9.2.22 Tabs

U.S. life expectancy dropped three years just since Covid began, which is..shocking. Are weddings just one big cult? What are other ways we can think about making roadmaps that aren't tied to dates?

How to read this:

• podcast (🎧)

• article (📰)

• internet thing, like a Tweet or TikTok (👩‍💻)

• book (📚) recommendation

Get ready to queue up, screenshot, read, save for later, share:

1. 📰 Average US life expectancy has dropped THREE YEARS in the last two years…going from 79 years in 2019 to 76 in 2021. Absolutely terrifying. And it’s WAY WORSE when it’s broken down by racial groups (particularly Native American).

   

   2. 📰 If you’re worried that getting older means you become LESS likely to own a startup or be an entrepreneur (because silicon valley seems to be all young people), think again: a new study shows that “the likelihood of success as a founder increases with age until the age of 60. The older you get, the more likely your chances of success are.”

   3. 🎧 In this absolutely incredible podcast, Journalist Noor Tagouri talks with Bella Hadid (among others) about Palestinian identity, why it can feel so scary and high stakes to even talk about Palestinians out loud, and how we can reframe our perspectives on Palestinians to become human-centered and ultimately, not about politics. I studied Middle Eastern Studies in college (and have talked about this extensively), and felt like this was a totally new and nuanced angle to an age-old conversation. 10/10 recommend.

   4. 👩‍💻 A super interesting TikTok by a media trend predictor (why does this sound like my dream job) that basically predicts that internet content creators are going to start working in seasons (like a movie star who does a 3 month gig and then is off) to stave off burnout. Really interesting to think about because they’re up against the algorithms that demand consistent posting but I’m curious to see if this comes to be.

   5. 👩‍💻 The Pain Gap (found it through TikTok) is absolutely incredible; the author is a beautiful writer. This particular part destroyed me: “the problem with dating men is that there is often no smoking gun — no terrible crime, no obvious transgression, no moment that you can use to justify the enormity of what you feel to yourself and others…without laws broken or lines crossed, women’s pain is madness.

      and the letter of the law exists not to enforce what is moral or good — rather, it exists to provide men with a line to toe. it functions not to ensure that men don’t do heinous things, but to make sure they can get away with heinous things by learning the cheat codes…” OOOOOF

   6. 🎧 Weddings have the ick, it’s undeniable. Are they a cult though? I loved this podcast episode of Sounds Like A Cult, with guest Jia Tolentino as they dive into all the difference components of Western weddings and why the whole thing gives off cult vibes.

   7. 📰 If you have to make any form of roadmap or strategic plan at work, this article might be interesting for you. This article talks about how maybe committing to specific dates in the future is not actually all that productive, because there are so many unknowns.
      Look at the example of a roadmap he provides: it’s organized by quarters in the future.

      

      Look at what he suggests might be the “modern roadmap”. I absolutely LOVE the idea of “now, next, later” as a way to give yourself flexibility, so you’re not thinking “omg we’re not going to make our arbitrary May deadline that we set last October” lolol. Thoughts on this?

      

      Someone had the great suggestion of soliciting stuff that you all are consuming to include in this! SO- if you feel so inclined, please take a second and drop any links, or titles, or thoughts into this simple form and I’ll include it next week.