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Economics expert pinpoints the exact moment in 2012 when 'America went to hell'

Geography was more important than we thought.

2012, polarization, smartphones, internet, twitter, facebook, x, angry

An angry man in front of the American flag.

America has never been a perfect place, but since the Civil War, it has been one where most people bought into the idea of the country and supported the institutions that keep it running. People may disagree on politics and culture, but when America was threatened, whether it was 9/11 or World War II, people came together to fight for the country they love, even though the reasons may have differed.

However, it’d be naive to say that sentiment is still as strong as it once was. Since The Great Recession, many people have felt that the vibes are off in America, and polls and research back those feelings. Right around 2012, when smartphones became ubiquitous, there was a considerable rise in the number of people who felt that America was on the wrong track and that racism and sexism were considerably worse than they were just a year before. There was also a big spike in mental illness.

So what happened in 2012? Did the world suddenly become drastically worse overnight, or had our perceptions been changed?

 woman, dispair, smartphone, bad news, woman in kitchen, upset woman A woman is upset looking at her smartphone.via Canva/Photos

Why does it feel like America is on the decline?

Other developed countries have experienced similar vibe shifts since 2012, but it has hit America the hardest. Economics blogger Noah Smith explains why this feeling of malaise has hit America so hard, and he illustrates it perfectly in a viral Substack piece called “Social media destroyed one of America's key advantages.” Smith is an American blogger and commentator on economics and current events and former assistant professor of behavioral finance at Stony Brook University.

In his Substack post, Smith postulates that the technological change hit America the hardest because it punctured our geographical buffers. “A hippie in Oakland and a redneck in the suburbs of Houston both fundamentally felt that they were part of the same unified nation; that nation looked very different to people in each place,” Smith writes. “Californians thought America was California, and Texans thought America was Texas, and this generally allowed America to function.”

 

Why did America fundamentally change in 2012?

Here’s an excerpt from Smith’s piece. Please check out the entire piece on the Noahpinion Substack.

Like some kind of forcible hive mind out of science fiction, social media suddenly threw every American in one small room with every other American. Decades of hard work spent running away from each other and creating our ideologically fragmented patchwork of geographies went up in smoke overnight, as geography suddenly ceased to mediate the everyday discussion of politics and culture.

The sudden collapse of geographic sorting in political discussion threw all Americans in the same room with each other — and like the characters in Sartre’s No Exit, they discovered that “Hell is other people.” Conservatives suddenly discovered that a lot of Americans despise Christianity or resent White people over the legacy of discrimination. Liberals suddenly remembered that a lot of their countrymen frown on their lifestyles. Every progressive college kid got to see every piece of right-wing fake news that their grandparents were sharing on Facebook (whereas before, these would have been quietly confined to chain emails). Every conservative in a small town got to see Twitter activists denouncing White people. And so on.


 protests, american protest, protest sign, demonstration, mass gathering A group of people protesting in the street.via Ted Eytan/Flickr

It may sound cynical to believe that America was a better place when people were less likely to talk to people with a different worldview. But, given how things have gone in the past 15 years, it’s fair to say that putting every American in a proverbial ring to fight it out just makes everyone feel under attack... and the fight never ends.

The problem with the Like button

Another development around the same time that many believe negatively affected the country was the development of the Like button on Facebook. The button made its debut in 2009, and it, along with the share button, which came in 2010, incentivized people to create content that their audience agreed with, creating echo chambers. The buttons also incentivized people to make outrage-provoking posts and create fake stories to go viral and increase advertising revenue.

 maga, trump supporters, trump flags, trump rally, american flags Trump supporters at a rally.via Elvert Barnes/Flickr

The positive takeaway from Smith’s geographical sorting theory is that, quite possibly, many people’s perceptions about life in Amerca are wrong because we’re seeing it through the distorted, funhouse mirror of social media that shows us every bad deed in a country of 330 million people and amplifies the voices of the unscroupulous. By pinpointing the moment that America “went to hell,” as author Jonathan Haidt says, we also have a roadmap to get back to when people had greater faith in America’s institutions and people.

If you see a man and two dogs, look again.

Optical illusions are wild. The way our brains perceive what our eyes see can be way off base, even when we're sure about what we're looking at. Plenty of famous optical illusions have been created purposefully, from the Ames window that appears to be moving back and forth when it's actually rotating 360 degrees, to the spiral image that makes Van Gogh's "Starry Night" look like it's moving.

But sometimes optical illusions happen by accident. Those ones are even more fun because we know they aren't a result of someone trying to trick our brains. Our brains do the tricking all by themselves.

The popular Massimo account on X shared a photo that appears to be a person and two dogs in the snow. The more you look at it, the more you see just that—two dogs and someone who is presumably their owner. Turn the photo every which way and it's still the same conclusion. That's a person and two dogs, right?

 

But there are not two dogs in the photo. There are actually three dogs in this picture. Can you see the third?

Full confession time: I didn't see it at first. Not even when someone explained that the "human" is actually a dog. My brain couldn't see anything but a person with two legs, dressed all in black, with a furry hat and some kind of furry stole or jacket. My brain definitely did not see a black poodle, which is what the "person" actually is.

Are you looking at the photo and trying to see it, totally frustrated? The big hint is that the poodle is looking toward the camera. The "hat" on the "person" is the poodle's poofy tail, and the "scarf/stole" is the poodle's head.

Once you see it, it fairly clear, but for many of us, our brains did not process it until it was explicitly drawn out. This outline helps somewhat:

 

As one person explained, the black fur hides the contours and shadows, so all our brains take in is the outline, which looks very much like a person facing away from us.

People's reactions to the optical illusion were hilarious. One person wrote, "10 years later: I still see two dogs and a man."

 

Another person wrote, "I agree with ChatGPT :)" and shared a screenshot of the infamous AI chatbot describing the photo as having a person in the foreground. Even when asked, "Could the 'person' be another dog?" ChatGPT said it's possible, but not likely. Ha.

 

One reason we love optical illusions is that they remind us just how very human we are. Unlike a machine that takes in and spits out data, our brains perceive and interpret what our senses bring in—a quality that has helped us through our evolution. But the way our brains piece things together isn't perfect. Even ChatGPT's response is merely a reflection of our human imperfections at perception being mirrored back at us. They say seeing is believing, but when what we interpret what we're seeing incorrectly, we end up believing things that might not be real.

Sure is fun to play with how our brains work, though. Also a good reminder that what we think we see, even with our own eyes, may not be an accurate picture of reality.

This article originally appeared last year.

Ashley Judd doesn't care if you like the clubs she belongs to.

Actor Ashley Judd has perimenopausal and post-menopausal women everywhere cheering after she posted a video of herself frolicking in the ocean with the caption "WE DON'T CARE CLUB: BALTIC SEA EDITION." As she plays around in the water, she narrates what she's doing and what being part of the We Don't Care Club means.

"Hi, I'm Ashley and I'm a member of the We Don't Care Club," she begins, "and when I'm in my swimsuit, sometimes I get a little chafing, like right down there, so I put on cornstarch—good trick if you don't know that already—and then there's like a white thing, and if you see it, I don't care."

She then picks up a small jellyfish—the non-stinging kind, she says—and explains that she thinks the stuff in the middle of it is its central nervous system.

"That might not be right, and I don't care," she says, "cause there's another club that my inner child belongs to called the MSU Club…" Here she pauses to adjust her swimsuit, saying, "I'm picking my crotch and I don't care," before resuming, "…and the MSU Club is the Make Stuff Up Club, and that's for inner children. And as a post-menopausal woman, I don't care if you don't like the MSU Club for inner children!"

Judd then proceeds to do all the things we used to do in the water as kids when we didn't care what people thought of us. Back flops. Head dunking. Beauty shop hairdos. Handstands. Belly flopping. And all with so much joy.

 kids playing in the water, child-like joy, kids at the ocean, beach, fun Remember how you used to play in the water as a kid?Photo credit: Canva

At one point, as she walks away from the camera, she says, "Oh yeah, I probably have cellulite. I don't care. And I got hungry bum, and I don't care."

The whole video is delightful as Judd channels her inner child, bringing viewers back to their own childhood days playing in the water. People loved it:

"The amount of times I laughed out loud…This is perfect and I definitely needed this laugh today, thank you!!"

"Oh my goodness! I completely forgot about the hair thing. Thank you for reminding me, now I’ll have to do it. It might be in the shower, but you know what?? We don’t care."

 little girl, kiddie pool, outside pool, summer, kids, carefree Being a kid meant not caring what anyone else thought about what you were doing.  Giphy  

"Can I join the club? I’m not peri or postmenopausal yet. But I really do not care and I really do make stuff up."

"This is the best side of Ashley I’ve ever seen! She is morphing into a woman comfortable in her own skin and not afraid to say what’s on her mind! I want to be a member of both her clubs!! You go Ashley!"

"Thank you for sharing this journey, Ashley. It's beautiful to witness. I've joined the IDC club, and it's glorious."

As Judd pointed out, the We Don't Care Club was founded by influencer Melani Sanders, and her viral post hit a nerve with middle-aged women who were eager to join.

 

Sanders refers to the club as WDNC (We Do Not Care) and it has blown up and spread all over social media in just a few months.

"The beauty of the WDNC is all of the positivity that flows throughout all of our platforms," Sanders said in a video. She calls it a sisterhood for menopausal women.

"Watching my Sisters create Chapters and put the world on notice that we simply Do Not Care much anymore makes my heart smile," she writes. "Look at all of the positivity and love shared. Me and my Sisters are at capacity. We are tired. We have found a place where there is NO division or judgement. Everyone is accepted and loved regardless of race, religion, bank balance or brand of pocketbook you carry. The only requirement is you must have a She Shed. 😎😂"

People often lament getting older, but one of the bonuses of aging is getting to the point where you genuinely don't care about things that preoccupied you when you were younger. Bad hair day? Don't care. Bulging out of the swimsuit in places? Don't care. People judging what you're wearing or saying or doing or feeling? Don't care. It's a glorious club to belong to, with its freedom from worry and the room it makes for wonder.

Thanks, Ashley, for the beautiful example. You can follow Melani Sanders for more WDNC club updates on Instagram.

Culture

Boomers and Gen Xers share 30 things they don't miss from the 80s and 90s

"Using those Noxzema pads to burn and dry out my pimply face. It had a smell, too."

Images via Canva

Boomers and Gen Xers discuss the things they don't miss from the 1980s and 1990s.

Nostalgia is all about remembering how things were in the "gold old days." But sometimes, upon further reflection, some things really sucked in the past despite how rosy our colored glasses made them look. Boomers and Gen Xers are reminiscing on the things they really don't miss from the 1980s and 1990s.

Over on Reddit, member pizzagamer35 posed the question to Boomers and Gen Xers: "What is something you do NOT miss from the 80s-90s?"

Boomers and Gen Xers had plenty of throwback experiences and products they are happy to never come across again. These are 30 of the most nostalgic responses from Boomers and Gen Xers about things they don't miss about the 80s and 90s.

 landline, landline phone, 90s phone, phone call, retro phone Saved By The Bell Laughing GIF  Giphy  

"Long distance phone bill." —gohdnuorg

"Having to wait until after 7pm or whatever so you could call your long distance friends because it was free after that." —raz0rbl4d3

"Answering the landline and having no idea who's calling. Just raw, unfiltered anxiety." —Fit-Interview-3886

"Not having GPS." —recrysis

"Smoking or non smoking and still be in the smoking section." —Less-Lengthiness4863

 smoking, smoke, cigarettes, smoking section, smoking 90s mothers day smoking GIF  Giphy  

"Using those Noxzema pads to burn and dry out my pimply face. It had a smell, too." —poizon_elff

"Waiting for JPGs to load one line at a time." —timmayd

"Those hair ties with the two giant plastic beads on them that EVERY mom used to tie up their daughter's hair in pigtails. God forbid she lose her grip on one while she was already ripping your soul out through your scalp." —Honey-Badger-90

"Third degree burns from metallic seat belt fasteners." —JLMTIK88

"Not being able to use the internet if someone needed the phone line to be free." —Joshawott27

 internet, internet 90s, dial up internet, old internet, slow internet Girl 90S GIF  Giphy  

"Satanic panic." —Historical_Spot_4051

"Buying a CD and realizing all the songs suck, except for one, maybe two." —11B-E5

"Batteries and flashlight bulbs. Holy crap they were crap. I still remember seeing the little LED light on our shitty car radio and asking dad what kind of light that tiny dot was. He told me it was a diode and diodes kinda 'last forever'. I immediately wondered why the hell we weren't developing that tech." —snoozieboi

"Shoulder pads." —Thin_Apartment_8076

 shoulder pads, shoulder pad, 80s shoulder pads, 90s shoulder pads, vintage style Mc Hammer Dancing GIF by Jukebox Saints  Giphy  

"Ordering pizza by calling the restaurant and yelling your order to a guy in a noisy kitchen. Missing an episode of your favorite TV show (or forgetting to tape it if you had a VCR) and not being able to see it until summer reruns, or maybe never." —Imaginary-List-4945

"Terrible contact lenses." —MandatoryMatchmaker

"To contribute something small: manual computer defragmentation. It took several hours and you couldn't do anything else." —rena-vee

"Pay Phones that gave you limited talk time." —Aggravating-Iron9804

 pay phone, payphone, payphones, payphone, 90s phone Season 3 Marge GIF by The Simpsons  Giphy  

"Gym class. Boys were expected to know how to play sports. My dad taught me how to fix tractors and cut firewood, but he didn't teach me sports because no one ever taught him. The gym teacher didn't teach us sh*t. When we f*cked up or didn't know what to do, the jocks would laugh and the teacher would join in the fun." —Fluffy-Cupcake9943

"The 'heroin chic' body type." —Heartbreak_Star

"Panty hose." —Kitty-haha

"Aqua net=hair that absolutely did not move! And you could see little hairspray bubbles 😔🫠😂😂." — IAmTheBlackStar1979

"Having to rewind VHS tapes like it was a part-time job." -—Repulsive_Corgi_6187

 vhs, vhs tape, vhs rewind, rewinding vhs, vhs rewinding Animated GIF  Giphy  

"Waiting by the radio for your song to play so you can record it on tape." —mycrml

"Serial killers. They just can't exist at the same level anymore. Plus we got all the lead out of stuff. So now people are 100% normal. 100%." —PrimeNumbersby2

"Manual roll up/down windows in cars." —Human-Average-2222

"Carpeted bathrooms. someone shared a bunch of pictures of them on some nostalgia account and i could smell the pictures through my phone 🤢." —GoblinHeart1334

"Busy signal on the phone." —crjconsulting

Joy

Self-development expert shares the number 1 small talk mistake you must avoid

One small fix can totally level up your small talk game.

A woman and man enjoying some wine together.

The dirty little secret that people who are great at socializing know—and those who always feel awkward at parties may not—is that being a confident conversationalist isn’t necessarily something you’re “born with.” In fact, many great conversationalists are those who have worked at it and used expert advice to hone their craft.

Let’s face it, people who are great conversationalists have a distinct advantage in life; they are more likely to get ahead at work, have great first dates, and develop great friendships. One way to improve your social skills is to get better at the basic interaction we all deal with every day: small talk. Whether you’re in the coffee room at work, sitting on the train on the weekend, or having a drink with someone you met online, knowing how to elevate chit chat into something deeper and more meaningful is an important skill to have.

 party, small talk, chit chat, young people, band, living room A group of young people at a party.via Canva/Photos

What's the biggest small talk mistake to avoid?

Kat Boogaard, a writer specializing in self- and career-development, productivity, and entrepreneurship, shared a valuable tip in an Inc. article that serves as a great starting point for those looking to improve their conversation skills. She revealed a common mistake many people make when initiating a conversation, which often leads to dead ends and awkward silences.

“Picture this: A professional acquaintance you haven’t seen in some time walks up to start a conversation and says, ‘Hey! How are you?’ How do you respond?” she asks. “If you’re like most people, you retort immediately with something like, 'I’m great. How are you?' Aside from just a couple of short words, you’ve really only answered his question with another question.”

Instead of responding with a pat response and another question, she recommends that you “beef up” your response. This will encourage the other person to do the same, providing a greater number of threads for the conversation to take off. “This can look like, ‘My day was great! I had a really productive afternoon meeting where we discussed our website redesign, which I’m really excited about. How about you?” Then, more likely than not, the other person will respond with an experience of their own.

Here’s how not to have a conversation:

Friend:  “Hey! How are you?”

You: “Great! How are you?”

Friend: “Same old, same old.”

Awkward silence.


How to have a conversation:

Friend: “Hey! How are you?”

You:  “Great! You know I saw [mutual friend] earlier today, and she is doing really well in her new swim class. How are you?

Friend: “Great! I didn’t know that [mutual friend] was into swimming. Where is she taking the class?

Now, this conversation train has left the station and is heading down the tracks towards somewhere fun and informative.

 couple talking, man and woman talking, chit chat, small talk, couple on bench,  A couple talking on a bench.via Canva/Photos

What is the 'threading' small talk technique?

Boogaard’s advice is similar to the “threading” technique that Lorraine Lee, an award-winning virtual keynote speaker and CEO of RISE Learning Solutions, shared with CNBC Make It. Lee suggests that when someone asks an opening question, instead of replying with something predictable, respond with multiple “threads” that allow the person you’re talking to to choose where to take the conversation.

Question: “Cold outside, isn’t it?”

Predictable answer: “Yeah, I’m freezing.”

Good answer: “It reminds me of the blizzard we had a few years back. What year was that?”

The “good answer” here also gives the person you’re talking to two threads. They can speculate on the date of the blizzard or share their experience with the snowstorm. The “predictable answer” stops the conversation in its tracks.

Ultimately, being good at small talk means giving the person you’re talking to some material to work with and avoiding being predictable with an answer that makes it look like you’re on autopilot. Giving a considered, thoughtful response to someone not only gives you a new place to take the conversation, but it also shows that you appreciate their company enough to put some thought into your responses.

The Bee gees playing a medley of Beatles hits in 1973.

By 1973, the Bee Gees’ career had hit a low. After a series of hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including "To Love Somebody," "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," and "I Started a Joke," the band was in a rut. Their latest album, Life in a Tin Can, and single “Saw a New Morning" sold poorly, and the band’s popularity declined.

On April 6, 1973, the Gibb brothers (Barry, Robin, and Maurice) appeared on The Midnight Special, a late-night TV show that aired on Saturday mornings at 1 a.m. after The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Given the lukewarm reception to their recent releases, the Bee Gees decided to change things up and play a medley of hits from their idols, The Beatles, who had broken up three years before.

 the beatles, bee gees, 1960s The Beatles were the biggest band on Earth in their heyday.  Giphy  

The performance, which featured five of the Fab Four’s early hits, including “If I Fell,” “I Need You,” “I'll Be Back,” “This Boy,” and “She Loves You,” was a stripped-down, acoustic performance that highlighted the Bee Gees' trademark harmonies.

“When you got brothers singing, it’s like an instrument that no one else can buy. You can’t go buy that sound in a shop. You can’t sing like The Bee Gees because when you got family members singing together, it’s unique,” Noel Gallagher, who sang with his brother Liam in Oasis, said according to Far Out.

  - YouTube  youtu.be  

 

A year later, the Bee Gees performed in small clubs, and it looked like their career had hit a dead end. Then, at the urging of their management, the band began to move in a new direction, incorporating soul, rhythm and blues, and a new, underground musical style called disco into their repertoire. Barry also adopted a falsetto singing style popularized by Black singers such as Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye.

This unlikely change for the folksy vocal group catapulted them into the stratosphere and they became the white-satin-clad kings of disco.

  john travolta disco GIF by uDiscoverMusic  Giphy  

In the late ‘70s, the band had massive hits, including songs featured on the 40-million-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack: “Stayin’ Alive,” How Deep is Your Love,” More Than a Woman,” Jive Talkin’,” and “Night Fever.”

In 1978, the band made a significant misstep, starring in a musical based on The Beatles' music called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, produced by Robert Stigwood, the man behind Saturday Night Fever and Grease. The film was a colossal bomb, although the soundtrack sold well.

  - YouTube  www.youtube.com  

The Beatles' George Harrison thought the Bee Gees film was about what happens when you become successful and greedy.

"I just feel sorry for Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees, and Pete Frampton for doing it because they had established themselves in their own right as decent artists,” Harrison said. "And suddenly… it's like the classic thing of greed. The more you make the more you want to make, until you become so greedy that ultimately you put a foot wrong."

Even though the Bee Gees’ Beatle-themed musical was a flop, former Beatle John Lennon remained a fan of the group. He sang their praises after the public’s growing distaste of disco resulted in a significant backlash.

 john lennon, the beatles John Lennon was a fan of the Bee Gees.  Giphy  

"Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone,” he told Playboy magazine in 1980. “There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then."

The Bee Gees historic career ended when Maurice passed away in 2003 at 53. Robin would follow in 2009 at 62. Barry is the final surviving member of the band.

This article originally appeared last year.