Ian Bogost
@ibogost.com
PREORDER The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life: http://bit.ly/49gyZmp
Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor at WashU; Contributing writer at The Atlantic; author of 11 books. https://bogost.com
Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor at WashU; Contributing writer at The Atlantic; author of 11 books. https://bogost.com
Pinned
Ian Bogost
@ibogost.com
· Nov 10
🚨 PLEASE PREORDER MY NEW BOOK 🚨
It's called The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life, and it's about the sensory enchantment of everyday life.
Click here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Sm...
… or go wherever you buy books
(More info in the next post)
It's called The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life, and it's about the sensory enchantment of everyday life.
Click here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Sm...
… or go wherever you buy books
(More info in the next post)
Watched a random episode of Mad Men tonight. More happened than in the entire season of today’s TV series.
December 25, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Watched a random episode of Mad Men tonight. More happened than in the entire season of today’s TV series.
I only learned later in life that “umbers” is not a generally shared children’s taunt—used to hurl derision at another child who has done something that would get them in trouble—but an extremely local Burqueño regional vernacular: “Umberrrrrs”
What the heck did the rest of you say to express this?
What the heck did the rest of you say to express this?
December 25, 2025 at 2:33 AM
I only learned later in life that “umbers” is not a generally shared children’s taunt—used to hurl derision at another child who has done something that would get them in trouble—but an extremely local Burqueño regional vernacular: “Umberrrrrs”
What the heck did the rest of you say to express this?
What the heck did the rest of you say to express this?
Help me adjudicate a mild domestic dispute regarding the patty melt.
Would you consider it:
A) A first-order sandwich, worthy of its own righteous station
or
B) A desperation substitute made or ordered when buns are absent, and obviously worse than a burger, club sandwich, or similar
?
Would you consider it:
A) A first-order sandwich, worthy of its own righteous station
or
B) A desperation substitute made or ordered when buns are absent, and obviously worse than a burger, club sandwich, or similar
?
December 23, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Help me adjudicate a mild domestic dispute regarding the patty melt.
Would you consider it:
A) A first-order sandwich, worthy of its own righteous station
or
B) A desperation substitute made or ordered when buns are absent, and obviously worse than a burger, club sandwich, or similar
?
Would you consider it:
A) A first-order sandwich, worthy of its own righteous station
or
B) A desperation substitute made or ordered when buns are absent, and obviously worse than a burger, club sandwich, or similar
?
Reposted by Ian Bogost
The case against AI music feels, to many, intuitive—but the implications of its popularity are much bigger than a few more cringe songs. Spencer Kornhaber explores:
AI Is Testing What Society Wants From Music
The emerging technology is warping the record industry in all sorts of strange—and foreboding—ways.
bit.ly
December 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
The case against AI music feels, to many, intuitive—but the implications of its popularity are much bigger than a few more cringe songs. Spencer Kornhaber explores:
Reposted by Ian Bogost
For my last Buying Power of the year, I wrote about one way to think about the divergence in consumer sentiment (bad) and behavior (free-spending) this year: It’s the YOLO economy, typified by the expanding popularity of services like Klarna and Affirm. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The United States of Klarna
Want to understand the state of the economy? Just look to all the shoppers flocking to “buy now, pay later” services.
www.bloomberg.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:50 PM
For my last Buying Power of the year, I wrote about one way to think about the divergence in consumer sentiment (bad) and behavior (free-spending) this year: It’s the YOLO economy, typified by the expanding popularity of services like Klarna and Affirm. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Moody shot of the Elixir.
December 22, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Moody shot of the Elixir.
Reposted by Ian Bogost
"The crisis of democracy is a crisis of information—citizens make bad decisions, in part, because they are starved of the facts. And it can get worse."
The world is not outraged enough that Trump is using his power to force CBS and CNN to mold to his views. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The world is not outraged enough that Trump is using his power to force CBS and CNN to mold to his views. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
CBS and CNN Are Being Sacrificed to Trump
Media conglomerates want the president’s permission for mergers—and control of news outlets is at stake.
www.theatlantic.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:45 PM
"The crisis of democracy is a crisis of information—citizens make bad decisions, in part, because they are starved of the facts. And it can get worse."
The world is not outraged enough that Trump is using his power to force CBS and CNN to mold to his views. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The world is not outraged enough that Trump is using his power to force CBS and CNN to mold to his views. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Maybe I'll get in trouble for saying this, but: If I saw as many bespoke, human-authored, moving/funny/insightful posts on here as I do irate ones about AI ending bespoke, moving/funny/insightful human authorship, it would be kind of neat.
December 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Maybe I'll get in trouble for saying this, but: If I saw as many bespoke, human-authored, moving/funny/insightful posts on here as I do irate ones about AI ending bespoke, moving/funny/insightful human authorship, it would be kind of neat.
These harpist girls at the St. Louis Irish Arts Christmas concert played “Zombie” by The Cranberries and all the Gen X moms held their hearts and it was kind of beautiful.
December 22, 2025 at 4:46 AM
These harpist girls at the St. Louis Irish Arts Christmas concert played “Zombie” by The Cranberries and all the Gen X moms held their hearts and it was kind of beautiful.
Some basic-bitch boss battle shit right here.
Conventionally, the moon is thought to have formed during one big impact, but a three-impact model might make more sense
Forming moon may have taken three big impacts early in Earth’s history
Conventionally, the moon is thought to have formed during one big impact, but a three-impact model might make more sense
www.newscientist.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Some basic-bitch boss battle shit right here.
Three shopping days left…
December 21, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Three shopping days left…
It’s finally happening.
John Lennon’s son worries Gen Z is forgetting the Beatles, and the music that made his dad famous
“I think the Beatles’ music, and John and Yoko’s legacy, is something important for the world to kind of cherish and be reminded of,” Sean Ono Lennon said.
nypost.com
December 21, 2025 at 9:05 PM
It’s finally happening.
I was in a high-end boutique and the salesman asked what I do for work.
“I’m a writer,” I said (easier than explaining whatever it is I do).
“Oh what kind?” He asks.
“I write non-fiction books and for a magazine, The Atlantic.”
A beat, then,
“I don’t think I’ve read a book since college.”
“I’m a writer,” I said (easier than explaining whatever it is I do).
“Oh what kind?” He asks.
“I write non-fiction books and for a magazine, The Atlantic.”
A beat, then,
“I don’t think I’ve read a book since college.”
December 20, 2025 at 7:21 PM
I was in a high-end boutique and the salesman asked what I do for work.
“I’m a writer,” I said (easier than explaining whatever it is I do).
“Oh what kind?” He asks.
“I write non-fiction books and for a magazine, The Atlantic.”
A beat, then,
“I don’t think I’ve read a book since college.”
“I’m a writer,” I said (easier than explaining whatever it is I do).
“Oh what kind?” He asks.
“I write non-fiction books and for a magazine, The Atlantic.”
A beat, then,
“I don’t think I’ve read a book since college.”
Reposted by Ian Bogost
PLURIBUS is the most finely crafted piece of television art I've ever fallen asleep watching three times.
My review, for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
My review, for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
In “Pluribus,” Groupthink Spells the End of Art
Vince Gilligan’s new show imagines a world devoid of any kind of aesthetic experience that isn’t blandly generalizable.
newrepublic.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:30 PM
PLURIBUS is the most finely crafted piece of television art I've ever fallen asleep watching three times.
My review, for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
My review, for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
An interesting feature of the Trump presidency is how he just does stuff. Yes, it's often illegal, but the fact of the outcomes—their visible, rapid appearance—is undeniable. Contrast this with the inability of the opposition party to demonstrate tangible results, even when results are achieved.
December 19, 2025 at 4:30 PM
An interesting feature of the Trump presidency is how he just does stuff. Yes, it's often illegal, but the fact of the outcomes—their visible, rapid appearance—is undeniable. Contrast this with the inability of the opposition party to demonstrate tangible results, even when results are achieved.
I've been talking about both doctoral study (with academic jobs as the goal) AND tenure for YEARS in terms of RISK MANAGEMENT. It is a very calculated, and increasingly speculative, risk. You have to treat it that way.
Faculty hate it when I do this. Especially about tenure.
Faculty hate it when I do this. Especially about tenure.
I keep telling brilliant students not to get PhDs not because they aren't capable, but because if I show them the job boards for the last couple of years and the graphs, not even the fabled hubris of an undergrad who wants to be a professor can get through. There are no jobs.
December 19, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I've been talking about both doctoral study (with academic jobs as the goal) AND tenure for YEARS in terms of RISK MANAGEMENT. It is a very calculated, and increasingly speculative, risk. You have to treat it that way.
Faculty hate it when I do this. Especially about tenure.
Faculty hate it when I do this. Especially about tenure.
I am sad that we have fully given up on "gift" being a noun and "give" being a verb. You give a gift.
The descriptivist extremist dictionary, @merriam-webster.com, attempts to justify this by casting gift (tv) as "to make a gift of" or to "present," i.e. as if a gift, but this is desperation.
The descriptivist extremist dictionary, @merriam-webster.com, attempts to justify this by casting gift (tv) as "to make a gift of" or to "present," i.e. as if a gift, but this is desperation.
December 18, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I am sad that we have fully given up on "gift" being a noun and "give" being a verb. You give a gift.
The descriptivist extremist dictionary, @merriam-webster.com, attempts to justify this by casting gift (tv) as "to make a gift of" or to "present," i.e. as if a gift, but this is desperation.
The descriptivist extremist dictionary, @merriam-webster.com, attempts to justify this by casting gift (tv) as "to make a gift of" or to "present," i.e. as if a gift, but this is desperation.
The difference between nominal and actual measurements—this 4" x 4" post cap is 3 5/8" square, because 4x4 is nominal, aka "just its name"—was always trouble.
But it's a lot worse now that you have to buy everything online. Good luck Googling "4x4 true cedar post cap" or 4x4 actual cedar post cap."
But it's a lot worse now that you have to buy everything online. Good luck Googling "4x4 true cedar post cap" or 4x4 actual cedar post cap."
December 18, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The difference between nominal and actual measurements—this 4" x 4" post cap is 3 5/8" square, because 4x4 is nominal, aka "just its name"—was always trouble.
But it's a lot worse now that you have to buy everything online. Good luck Googling "4x4 true cedar post cap" or 4x4 actual cedar post cap."
But it's a lot worse now that you have to buy everything online. Good luck Googling "4x4 true cedar post cap" or 4x4 actual cedar post cap."
I have asked this before, but I am asking again: How do you actually get Exchange calendars to synchronize elsewhere, such as in Apple Calendar? According to my IT org, Microsoft's position on this seems to be "We do not give a fuck." Is that the official answer?
December 18, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I have asked this before, but I am asking again: How do you actually get Exchange calendars to synchronize elsewhere, such as in Apple Calendar? According to my IT org, Microsoft's position on this seems to be "We do not give a fuck." Is that the official answer?
All I am gonna say about this is "whooboy."
These Moms Are Done Being ‘Doormats’ for Their Estranged Children
Parents publicly blast their adult offspring for cutting them off, drawing tens of thousands of online followers.
www.wsj.com
December 18, 2025 at 4:38 PM
All I am gonna say about this is "whooboy."
Instead of posting today, you could pre-order my new book, out summer 2026. It's about the sensory enchantment of everyday life—aka touching grass (and everything else).
The Small Stuff
From popular The Atlantic columnist Ian Bogost, a lively reflection about how we’ve become disconnected from the physical world—and how to reclaim ...
www.simonandschuster.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Instead of posting today, you could pre-order my new book, out summer 2026. It's about the sensory enchantment of everyday life—aka touching grass (and everything else).