Wellsbaum.blog

Writing about life and arts

Daily Prompts

  • The pointlessness of constant self-grading

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    1 min read

    We obsess with gauging the temperature of our present reputation. The numbers are public, ticking up and down like stock prices. The internet is the grandest stage of them all, where we endeavor to present our best selves. We strive to prove our self-worth by using likes and followers to gauge our fame and pepper our…

  • A retrospective report

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    1 min read

    We take a retrospective report, this time with the prospect of various viewpoints. When we look back at our own history, it only makes sense now. It’s never lucid at the time. Today’s mirror emits a story that can’t tell a lie. While the future prohibits knowledge, gathering experience increases one’s attentiveness toward ambient hints.…

  • Technology spreads unreality

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    1 min read

    The reason we’re so comfortable around friends is because we can strip away the plastic and can be ourselves, zits and all. The problem with social media is that while it allows for the perfected self, it also undermines reality. Juxtaposing our screen lives and raw selves can make us feel fraudulent. Technology spreads unreality.…

  • The effect of expectation

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    1 min read

    The placebo creates a ceremony of expectation. It builds off novelty and reinvigorates confidence in the possibility of recovery. We all fall victim to the soft mental implantation of a placebo, the oldest medicine in the world. One simple belief kickstarts a chemical revolution. But in reality, the answer just needed to be poked from dormancy.…

  • The sorcery of screens

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    1 min read

    The internet never ends. Mountains of content are piling up as we speak. The hook is neither in our control or that of technology. We pull the lever, the slot machine spits out a variable reward. It’s impossible to disentangle ourselves from the mindlessness of a ludic loop. With more data, the machine grows smarter…

  • Blinded by closeness

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    1 min read

    You can’t make anything in the forest stand still. It is in constant flux, whether that’s in seasons, wildfires, or in the territory marking of a killer bear. Nature is fickle. It calls for preparedness and a broad scope. “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” One must not only have a plan in…

  • How to avoid the comparison bubble

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    1 min read

    It’s easy to get caught up in the comparison bubble. You always want what we don’t have. You are incorrectly taught to copy, just as you’re erroneously taught to think in absolutes. Celebrate what makes you unique You should do what makes you unique. You should feel free to steal ideas from other people and…

  • Book guilt

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    2 min read

    On average, how many times do you actually finish the book you’re reading? Artist and journalist James Bridle encourages us to be honest with ourselves on answering that question. Here’s what he says: I don’t read like I used to—although that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I rarely finish books. I’ve always had a habit…

  • Beware the algorithms

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    2 min read

    Six hundred red years ago, there was no such thing as personal identity. Only when people owned mirrors did they start seeing themselves as individuals. One hundred years ago, all fighter pilot seats were the same size until there became unnecessary deaths. The US Air Force adapted and customized its seating options. The mass markets ushered in by…

  • ‘The right to disconnect’ 📱

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    1 min read

    Stop working from home and get some rest. Even better, plan some unscheduled time. Sincerely, France Wait, what? On January 1st of this year, France passed the ‘right to disconnect‘ law which enforces a digital diet outside working hours. The rule prohibits employers from calling or emailing employees during personal time. France already imposes 35-hour works…

  • Picasso: Art as a form of diary

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    1 min read

    Art is where our mind’s eye merges with reality to create a theater inside our head, resulting in the form of a diary. This was especially true for Pablo Picasso. Picasso was perhaps best known for his practice of public journaling via painting. “My work is my diary. I have painted my autobiography,” he said.…