Trigger warning: This episode talks about suicide. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
Last July, my therapist told me that I sounded exhausted. I needed not just a few good nights’ sleep but an old-fashioned rest cure—without the toxic William Morris wallpaper. Also, it was high summer, which meant that I had to sequester myself in dusky rooms thanks to lupus and my vampiric photosensitivity. So I ended up spending time on Reddit.
For about a decade, LinkedIn had been the only social media site I frequented; anything owned by Mark Zuckerberg, I figured, was bound to induce nightmares. I’d signed up for a Reddit account but had never really used it. Yet a few days after my therapist’s prescription, it hit me: Reddit was cluttered with cats, along with bottomless discussions about books and fashion and cooking and Twin Peaks, some of my favorite things. I dove down the r/abbit hole.
Within the protective cloak of anonymity, I found that what was valued most by most people was wit, good sense, and kindness. In a highly partisan visual culture peopled by would-be influencers, that discovery was refreshing.
