Just say what’s on your mind. It’s as simple as that.

We’ve built this Tower of Babel out of apps, and somehow nobody actually says anything.

How can we have a thousand ways to communicate and still fail so miserably at it? Why can’t someone who friends you actually talk to you if you friend them back? It’s like walking up to a stranger, grabbing their attention, then just standing there in silence while you both stare. Really?

They don’t want to talk. They don’t want to get to know you. They’re just collecting connections like bottle caps — zero intention of actual communication. It’s performative networking, not relationship building.

I even coaxed two lurkers off the app and onto actual phones. Groundbreaking. Met a unicorn for coffee once, dinner once, and then — ghosted. Bye.

And this is where we are as a society: obsessed with instant gratification and racking up proof we “showed up” for something, anything. Substack’s no better — the endless “if you like me, I’ll like you back” loop dressed up as community. There’s nothing wrong with numbers, until there is.

Maybe most of us aren’t trying to be lurkers. Maybe we’re just worn out — too tired to risk being real — so we hide behind likes and follows instead.

With all these ways to communicate, we hardly talk at all.