Betterhelp is an online therapy service that advertises on many of the podcasts I listen to. Like most of the companies that advertise on podcasts, I think they are somewhat sketchy, overpriced and predatory. Similar to other scammy advertisers including toothbrushes, razors, meal delivery and the like, Betterhelp has a “monthly membership” to lock-in subscribers….
InstaFix
When I listen to podcasts, I’ll often want to check out the guests to see how old they are, their work background, what they look like, their websites etc. In the past, I would usually find this info on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Lately though, all three of these sites have been limiting access to…
Unsubscribed
I am currently reading “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How To Think Deeply Again” by Johann Hari in which he writes about our inability to focus, pay attention and think deeply the way we once could. He says: “… we think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough…
Love and Proximity
When I was in love, I wanted to be near my loved one. Whether she was my first love, my long term high school girlfriend or my wife, I wanted to spend time with her and she did with me. I liked holding her hand. I liked sitting next to her with our legs touching….
Algorithmic Abstention
This past year, I fell into the habit of watching a show on Netflix during dinner, then mindlessly scrolling through reddit and YouTube watching videos and clips. I tend to be a sucker for dog rescues, break dancing, swimming, drumming and any DIY project I’m currently doing. Even though I would filter aggressively and downvote…
Therapy Is For You
A friend of mine called to talk about a problem he’s having with his girlfriend. What it all boils down to is that he wants to live together as a married couple and she does not want that. Otherwise, everything in their relationship actually sounds wonderful. They love each other. They share similar values and…
When Free Costs Too Much
When I bought my iPad mini a while ago, Apple included a 3-month free trial of Apple News. The offer was set to expire soon so yesterday, out of curiosity, I decided to check it out. The app let me choose newspapers and magazines to follow. I selected a half dozen or so from the…
A Good Life
When I was looking at old photos of my small hometown, Tamaqua, Pennsylvania earlier this week I stumbled across my First Grade class picture complete with the names of all the students. That led me to google my fellow grade classmates to see what happened to them. That search proved to be fairly fruitless. Since…
Ending Up In The Trash
There are two empty houses on my street. One neighbor died a few months ago. The second neighbor moved in to her son’s home because she is no longer capable of living alone due to health issues. Both houses have been unoccupied for a while. Over the past few months, I’ve seen family members visit…
(Don’t) Take Me To Church
In her book “We Of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too)” Kate Cohen writes about atheism, her secular Jewish upbringing, and her decision to gradually reveal her atheism to others. As an atheist myself, who doesn’t proselytize my beliefs nor even often mention them, I found her stories…