It is incredibly important to train yourself to have your first instinct be to look something up.

Don't know how to do something? Look it up.

See a piece of news mentioned on social media? Look it up.

Not sure if something is making it to the broader public consciousness, either because you don't see it much or you see people saying nobody is talking about it? Look it up.

Don't know what a word means? Look it up.

It will make you a better reader and a better writer, but it will also just make you more equipped to cope with the world.

So often, I see people talking about something as though it is the first time anyone has ever acknowledged it, when I've been reading reports about it on the news for months or years. Or I see someone totally misinterpreting an argument because they clearly don't know what a word means--or, on the other hand, making an argument that doesn't make sense because they aren't using words the right way.

Look things up! Check the news (the real news, not random people on social media)! Do your research! You (and the world) will be better for it.

look it up FROM A REAL SOURCE

Not AI

do not trust the overview at the top of the search window. confirm it with a real source by a human before you decide you have all the info you need

SAYING IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK --

hey it’s ok if you lost your ai virginity back when you were uneducated. a lot of posts go like “reblog if you have never ever used generative ai and never ever will!!!” but it’s ok if you have used gen ai before and it’s even ok if you used to think it was cool, back before you understood what it really was and how it worked, either because no one had taught you about it and you discovered it on your own or because the only education you had received about it was from the tech bros. you’re not a burger with a bite out of it for having used ai. ok

It is 100 percent okay to stop using it today and join the "boo AI" club.

This isn't a purity thing. This is a "everyone stand with us against destroying the environment and giving asthma to poor people" thing.

Did you know that when one community says no to an AI data center, they specifically search out communities with fewer resources? Communities that can't defend themselves? And the pollution 100 percent affects their health and wellbeing, in addition to burning through our already scarce drinking water.

You can stop using character.ai today. You can say "I listened to the facts and stopped." And another thing: don't you think it's a bit more impactful to have used it, stopped, and then you're in a position to say how little it helped? How doing things for yourself improved your life?

also posts in the spirit of "if you've used AI even ONCE your soul is tainted!!!!" can't be great to those with OCD

Do you actually ship them or do you want them to be trapped together in a cave-in where one of them is injured and they have to talk to keep them distracted and stay sane while they wait for help, and end up opening up about their vulnerabilities and bond and then grow desperate as one starts to slip from consciousness while the other begs them to stay awake—

To all the “both is good” tags: this is an aro post asking you to question if what you really want to explore is the vulnerability and intimacy, and whether romance/sex is the only way to achieve that.

when i was in therapy i once expressed to my therapist that i really struggle with having pretty much zero idea of who i am as a person + she whipped out a piece of paper and suggested that we write down different aspects of myself. and i had no idea what to say bc ‘myself’ is a concept i’m not very familiar with so she started saying about my interests and how that’s part of me + i was like okay!! that makes sense!! so she clicked her pen and was like “you said you like video games before” and i was like sure bud :) and watched her write down, in capital letters ‘GAMER’ and i’ve never had so much terror struck into my h

my bf and I have the same fucking brain

Quiplash is the greatest game ever made because it allows for things like this and you can’t change my mind.

question was how to get kicked out of hogwarts

*right clicks on you*

*views your properties*

"forgor" did irreversible damage didn't it

I was born in the exact right generation I love being an unmarried woman in my twenties with my own bank account and no children

This getting reblogged with “and my thirties” “and my forties” “and my fifties”

youknow when kittens meow and their eyes get a bit smaller cos theur faces r so little they cant have their mouth and eyes all the way open at the same time I think about it so muxh

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Human relationships are not transactional but they are reciprocal, which I think many of you with your ‘i don’t owe anyone anything’ shtick are too happy to forget

“no one’s ever mad at me unless they tell me so” is the best assumption i’ve ever made

sorry for tagwatching but you still have to act like they aren’t mad at you imo! bc it’s the mad person’s duty to make it known if they want anything changed. it is never anyone’s duty to be a mind reader.

If I am mad at someone and am remaining Quiet about it, it is because I Do Not Want them to know that I’m mad.

Please respect my boundaries and assume that I am Not mad.

If you’re worried that I am mad, consider the possibility that I am mad for reasons I know are stupid and do not want to make it your problem.

Ohhh that last addition opens my eyes in a big way, thank you.

I can’t speak for other social media webbed sites but I really enjoy how tumblr seems to just completely spin a wheel on whatever media is hot right now. Like yeah sometimes it’s a new show that’s big and actively coming out but also sometimes there will be a solid month where half my dash is Columbo memes. Defy authority. Get really into an book from the 1800s. Watch shows that haven’t aired in 40 years. Celebrate the anniversary of the Boston Molasses Flood. Become unmarketable

oh shit i almost missed it!

Oh man, the Boston Molasses Flood.

Official Post of Massachusetts

they need to invent clubbing for boring sober people who don't like loud music or crowded group dancing. what's the "she should be at the club" for this hypothetical not-me demographic.

roundup of various common suggestions in the notes:

first good suggestion on this post in years, FINALLY true equality

Sometimes I can still hear their voice

Breaking: TikTok is better bc it’s more hostile towards humanity

The lack of video content is what kept us here... I thought we all agree that the best feature of this hellhole was and always will be anonymity.

Tumblr's not asking for my phone number. It's not going through my contacts to try and connect me with my fucking colleagues. I can come here and talk about whatever I want without anyone ever seeing my face or hearing my voice. I don't have to censor myself and hide my interests or enthusiasm out of fear of consequences it might have in my real life.

I think the biggest misunderstanding they have of Tumblr is that they think of it as a social media platform when in actuality it's a blogging platform with social features.

I like the use of Metroman here because if there's one thing Tumblr users collectively agree on it's that we want everyone to think we're dead

😔

wish we were still on Tumblr instead of the void

every day I learn bot comments on ao3 are stooping lower and lower

anyway if you get a comment like this, chances are that they are bot and their goal is to do whatever it takes to get you to delete your work, most certainly (from what I’ve heard) it’s because they want to “safely” steal your work, use it to train their ai without you being able to rightfully claim ownership of your work since “there’s no proof that the work was stolen/was posted elsewhere first by you” because the original source has already been deleted.

THEY ARE ALL BOTS. at first it was “ao3 is deleting fics and your entire account will be affected unless you delete the fics yourself” then it was “this work contains contents that are illegal and they have already reported you and your fic to the police” (yes, that’s how desperate these bots are), and now it’s this.

report their comments to ao3 for spam—in this case, specifically, I think you may be able to report them for harassment too—and don’t pay attention to them, most importantly don’t delete your works, don’t feel discouraged by their comments. remember that they are bots and they mass comment something like this on people’s works at random to get people to delete their works. (or even if they’re not bot, they are still pathetic bullies who don’t deserve your time or attention.)

something I haven't aimed for but love to experience in art is the "oh FUCK you! (affectionate)" moment

like when a game or movie pulls a trick on you, but it's so perfectly in line with the rest of the works logic with a payoff so good that you can't actually be upset

that happened so often when I played Void Stranger and I'm hoping it'll be the same with Lorelei and the Laser Eyes there's been at least one for me there already ^^

btw if youre young and scared of doing adult things without your parents ive learned that like 90% of the time you can just tell the doctors office or the dmv "haha sorry ive never done this without help before... can you show me how to do this?" the employee will not care. if that means anything to you

The above is true.

Also, if you feel like you need information before you go, ask a public librarian first.

"haha sorry ive never *gone to the dmv before* *made a budget* *selected a primary care doctor* *planned meals* … can you tell me how to prepare for/research this?"

A good librarian will ask you more about what you need to do, and guide you through the websites or other resources with you try to understand it, print/email a copy for you, and also draw on personal experience as much as possible -- falling just short of giving you actual legal or medical advice.

Plus you are helping the library by using resources and adding to their stats.