, compared with 24% of remote workers.
Smart Ovens Are Now Part Robot
These virtual kitchen aids help you Refrigerate, then cook and manage meals from near or far
If you own a smartphone, chat with a smart speaker in your home, or sport a smartwatch, you might want to consider embracing the smart generation of kitchen appliances. Smart ovens are the next evolution of fully outfitted countertop appliances that will put your beloved air fryer to shame.These things are like having a live-in chef. Well, a live-in robot chef. These powerhouses are outfitted with features that include food-sensing technology, automatic timers and even the ability to detect what meal you're making. Popular Mechanics rounded up some of the best ones on the market today.But the wildest one didn't make their list. If you like meal delivery kits, you need the Suvie Kitchen Robot. Part refrigerator and part oven, it works with a chef-designed menu, so meals are delivered right to your home. Special packaging tells the appliance exactly how to cool and then cook each ingredient so it's ready at your specified dinnertime. All you have to do is scan the barcode, and it will do the rest—like something out of a movie, right?
FYI:
Microwaves were first sold for home use in 1967, but they had actually been used for commercial food preparation since the 1950s.
In Other News
Amid outrage and sadness, there was hope for a new mission.
Have you heard about ...
A Weekend Challenge
Hit the ATM and withdraw some cash
The same conversation would inevitably come up whenever I visited my parents. My dad would ask if I had any cash on me. He wasn't asking to borrow money, he was inquiring out of curiosity. Out of concern, I guess. And whenever he'd ask, I'd scrunch my brow in thought, trying to remember if I did have any cash on me. “I don't know,” was my usual response. Followed by “But I do know that I haven't used any cash in a while.”It's a generational thing, right? No one around me uses cash much these days. There's Venmo. There's Paypal. You can wave your Apple Watch to pay for your lunch at Whole Foods and send money via email and text messages. You can put anything on a credit card—and why wouldn't you, when you can get double points on purchases big and small? Some modern retailers, with their streamlined white Square point-of-sale terminals don't even accept cash, only credit cards. You can't use cash to pay for things like drinks on an airplane or for your Lyft across town.But I've come to realize that a gentleman carries cash. Why? Because even here in the future, cash is still king. And I have to say, I've got an extra swagger in my step knowing that I'm never without the ability put down money for something I want or need.
Get Started:
Shopping
What We’re Buying
A Corduroy Shirt
Corduroy is definitely having a resurgence lately. We're seeing it pop up everywhere. But some of it feels decidedly “wintery”, while this lighter fine-wale shirt from J.Crew's latest collection can be worn now as well as into spring and next summer. Based on traditional western styles, it's finished with yoke stitching and pearl snap buttons. Wear it layered over a tee or under a cardigan now and solo with the sleeves rolled up once the temperature starts rising.
Get It:
Western fine-wale corduroy shirt, $118 by J.Crew
Morning Motto
Don’t waste your energy.
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