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Where are the public benches on the internet? “Like cities that have prioritized cars, visiting the Internet now entails controlled apps and search engines, designed for extraction. There’s nowhere to rest because the benches are covered in spikes.”

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Silvie S

I so enjoyed this- thank you for sharing it! It made me think of one funny way I get to feel a part of a group on the internet right now: I have a very fussy baby, and for every nap we play the same YouTube live white noise video. Much like this article proposes, it’s fun to see a counter for how many other desperate parents are doing the same thing at the same time!

It could be interesting to see some of these interactive elements incorporated on kottke.org!

H
Hugh C. McBride

If you're ever asked to encapsulate what it's like to live in the US in 2026 in one short sentence, I don't know that you can do much better than, "There’s nowhere to rest because the benches are covered in spikes."

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