Hi Loyal Readers. Before we get to the articles, I’d like to welcome our 60 new subscribers — thanks to
and her outstanding newsletter,Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends. (If you haven’t subscribed, do!)
If you’re new or newish here: I’m Mark, I’m an educator in Oakland, and for the last nine years, I’ve been sharing the best articles on race, education, and culture for your reading delight. Plus we’re a kind and thoughtful reading community that does a deep dive on one article a month, if you’re interested. No matter if this is your first or 442nd issue, always feel free to reach out and say hi.
All right, let’s get to the articles. There’s not a theme this week, just three great articles, all of which stopped me in my tracks and got me thinking. The lead piece, “Why Everything Is Becoming A Game,” sort of blew my mind. At first glance, it reads like something we’ve read before: a thoughtful critique of gamification — how tech companies trick us, in a Skinnerian way, to value their capitalist goals rather than our own humanity. But then comes the Unabomber part — which takes the article into the realm of I’ve-never-read-anything-quite-like-this-before. Yes, you might feel a bit creeped out at first, as I was. But if you make it all the way through, you’ll get it, and you might find yourself deleting your social media apps forever.
Not interested in such an intense read? Here are a couple more to check out (still serious, but less intense):
📚 All right, it’s time to get to the articles. As always, if an article moved you, or elicited a strong reaction, I encourage you to leave a comment and share your perspective.
1️⃣ Why Everything Is Becoming A Game
If you’ve taken an introductory psychology course, you likely know about B. F. Skinner and his famous theory of behaviorism. In his experiments, pigeons kept pecking at a button attached to a food dispenser even after they felt full. Why? Because the button made a clicking sound, and the pigeons liked the clicking.
In this outstanding essay (that, yes, does include a section on the Unabomber, please don’t unsubscribe, it’s intriguing!), Gurwinder argues that tech companies and other major corporations have trained us to be like pigeons in a Skinnerian box — caring not about our intrinsic happiness, but rather about meaningless secondary extrinsic goals, like likes and follows and other things we can count but shouldn’t. He writes:
Today, people increasingly live inside their phones, bossed around by notifications, diligently collecting badges and filling progress bars, even though it doesn’t make them happy. On the contrary, substantial research comprising over a hundred studies finds that prioritizing extrinsic goals over intrinsic goals — in other words doing things to win prizes and achieve high scores rather than for the inherent love of doing them — leads to lower well-being.
There’s definitely a sense of dread and doom in this essay, especially as the author speculates that late-stage capitalism will require businesses to accelerate the trend of gamification. Gurwinder writes, “[G]amification is not just a fad; it’s the fate of a digital capitalist society. Anything that can be turned into a game sooner or later will be.”
2️⃣ The Problem With Passion Jobs
If you call your work “a calling,” or like “making a difference,” or find yourself working evenings and weekends, watch out, says Anne Helen Petersen: You’re likely working a “passion job,” and your employer is likely taking advantage of you.
You’re especially at risk of you’re a woman and working in a “caring” field like education or nursing. “Passion jobs are usually salaried,” Ms. Petersen writes, “because there is always far more work to be done than 40 hours a week. Give a passion worker a salary and the additional hours become a testament to their dedication.” And don’t worry about benefits: That’s what your husband’s job is for.
I appreciated this article not only for the reminder that workers should be paid for their labor, but also for Ms. Petersen’s analysis of teaching as a “profession on fire.” It’s not rocket science, she argues, that 30% of teachers are looking for a different job and that 82% think education is getting worse.
By Anne Helen Petersen • Culture Study • 11 mins • Gift Link
Loyal readers Angelina, Sele, and Clem discuss with emerging loyal reader Ayka the many benefits of subscribing to Article Club.
3️⃣ The Parents Who Regret Having Children
I don’t have children, which means that from time to time, people ask me if I regret not having them. It got me thinking: Do people who have children ever get asked the opposite question? Apparently not often, according to R. O. Kwon, whose well-written essay explores the taboo some parents don’t want to admit.
If you’re a parent, and you somehow don’t love all your children all of the time, the shame and isolation are deep. Ms. Kwon writes, “Some of these parents talk about feeling utterly alone, like villains past all imagining. Several have noted that, afraid of being judged, they decline to be candid with their own therapists.”
At the same time, Ms. Kwon points out that if our society allowed for more complexity, we’d allow space for parents to share more nuanced views. After all, “it’s possible to have strong, lasting regrets about a life choice while ferociously loving — and caring for — the fruit of that decision.”
By R. O. Kwon • Time Magazine • 11 min • Gift Link
4️⃣ It’s time for a poll! 🙋🏽
The other day, I did some math. More than 90% of you have never participated in our monthly Article Club discussion. (And that’s totally OK!) I want to hear from you, because I’m thinking of making some changes to the discussion format.
POLL
What’s the biggest reason you haven’t participated in a discussion?
I didn’t know about the discussions
33%
The articles haven’t interested me
7%
Being on Zoom isn’t my cup of tea
22%
It’s scary talking to strangers
22%
Sundays aren’t great
15%
POLL CLOSED
Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀
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