An early February batch of links
Since the most recent batch of links went out, paying subscribers received a meditation on a year’s worth of good workouts, then a writeup about a peer’s self-published book. This coming weekend, they will enjoy my reflections on five years since the pandemic.
Below, you’ll find a batch of links that represent the themes of this newsletter, which are career development, community building, and self care.
Why Americans are moving in with strangers twice their age.
Many still view sharing their private living space with strangers as a last resort. Just as ride-sharing in Uber or Lyft had to overcome being seen as weird or risky before becoming mainstream, home-sharing faces similar cultural barriers.
The Cutthroat Game of Snagging a Pool Chair on Vacation.
America’s ‘Marriage Material’ Shortage.
Coupling is declining around the world, as women’s expectations rise and lower-income men’s fortunes fall; this combination is subverting the traditional role of straight marriage, in which men are seen as necessary for the economic insurance of their family.
Bosses are exerting their power. What Trump’s crackdown could mean for your job.
How corporate America got DEI wrong. The people I know aren’t fighting against the idea of and ethic of equity, more so against the pillar of DEI, which ballooned into something else that upset many. I don’t have a simple solution to the scaling back that we’ve witnessed, but I do hope that equity doesn’t get consumed within it.
If You Date Me, You Date My Debt.
The Last Days of American Orange Juice. “Continuous abundance, a prerequisite for staples, is no longer guaranteed. More and more, the notion of the classic American breakfast—bacon, eggs, toast, milk, coffee, and a glass of orange juice—is beginning to seem like a snapshot of a bygone era.” I was thinking about this the other day, how buying habits and available products are changing our image of cultural norms.
Are consumers stockpiling eggs when they can find them? What to know about egg shortage.
Fewer Americans Are Quitting Their Jobs. This narrative is consistent with what I am hearing from folks in the market, that few people are quitting, instead hanging on where they are until things seem to improve a bit. I am also hearing that it’s starting to pick up a bit this month, so who knows what’s in store for the Spring. Stay tuned.
Their Parents May Not Know It, But Most 11- And 12-Year-Olds Are On TikTok.
The DEI backlash: employers ‘reframing not retreating’. I’ve been hearing a version of this over recent months, that it’s not going away, rather it’s growing quieter. I hope that equity remains on people’s minds for a couple of reasons and that the people doing good work in this area don’t get spooked.
Americans are worried about money. So why are they spending more than ever?
Gen Z workers feeling isolated by tech are craving more in-person interaction: survey. This is consistent with what I have heard and seen, that the narrative about how they want to work from home all the time is made up by others, that they’re motivated and capable to be around others, despite being dealt a bad hand at the start of their careers.
‘Outdated playbook’: Employee pushback escalates following Trump’s RTO mandates.
We Work In DEI. Trump's Wild Anti-Diversity Claims Are Spreading Popular Lies. The problem with this discourse is that the people who don’t want to believe this to be true - “In reality, DEI is not preventing a meritocracy ― it is what is necessary for people to have equal opportunities to succeed. Because under the status quo, white people and white men in particular are more likely to get job and education opportunities that are not based in merit.” - refuse to hear it because it will mean giving away power that means everything to them.