#semicolon — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Andrew Trousdale and Erik J. Langer bridge the years between Robert Putnam‘s Bowling Alone and Jonathan Haidt‘s The Anxious Generation with a brief history of the trade-off between convenience and connection in America. From Zach Rauch’s introduction…

The Anxious Generation is best understood as a three-act tragedy. Act I begins in the mid-20th century, when new social and entertainment technologies (e.g., air conditioning and television) set in motion a long, gradual collapse of local community. Act II begins in the 1980s, as the loss of local community weakened social trust and helped erode the play-based childhood. Act III begins in the early 2010s, with the arrival of the phone-based childhood that filled the vacuum left behind.

This post, written by Andrew Trousdale and Erik Larson, goes deep into Act I. Andrew is a psychology researcher and human-computer interaction designer who is co-running a project on the psychological tradeoffs of progress. Erik is the author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, writes the Substack Colligo, and is completing the MIT Press book Augmented Human Intelligence: Being Human in an Age of AI, due in 2026. Together, they show how the isolation we experience today did not begin with smartphones but began decades earlier, as Americans, often for good and understandable reasons, traded connection for convenience, and place-based relationships for privacy and control.

Tracing these trade-offs across the twentieth century, Andrew and Erik help explain the problem of loneliness we face today, and offer some guidance for how we can turn it around and reconnect with our neighbors. Robert Putnam, who read a recent draft, described it as “easily the best, most comprehensive, and most persuasive piece on the contemporary social capital conundrum I’ve yet read.”…

Trousdale and Langer trace the social, cultural, economic, political, and technological forces that have played out from the the late 1940s to today. It is, at once, familiar and shocking. They conclude…

When we asked Robert Putnam what gives him hope, he pointed to history. In The Upswing, he reminds us that Americans faced a similar crisis before. The Gilded Age brought economic inequality, industrialization, and the rise of anonymous urban life. Small-town bonds gave way to tenements and factory floors. Trust collapsed. By the 1890s, social capital had reached historic lows — roughly where it stands today.
The Progressive reformers found this new world unacceptable, but they didn’t try to turn back the clock. Cities and factories were here to stay. Instead, they adapted, creating new forms of connection suited to their changed reality, from settlement houses for anonymous neighborhoods to women’s clubs that built networks of mutual aid. They didn’t reject modernity; they metabolized it, showing up day after day to create new institutions and communities suited to the industrialized world.
Decades ago Neil Postman observed in Amusing Ourselves to Death that we haven’t been conquered by technology — we’ve surrendered to it because we like the stimulation and cheap amusement. More recently, Nicholas Carr concludes in Superbloom that we’re complicit in our loneliness because we embrace these superficial, mediated forms of connection. Like Postman and Carr, the Progressive Era reformers understood where they had agency when technology upended their world. It isn’t in demanding that others fix systems we willingly participate in, nor is it in outright rejecting technologies that deliver real benefits — it’s in changing how we ourselves live with and make use of the tools that surround us.
There are already signs that people are willing to do this. In a small, three-day survey, Talker Research found that 63% of Gen Z now intentionally unplug — the highest rate of any generation — and that half of Americans are spending less time on screens for their well-being, and their top alternative activity is time with friends and family. And they found that two-thirds of Americans are embracing “slow living,” with 84% adopting analog lifestyle choices like wristwatches and paper notebooks that help them unplug. Meanwhile in Eventbrite’s “Reset to Real” survey, 74% of young adults say in-person experiences matter more than digital ones. New devices like the Light Phone, Brick, Meadow, and Daylight Computer signal a growing demand for utility without distraction.
Unplugging isn’t enough on its own. The time and energy we reclaim has to go toward building social connections: hosting the dinner party despite the hassle, staying for coffee after church when you’d rather go home, sitting through the awkward silence, offering or asking for help.
Ultimately, we can’t expect deep social connection in a culture that prioritizes individual ease and convenience. Nor is community something technology can deliver for us. What’s required is a change of culture, grounded in a basic fact of human nature: that authentic connection requires action and effort, and that this action and effort is part of what makes connection fulfilling in the first place.
We can form new rituals and institutions that allow us to adapt to technology, ultimately changing it to our liking. But it starts with the tools we use and the choices we make each day. If we all prioritize the individual comforts and conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to, no one else will restore the community we say we miss. No one else can. If we want deeper relationships and better communities than we have, we’re going to have to put more of our time, effort, and attention into the people around us.
History shows that we can adapt, building communities suited to changing times. The question is: Will we stay in and scroll? Or will we go out and choose one another?…
Eminently worth reading in full: “Scrolling Alone.”
In the spirit of the call for forward-looking determination, pair with “The Displacement of Purpose” from Peter Adam Boeckel (“If AI automates production, then humanity must automate compassion. Only then will progress remember what it was for.”)
[Image above: source]
* Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (in which he also observed: “People divorced from community, occupation, and association are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.”)
###
As we get together, we might spare a thought for Aldus Manutius; he died on this date in 1515. A printer and humanist, he founded the Aldine Press. In the books he published, he introduced a standardized system of punctuation and use of the semicolon. He designed many fonts, and created italic type (which he named for Italy).

source

And apropos the piece featured above, we might note that on this date in 1965 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the first major hit for the Righteous Brothers, simultaneously reached #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US as well as the UK singles chart. The song was produced by Phil Spector (who had discovered the duo at a San Francisco show) for his own label, Philles Records. All the songs previously produced by Spector for Philles featured African-American singers; the Righteous Brothers were his first white vocal act– they had a vocal style, blue-eyed soul, that suited Spector.

https://youtu.be/03iSUjHaUxY?si=OkkrUiId1p3KkMHY

#AldusManutius #AndrewTrousdale #anxiety #BowlingAlone #connection #convenience #culture #ErikJLanger #history #italic #JonathanHaidt #loneliness #music #PhilSpector #politics #printing #publishing #punctuation #RighteousBrothers #RobertPutnam #semicolon #society #Technology #TheAnxiousGeneration #YouVeLostThatLovinFeelin #YouVeLostThatLovingFeeling

#aldusmanutius #andrewtrousdale #anxiety #bowlingalone #connection #convenience

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 09:00 UTC

“They are alone together”*…

Andrew Trousdale and Erik J. Langer bridge the years between Robert Putnam‘s Bowling Alone and Jonathan Haidt‘s The Anxious Generation with a brief history of the trade-off between convenience and connection in America. From Zach Rauch’s introduction…

The Anxious Generation is best understood as a three-act tragedy. Act I begins in the mid-20th century, when new social and entertainment technologies (e.g., air conditioning and television) set in motion a long, gradual collapse of local community. Act II begins in the 1980s, as the loss of local community weakened social trust and helped erode the play-based childhood. Act III begins in the early 2010s, with the arrival of the phone-based childhood that filled the vacuum left behind.

This post, written by Andrew Trousdale and Erik Larson, goes deep into Act I. Andrew is a psychology researcher and human-computer interaction designer who is co-running a project on the psychological tradeoffs of progress. Erik is the author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, writes the Substack Colligo, and is completing the MIT Press book Augmented Human Intelligence: Being Human in an Age of AI, due in 2026. Together, they show how the isolation we experience today did not begin with smartphones but began decades earlier, as Americans, often for good and understandable reasons, traded connection for convenience, and place-based relationships for privacy and control.

Tracing these trade-offs across the twentieth century, Andrew and Erik help explain the problem of loneliness we face today, and offer some guidance for how we can turn it around and reconnect with our neighbors. Robert Putnam, who read a recent draft, described it as “easily the best, most comprehensive, and most persuasive piece on the contemporary social capital conundrum I’ve yet read.”…

Trousdale and Langer trace the social, cultural, economic, political, and technological forces that have played out from the the late 1940s to today. It is, at once, familiar and shocking. They conclude…

When we asked Robert Putnam what gives him hope, he pointed to history. In The Upswing, he reminds us that Americans faced a similar crisis before. The Gilded Age brought economic inequality, industrialization, and the rise of anonymous urban life. Small-town bonds gave way to tenements and factory floors. Trust collapsed. By the 1890s, social capital had reached historic lows — roughly where it stands today.
The Progressive reformers found this new world unacceptable, but they didn’t try to turn back the clock. Cities and factories were here to stay. Instead, they adapted, creating new forms of connection suited to their changed reality, from settlement houses for anonymous neighborhoods to women’s clubs that built networks of mutual aid. They didn’t reject modernity; they metabolized it, showing up day after day to create new institutions and communities suited to the industrialized world.
Decades ago Neil Postman observed in Amusing Ourselves to Death that we haven’t been conquered by technology — we’ve surrendered to it because we like the stimulation and cheap amusement. More recently, Nicholas Carr concludes in Superbloom that we’re complicit in our loneliness because we embrace these superficial, mediated forms of connection. Like Postman and Carr, the Progressive Era reformers understood where they had agency when technology upended their world. It isn’t in demanding that others fix systems we willingly participate in, nor is it in outright rejecting technologies that deliver real benefits — it’s in changing how we ourselves live with and make use of the tools that surround us.
There are already signs that people are willing to do this. In a small, three-day survey, Talker Research found that 63% of Gen Z now intentionally unplug — the highest rate of any generation — and that half of Americans are spending less time on screens for their well-being, and their top alternative activity is time with friends and family. And they found that two-thirds of Americans are embracing “slow living,” with 84% adopting analog lifestyle choices like wristwatches and paper notebooks that help them unplug. Meanwhile in Eventbrite’s “Reset to Real” survey, 74% of young adults say in-person experiences matter more than digital ones. New devices like the Light Phone, Brick, Meadow, and Daylight Computer signal a growing demand for utility without distraction.
Unplugging isn’t enough on its own. The time and energy we reclaim has to go toward building social connections: hosting the dinner party despite the hassle, staying for coffee after church when you’d rather go home, sitting through the awkward silence, offering or asking for help.
Ultimately, we can’t expect deep social connection in a culture that prioritizes individual ease and convenience. Nor is community something technology can deliver for us. What’s required is a change of culture, grounded in a basic fact of human nature: that authentic connection requires action and effort, and that this action and effort is part of what makes connection fulfilling in the first place.
We can form new rituals and institutions that allow us to adapt to technology, ultimately changing it to our liking. But it starts with the tools we use and the choices we make each day. If we all prioritize the individual comforts and conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to, no one else will restore the community we say we miss. No one else can. If we want deeper relationships and better communities than we have, we’re going to have to put more of our time, effort, and attention into the people around us.
History shows that we can adapt, building communities suited to changing times. The question is: Will we stay in and scroll? Or will we go out and choose one another?…
Eminently worth reading in full: “Scrolling Alone.”
In the spirit of the call for forward-looking determination, pair with “The Displacement of Purpose” from Peter Adam Boeckel (“If AI automates production, then humanity must automate compassion. Only then will progress remember what it was for.”)
[Image above: source]
* Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (in which he also observed: “People divorced from community, occupation, and association are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.”)
###
As we get together, we might spare a thought for Aldus Manutius; he died on this date in 1515. A printer and humanist, he founded the Aldine Press. In the books he published, he introduced a standardized system of punctuation and use of the semicolon. He designed many fonts, and created italic type (which he named for Italy).

source

And apropos the piece featured above, we might note that on this date in 1965 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the first major hit for the Righteous Brothers, simultaneously reached #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US as well as the UK singles chart. The song was produced by Phil Spector (who had discovered the duo at a San Francisco show) for his own label, Philles Records. All the songs previously produced by Spector for Philles featured African-American singers; the Righteous Brothers were his first white vocal act– they had a vocal style, blue-eyed soul, that suited Spector.

https://youtu.be/03iSUjHaUxY?si=OkkrUiId1p3KkMHY

#AldusManutius #AndrewTrousdale #anxiety #BowlingAlone #connection #convenience #culture #ErikJLanger #history #italic #JonathanHaidt #loneliness #music #PhilSpector #politics #printing #publishing #punctuation #RighteousBrothers #RobertPutnam #semicolon #society #Technology #TheAnxiousGeneration #YouVeLostThatLovinFeelin #YouVeLostThatLovingFeeling

#aldusmanutius #andrewtrousdale #anxiety #bowlingalone #connection #convenience

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 09:00 UTC

“They are alone together”*…

Andrew Trousdale and Erik J. Langer bridge the years between Robert Putnam‘s Bowling Alone and Jonathan Haidt‘s The Anxious Generation with a brief history of the trade-off between convenience and connection in America. From Zach Rauch’s introduction…

The Anxious Generation is best understood as a three-act tragedy. Act I begins in the mid-20th century, when new social and entertainment technologies (e.g., air conditioning and television) set in motion a long, gradual collapse of local community. Act II begins in the 1980s, as the loss of local community weakened social trust and helped erode the play-based childhood. Act III begins in the early 2010s, with the arrival of the phone-based childhood that filled the vacuum left behind.

This post, written by Andrew Trousdale and Erik Larson, goes deep into Act I. Andrew is a psychology researcher and human-computer interaction designer who is co-running a project on the psychological tradeoffs of progress. Erik is the author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, writes the Substack Colligo, and is completing the MIT Press book Augmented Human Intelligence: Being Human in an Age of AI, due in 2026. Together, they show how the isolation we experience today did not begin with smartphones but began decades earlier, as Americans, often for good and understandable reasons, traded connection for convenience, and place-based relationships for privacy and control.

Tracing these trade-offs across the twentieth century, Andrew and Erik help explain the problem of loneliness we face today, and offer some guidance for how we can turn it around and reconnect with our neighbors. Robert Putnam, who read a recent draft, described it as “easily the best, most comprehensive, and most persuasive piece on the contemporary social capital conundrum I’ve yet read.”…

Trousdale and Langer trace the social, cultural, economic, political, and technological forces that have played out from the the late 1940s to today. It is, at once, familiar and shocking. They conclude…

When we asked Robert Putnam what gives him hope, he pointed to history. In The Upswing, he reminds us that Americans faced a similar crisis before. The Gilded Age brought economic inequality, industrialization, and the rise of anonymous urban life. Small-town bonds gave way to tenements and factory floors. Trust collapsed. By the 1890s, social capital had reached historic lows — roughly where it stands today.
The Progressive reformers found this new world unacceptable, but they didn’t try to turn back the clock. Cities and factories were here to stay. Instead, they adapted, creating new forms of connection suited to their changed reality, from settlement houses for anonymous neighborhoods to women’s clubs that built networks of mutual aid. They didn’t reject modernity; they metabolized it, showing up day after day to create new institutions and communities suited to the industrialized world.
Decades ago Neil Postman observed in Amusing Ourselves to Death that we haven’t been conquered by technology — we’ve surrendered to it because we like the stimulation and cheap amusement. More recently, Nicholas Carr concludes in Superbloom that we’re complicit in our loneliness because we embrace these superficial, mediated forms of connection. Like Postman and Carr, the Progressive Era reformers understood where they had agency when technology upended their world. It isn’t in demanding that others fix systems we willingly participate in, nor is it in outright rejecting technologies that deliver real benefits — it’s in changing how we ourselves live with and make use of the tools that surround us.
There are already signs that people are willing to do this. In a small, three-day survey, Talker Research found that 63% of Gen Z now intentionally unplug — the highest rate of any generation — and that half of Americans are spending less time on screens for their well-being, and their top alternative activity is time with friends and family. And they found that two-thirds of Americans are embracing “slow living,” with 84% adopting analog lifestyle choices like wristwatches and paper notebooks that help them unplug. Meanwhile in Eventbrite’s “Reset to Real” survey, 74% of young adults say in-person experiences matter more than digital ones. New devices like the Light Phone, Brick, Meadow, and Daylight Computer signal a growing demand for utility without distraction.
Unplugging isn’t enough on its own. The time and energy we reclaim has to go toward building social connections: hosting the dinner party despite the hassle, staying for coffee after church when you’d rather go home, sitting through the awkward silence, offering or asking for help.
Ultimately, we can’t expect deep social connection in a culture that prioritizes individual ease and convenience. Nor is community something technology can deliver for us. What’s required is a change of culture, grounded in a basic fact of human nature: that authentic connection requires action and effort, and that this action and effort is part of what makes connection fulfilling in the first place.
We can form new rituals and institutions that allow us to adapt to technology, ultimately changing it to our liking. But it starts with the tools we use and the choices we make each day. If we all prioritize the individual comforts and conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to, no one else will restore the community we say we miss. No one else can. If we want deeper relationships and better communities than we have, we’re going to have to put more of our time, effort, and attention into the people around us.
History shows that we can adapt, building communities suited to changing times. The question is: Will we stay in and scroll? Or will we go out and choose one another?…
Eminently worth reading in full: “Scrolling Alone.”
In the spirit of the call for forward-looking determination, pair with “The Displacement of Purpose” from Peter Adam Boeckel (“If AI automates production, then humanity must automate compassion. Only then will progress remember what it was for.”)
[Image above: source]
* Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (in which he also observed: “People divorced from community, occupation, and association are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.”)
###
As we get together, we might spare a thought for Aldus Manutius; he died on this date in 1515. A printer and humanist, he founded the Aldine Press. In the books he published, he introduced a standardized system of punctuation and use of the semicolon. He designed many fonts, and created italic type (which he named for Italy).

source

And apropos the piece featured above, we might note that on this date in 1965 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the first major hit for the Righteous Brothers, simultaneously reached #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US as well as the UK singles chart. The song was produced by Phil Spector (who had discovered the duo at a San Francisco show) for his own label, Philles Records. All the songs previously produced by Spector for Philles featured African-American singers; the Righteous Brothers were his first white vocal act– they had a vocal style, blue-eyed soul, that suited Spector.

https://youtu.be/03iSUjHaUxY?si=OkkrUiId1p3KkMHY

#AldusManutius #AndrewTrousdale #anxiety #BowlingAlone #connection #convenience #culture #ErikJLanger #history #italic #JonathanHaidt #loneliness #music #PhilSpector #politics #printing #publishing #punctuation #RighteousBrothers #RobertPutnam #semicolon #society #Technology #TheAnxiousGeneration #YouVeLostThatLovinFeelin #YouVeLostThatLovingFeeling

#aldusmanutius #andrewtrousdale #anxiety #bowlingalone #connection #convenience

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 09:00 UTC

“They are alone together”*…

Andrew Trousdale and Erik J. Langer bridge the years between Robert Putnam‘s Bowling Alone and Jonathan Haidt‘s The Anxious Generation with a brief history of the trade-off between convenience and connection in America. From Zach Rauch’s introduction…

The Anxious Generation is best understood as a three-act tragedy. Act I begins in the mid-20th century, when new social and entertainment technologies (e.g., air conditioning and television) set in motion a long, gradual collapse of local community. Act II begins in the 1980s, as the loss of local community weakened social trust and helped erode the play-based childhood. Act III begins in the early 2010s, with the arrival of the phone-based childhood that filled the vacuum left behind.

This post, written by Andrew Trousdale and Erik Larson, goes deep into Act I. Andrew is a psychology researcher and human-computer interaction designer who is co-running a project on the psychological tradeoffs of progress. Erik is the author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, writes the Substack Colligo, and is completing the MIT Press book Augmented Human Intelligence: Being Human in an Age of AI, due in 2026. Together, they show how the isolation we experience today did not begin with smartphones but began decades earlier, as Americans, often for good and understandable reasons, traded connection for convenience, and place-based relationships for privacy and control.

Tracing these trade-offs across the twentieth century, Andrew and Erik help explain the problem of loneliness we face today, and offer some guidance for how we can turn it around and reconnect with our neighbors. Robert Putnam, who read a recent draft, described it as “easily the best, most comprehensive, and most persuasive piece on the contemporary social capital conundrum I’ve yet read.”…

Trousdale and Langer trace the social, cultural, economic, political, and technological forces that have played out from the the late 1940s to today. It is, at once, familiar and shocking. They conclude…

When we asked Robert Putnam what gives him hope, he pointed to history. In The Upswing, he reminds us that Americans faced a similar crisis before. The Gilded Age brought economic inequality, industrialization, and the rise of anonymous urban life. Small-town bonds gave way to tenements and factory floors. Trust collapsed. By the 1890s, social capital had reached historic lows — roughly where it stands today.
The Progressive reformers found this new world unacceptable, but they didn’t try to turn back the clock. Cities and factories were here to stay. Instead, they adapted, creating new forms of connection suited to their changed reality, from settlement houses for anonymous neighborhoods to women’s clubs that built networks of mutual aid. They didn’t reject modernity; they metabolized it, showing up day after day to create new institutions and communities suited to the industrialized world.
Decades ago Neil Postman observed in Amusing Ourselves to Death that we haven’t been conquered by technology — we’ve surrendered to it because we like the stimulation and cheap amusement. More recently, Nicholas Carr concludes in Superbloom that we’re complicit in our loneliness because we embrace these superficial, mediated forms of connection. Like Postman and Carr, the Progressive Era reformers understood where they had agency when technology upended their world. It isn’t in demanding that others fix systems we willingly participate in, nor is it in outright rejecting technologies that deliver real benefits — it’s in changing how we ourselves live with and make use of the tools that surround us.
There are already signs that people are willing to do this. In a small, three-day survey, Talker Research found that 63% of Gen Z now intentionally unplug — the highest rate of any generation — and that half of Americans are spending less time on screens for their well-being, and their top alternative activity is time with friends and family. And they found that two-thirds of Americans are embracing “slow living,” with 84% adopting analog lifestyle choices like wristwatches and paper notebooks that help them unplug. Meanwhile in Eventbrite’s “Reset to Real” survey, 74% of young adults say in-person experiences matter more than digital ones. New devices like the Light Phone, Brick, Meadow, and Daylight Computer signal a growing demand for utility without distraction.
Unplugging isn’t enough on its own. The time and energy we reclaim has to go toward building social connections: hosting the dinner party despite the hassle, staying for coffee after church when you’d rather go home, sitting through the awkward silence, offering or asking for help.
Ultimately, we can’t expect deep social connection in a culture that prioritizes individual ease and convenience. Nor is community something technology can deliver for us. What’s required is a change of culture, grounded in a basic fact of human nature: that authentic connection requires action and effort, and that this action and effort is part of what makes connection fulfilling in the first place.
We can form new rituals and institutions that allow us to adapt to technology, ultimately changing it to our liking. But it starts with the tools we use and the choices we make each day. If we all prioritize the individual comforts and conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to, no one else will restore the community we say we miss. No one else can. If we want deeper relationships and better communities than we have, we’re going to have to put more of our time, effort, and attention into the people around us.
History shows that we can adapt, building communities suited to changing times. The question is: Will we stay in and scroll? Or will we go out and choose one another?…
Eminently worth reading in full: “Scrolling Alone.”
In the spirit of the call for forward-looking determination, pair with “The Displacement of Purpose” from Peter Adam Boeckel (“If AI automates production, then humanity must automate compassion. Only then will progress remember what it was for.”)
[Image above: source]
* Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (in which he also observed: “People divorced from community, occupation, and association are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.”)
###
As we get together, we might spare a thought for Aldus Manutius; he died on this date in 1515. A printer and humanist, he founded the Aldine Press. In the books he published, he introduced a standardized system of punctuation and use of the semicolon. He designed many fonts, and created italic type (which he named for Italy).

source

And apropos the piece featured above, we might note that on this date in 1965 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the first major hit for the Righteous Brothers, simultaneously reached #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US as well as the UK singles chart. The song was produced by Phil Spector (who had discovered the duo at a San Francisco show) for his own label, Philles Records. All the songs previously produced by Spector for Philles featured African-American singers; the Righteous Brothers were his first white vocal act– they had a vocal style, blue-eyed soul, that suited Spector.

https://youtu.be/03iSUjHaUxY?si=OkkrUiId1p3KkMHY

#AldusManutius #AndrewTrousdale #anxiety #BowlingAlone #connection #convenience #culture #ErikJLanger #history #italic #JonathanHaidt #loneliness #music #PhilSpector #politics #printing #publishing #punctuation #RighteousBrothers #RobertPutnam #semicolon #society #Technology #TheAnxiousGeneration #YouVeLostThatLovinFeelin #YouVeLostThatLovingFeeling

#youvelostthatlovingfeeling #youvelostthatlovinfeelin #theanxiousgeneration #technology #society #semicolon

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 09:00 UTC

“They are alone together”*…

Andrew Trousdale and Erik J. Langer bridge the years between Robert Putnam‘s Bowling Alone and Jonathan Haidt‘s The Anxious Generation with a brief history of the trade-off between convenience and connection in America. From Zach Rauch’s introduction…

The Anxious Generation is best understood as a three-act tragedy. Act I begins in the mid-20th century, when new social and entertainment technologies (e.g., air conditioning and television) set in motion a long, gradual collapse of local community. Act II begins in the 1980s, as the loss of local community weakened social trust and helped erode the play-based childhood. Act III begins in the early 2010s, with the arrival of the phone-based childhood that filled the vacuum left behind.

This post, written by Andrew Trousdale and Erik Larson, goes deep into Act I. Andrew is a psychology researcher and human-computer interaction designer who is co-running a project on the psychological tradeoffs of progress. Erik is the author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, writes the Substack Colligo, and is completing the MIT Press book Augmented Human Intelligence: Being Human in an Age of AI, due in 2026. Together, they show how the isolation we experience today did not begin with smartphones but began decades earlier, as Americans, often for good and understandable reasons, traded connection for convenience, and place-based relationships for privacy and control.

Tracing these trade-offs across the twentieth century, Andrew and Erik help explain the problem of loneliness we face today, and offer some guidance for how we can turn it around and reconnect with our neighbors. Robert Putnam, who read a recent draft, described it as “easily the best, most comprehensive, and most persuasive piece on the contemporary social capital conundrum I’ve yet read.”…

Trousdale and Langer trace the social, cultural, economic, political, and technological forces that have played out from the the late 1940s to today. It is, at once, familiar and shocking. They conclude…

When we asked Robert Putnam what gives him hope, he pointed to history. In The Upswing, he reminds us that Americans faced a similar crisis before. The Gilded Age brought economic inequality, industrialization, and the rise of anonymous urban life. Small-town bonds gave way to tenements and factory floors. Trust collapsed. By the 1890s, social capital had reached historic lows — roughly where it stands today.
The Progressive reformers found this new world unacceptable, but they didn’t try to turn back the clock. Cities and factories were here to stay. Instead, they adapted, creating new forms of connection suited to their changed reality, from settlement houses for anonymous neighborhoods to women’s clubs that built networks of mutual aid. They didn’t reject modernity; they metabolized it, showing up day after day to create new institutions and communities suited to the industrialized world.
Decades ago Neil Postman observed in Amusing Ourselves to Death that we haven’t been conquered by technology — we’ve surrendered to it because we like the stimulation and cheap amusement. More recently, Nicholas Carr concludes in Superbloom that we’re complicit in our loneliness because we embrace these superficial, mediated forms of connection. Like Postman and Carr, the Progressive Era reformers understood where they had agency when technology upended their world. It isn’t in demanding that others fix systems we willingly participate in, nor is it in outright rejecting technologies that deliver real benefits — it’s in changing how we ourselves live with and make use of the tools that surround us.
There are already signs that people are willing to do this. In a small, three-day survey, Talker Research found that 63% of Gen Z now intentionally unplug — the highest rate of any generation — and that half of Americans are spending less time on screens for their well-being, and their top alternative activity is time with friends and family. And they found that two-thirds of Americans are embracing “slow living,” with 84% adopting analog lifestyle choices like wristwatches and paper notebooks that help them unplug. Meanwhile in Eventbrite’s “Reset to Real” survey, 74% of young adults say in-person experiences matter more than digital ones. New devices like the Light Phone, Brick, Meadow, and Daylight Computer signal a growing demand for utility without distraction.
Unplugging isn’t enough on its own. The time and energy we reclaim has to go toward building social connections: hosting the dinner party despite the hassle, staying for coffee after church when you’d rather go home, sitting through the awkward silence, offering or asking for help.
Ultimately, we can’t expect deep social connection in a culture that prioritizes individual ease and convenience. Nor is community something technology can deliver for us. What’s required is a change of culture, grounded in a basic fact of human nature: that authentic connection requires action and effort, and that this action and effort is part of what makes connection fulfilling in the first place.
We can form new rituals and institutions that allow us to adapt to technology, ultimately changing it to our liking. But it starts with the tools we use and the choices we make each day. If we all prioritize the individual comforts and conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to, no one else will restore the community we say we miss. No one else can. If we want deeper relationships and better communities than we have, we’re going to have to put more of our time, effort, and attention into the people around us.
History shows that we can adapt, building communities suited to changing times. The question is: Will we stay in and scroll? Or will we go out and choose one another?…
Eminently worth reading in full: “Scrolling Alone.”
In the spirit of the call for forward-looking determination, pair with “The Displacement of Purpose” from Peter Adam Boeckel (“If AI automates production, then humanity must automate compassion. Only then will progress remember what it was for.”)
[Image above: source]
* Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (in which he also observed: “People divorced from community, occupation, and association are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.”)
###
As we get together, we might spare a thought for Aldus Manutius; he died on this date in 1515. A printer and humanist, he founded the Aldine Press. In the books he published, he introduced a standardized system of punctuation and use of the semicolon. He designed many fonts, and created italic type (which he named for Italy).

source

And apropos the piece featured above, we might note that on this date in 1965 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the first major hit for the Righteous Brothers, simultaneously reached #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US as well as the UK singles chart. The song was produced by Phil Spector (who had discovered the duo at a San Francisco show) for his own label, Philles Records. All the songs previously produced by Spector for Philles featured African-American singers; the Righteous Brothers were his first white vocal act– they had a vocal style, blue-eyed soul, that suited Spector.

https://youtu.be/03iSUjHaUxY?si=OkkrUiId1p3KkMHY

#AldusManutius #AndrewTrousdale #anxiety #BowlingAlone #connection #convenience #culture #ErikJLanger #history #italic #JonathanHaidt #loneliness #music #PhilSpector #politics #printing #publishing #punctuation #RighteousBrothers #RobertPutnam #semicolon #society #Technology #TheAnxiousGeneration #YouVeLostThatLovinFeelin #YouVeLostThatLovingFeeling

#aldusmanutius #andrewtrousdale #anxiety #bowlingalone #connection #convenience

the roamer @[email protected] · 2026-02-03 · 19:25 UTC

@fromjason

Our Lady Joan Mastodon spoke to her knights on matters of style.

A truly gallant toot, she said to them, awaits continuation by other toots. It does so just as the clause that ends in a semicolon invites completion by another clause: without dictating terms. Each of the clauses is free, their association is voluntary and unforced. There is no ruler in the sentence; the semicolon is a native federalist. Let each of your toots be the clause that ends in a semicolon. This is how we shall beat the Great Algo. In style.

#JoanMastodon #semicolon #StylisticGallantry #MastodonCulture

#joanmastodon #semicolon #stylisticgallantry #mastodonculture

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2026-01-28 · 21:11 UTC

#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingAfterDinnerDoughnutNotNews; #IT's #DefinitelyNotNews with #Doughnuts and #SomeWeather, and an #OxfordComma...

#MyLittleBigBuddy has had a #BusyBusyDay of #HittingThingsWithHammers; #SoMuchSo, he had to #PopAlong to the #LocalBakery and #BuySomeDoughnuts...

#So, #WeHaveDoughnuts...

#AsYouWere... #KeepOnKeepingOn; #OrWhatever, with a #Semicolon... And, #PiratePower...!

🧙🍩🤖:wolfparty:🤖🍩🧙 | :fediverse:🦹:PirateBadge:🦄:PirateBadge:🦹:fediverse:

#TheRevolutionWillBePunctuated #Still #WorkingAsIntended #TheYakuzaDoughnuts

#notnews24 #unbreaklingafterdinnerdoughnutnotnews #it #definitelynotnews #doughnuts #someweather

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2026-01-25 · 11:18 UTC

#ISuppose we "could" #PlayMonopoly; but, we #RunTheRisk that #TheGhostOfMisterDen will #CryAboutNothing to #NoOne and #Claim that "he" #InventedIT...

And, the #Broflakes #MeltUnderPressure...

#Which would be #VeryWrong; #VeryWrongIndeed with a #Semicolon...

#IT'll #JustBeSafer to #BakeACake; #OrSomething...

🧙⚔️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚔️🧙 | :fediverse:🦹🎲🦄🎲🦹:fediverse:

#BelieveInChocolate #AndCake #Attribution #CuntardsGonnaCuntard #NoALTText #VisualSearch #StillQuiteCool

#isuppose #playmonopoly #runtherisk #theghostofmisterden #cryaboutnothing #noone

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2026-01-14 · 10:43 UTC

#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingMidMorningBiscuitNotNews; #IT's #DefinitelyNotNews and #SomeWeather...

#IT's #JollySunny in #TheOutside...

#HappyHappy #WorldLogicDay...!

#HaveABiscuit and #AnotherPrideMonth; #OrSomething with a #Semicolon, and an #OxfordComma...

🧙:europe:🤖:wolfparty:🤖:europe:🧙 | :PirateBadge:🦹:fediverse:🦄:fediverse:🦹:PirateBadge:

#BeingEuropean #MostlyEurope #StayingEuropean #PSiBoRG #StillQuiteCool #HotHotHot

#notnews24 #unbreaklingmidmorningbiscuitnotnews #it #definitelynotnews #someweather #jollysunny

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2026-01-10 · 12:40 UTC

#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingSammidgeTimeNotNews; #IT's #DefinitelyNotNews and #SomeWeather...

#IT's #Still #ABitFrizzly in #TheOutside and #TheBFF has #Announced that we're having a #RoastChickenDinner #Tomorrow...

I shall be #PoppingOut #Later to #PickUp #MyLittleBigBuddy after he's #Finished with his #SignificantFamilyThing, by #WhichTime #HisHairyArshole will be #QuiteItchy... #Probably...

We #Might have to #StopOff #Somewhere for #Me to #TakeALook at #IT... #Somewhere in #TheForest... Being a #MedicalProfessional #AndAllThat...

#IT's #OK; there'll #Just be #MyLittleBigBuddy, #Me and #AllTheForestCritters with a #Semicolon, and an #OxfordComma...

🧙:fediverse:🤖:wolfparty:🤖:fediverse:🧙 | :PirateBadge:🐘🦹🦄🦹🐘:PirateBadge:

#BeingEuropean #StayingEuropean #BeingLegal #StayingLegal #IndependentStatehood #JoinNATO #NectarPoints

#notnews24 #unbreaklingsammidgetimenotnews #it #definitelynotnews #someweather #still

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2026-01-04 · 20:16 UTC

#BTW: #CelebrityFatCunt, #RickyGervais' #Assertion that #TheOnlyGroup #One can #MockOpenlyWithImpunity being #TheWorkingClass is #False...

#Anyone can #Mock #CelebrityFatCunts; even #CelebrityFatCunt, #JamesCorden...

#IT's #SoEasy; even #CelebrityFatCunt, #JamesCorden can #DoIT... With a #Semicolon, and an #OxfordComma...

#So...

#YouAreWelcome...

We're #SoVerified... :verified_paw: :verified_flashing: :verified_paw:

🧙:verified_flashing:🤖:wolfparty:🤖:verified_flashing:🧙 | :PirateBadge: :fediverse:🦹🦄🦹:fediverse: :PirateBadge:

#CelebrityFatClub #BeingOffended #CuntardsGonnaCuntard

#semicolon #oxfordcomma #btw #celebrityfatcunt #rickygervais #assertion

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-11-29 · 08:27 UTC

"Are you #NotEntertained...?!"

#Because... #Reasons and #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

#DontForget... #IT's #Movember in #Nopevember... With #FancyHats...!

And, #DiscordIsForImbeciles...

🧙⚕️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚕️🧙 | :fediverse:🦹:PirateBadge:🦄:PirateBadge:🦹:fediverse:

#notentertained #because #reasons #quotetoots #stillquitecool #semicolon

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-11-29 · 08:15 UTC

#Boomshanka...! #PictureTheScene...

#Gaul... #1972AfterDiscoveringChristmasChocolates...

#WeSurvived all the #MeteorStrike(s) with another #DiplomaticVictory for #TheLeftJustifiedAndAncient...

"Are you #NotEntertained...?!"

#Because... #Reasons and #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

#DontForget... #IT's #Movember in #Nopevember...

🧙⚕️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚕️🧙 | :fediverse:🦹:PirateBadge:🦄:PirateBadge:🦹:fediverse:

#BeingEuropean #MostlyEurope #BitsOfAfrica #StayingEuropean #ScandawegianJerusalem

#boomshanka #picturethescene #gaul #1972afterdiscoveringchristmaschocolates #wesurvived #meteorstrike

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-11-24 · 11:23 UTC

#StillTrue™️

#Hashtags are also #StillQuiteCool...

#ForLearningStuff...

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool... With a #Semicolon

🧙:PirateBadge: 🤖:wolfparty:🤖:PirateBadge:🧙 | :europe:🎠🦹🦄🦹🎠:europe:

#PoweredBy #FloofsAndSparkles #BeingEuropean #StayingEuropean #StillNotHitler #WhamageddonReady #WhamageddonTwo #TheMusical

#floofsandsparkles #stilltrue #hashtags #stillquitecool #forlearningstuff #quotetoots

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-10-26 · 10:32 UTC

#IT's #Still #One of the #BlackHistoryMonth(s), #Right... | #LookNoQuestionMark

"#BeingRight is #SuperAwesome™️..."

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

#ToTheTuneOf...

🧙⚕️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚕️🧙 | :fediverse:🦹:PirateBadge:🦄:PirateBadge:🦹:fediverse:

#Cameo: Word Up! #DigitallyRemastered #Again for #2025 #StillTrue™️

#it #still #one #blackhistorymonth #right #looknoquestionmark

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-09-09 · 13:58 UTC

#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingTrueTrueTuesdayNotNews; #IT's #DefinitelyNotNews...

#IT's been #NearlyAYear #Since: #OurAnniversary #WestWingMarathon #Started...

For #Today's #AfternoonNap #WyrdAnxietyDream; I've been #Dreaming about #ThreeStarGeneralJoshLyman and #Wondering #WhatHappens when #MattSantos (from #MiamiVice and #LALaw) doesn't #Win #TheNext #FictionalPresidentialRace...

#JoshLyman is #Like a #Mystery; #Inside #AnEnigma with a #Semicolon... #WrappedInBacon...

#MakeTimeForBacon... 🥓

🧙🏛️🤖:wolfparty:🤖🏛️🧙 | 🍫🎠🦹🦄🦹🎠🍫

https://psiren.eu/@PSiReN/113296234330874642

#notnews24 #unbreaklingtruetruetuesdaynotnews #it #definitelynotnews #nearlyayear #since

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-08-07 · 21:59 UTC

(@[email protected])

For #SourDoughCrumpets with #Butter and #UnbrandedYeastExtract (much like #Marmite), #Topped with #Cheese... You will need:

• #SourDoughCrumpets;
• #Butter;
• #UnbrandedYeastExtract (much like #Marmite); and,
• A #BigBlockOfCheese...

#Maybe #Some... #MoreBullets...

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

🧙:PirateBadge:🤖:wolfparty:🤖:PirateBadge:🧙 | :fediverse:🦹🎇🦄🎇🦹:fediverse:

https://vmst.io/@PSiReN/110638418428506027

#sourdoughcrumpets #butter #unbrandedyeastextract #marmite #topped #cheese

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-07-08 · 17:13 UTC

#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingFaceOfJesusNotNews...

Following a #GruellingDay of #NothingMuch #GoingOn; we have yet to #Find #TheFaceOfJesus in a #CurlyWurly...

We'll #KeepLooking... | #AsYouWere #NothingToSeeHere #MoveAlong

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon, and an #OxfordComma...

🧙⚔️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚔️🧙 | ☕️🍪🍫🦄🍫🍪☕

https://vmst.io/@PSiReN/109755332404260016

#notnews24 #unbreaklingfaceofjesusnotnews #gruellingday #nothingmuch #goingon #find

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-07-02 · 08:59 UTC

#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingHappyHumpDayNotNews; #IT's #DefinitelyNotNews and #SomeWeather...

#BeingRetired is #Grrreat...! #IT #VeryMuchDepends on #WhetherOrNot #One is #Prepared for #IT...

[#IndividualUserExperienceWillVary; #TermsAndConditionsApply with a #Semicolon, and an #OxfordComma]

#TheRules are #SimplicityItself...

1: #KnowTheRules
2: #RememberTheRules
3: #TryNotToKillAnyone

#TryNot to #UpsetTheVolcano and #RememberTheRules

🧙⚕️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚕️🧙 | 🌋🦹:fediverse:🦄:fediverse:🦹🌋

#notnews24 #unbreaklinghappyhumpdaynotnews #it #definitelynotnews #someweather #beingretired

Olivier Lavoisy @[email protected] · 2025-06-18 · 12:11 UTC

(@gutenberg_org, thanks for your toot.)

Semicolon (le point-virgule en français, der Strichpunkt auf Deutsch)?

“The semicolon—written as a combination of a colon and a comma—is meant to connect two related ideas that could each stand alone as a sentence. It’s also used in complex lists to separate items that might contain commas already.”

“The semicolons keep ‘the reader in suspense, waiting, along with King, for justice,’ wrote Mary Norris for the New Yorker in 2019.”

#semicolon #writing

Project Gutenberg @[email protected] · 2025-06-18 · 10:33 UTC

Could the Semicolon Die Out? Recent Analysis Finds a Decline in Its Usage in British Literature and Confusion Among U.K. Students

By Sara Hashemi

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-the-semicolon-die-out-a-recent-study-finds-a-marked-decline-in-its-usage-180986689/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550

#semicolon

Stan Carey @[email protected] · 2025-06-11 · 13:41 UTC

I don't think any punctuation marks need protecting, by the way. The Apostrophe Protection Society, for example, is a dogmatic organisation with an appetite for shaming people and no apparent understanding of the apostrophe's diverse history and continuing mutability.

Punctuation patterns ebb and flow and change with the times. If people see the need for a particular mark, they'll keep using it.

#punctuation #semicolon #apostrophe #prescriptivism #language #writing

Stan Carey @[email protected] · 2025-06-11 · 11:51 UTC

In all the recent fuss over the semicolon's apparent decline (see e.g. https://theconversation.com/semicolons-are-becoming-increasingly-rare-their-disappearance-should-be-resisted-257019 ), I've seen no mention of Cecelia Watson's book, which I reviewed here: https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/book-review-semicolon-by-cecelia-watson/

#semicolon #punctuation #writing #books #BookReview #WritingCommunity

#semicolon #punctuation #writing #books #bookreview #writingcommunity

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2025-06-06 · 11:12 UTC

(@[email protected])

#IT's a #FascinatingCase; in its #OwnRight...

#IT's also #Worth #BearingInMind that #NotAllCharities are that #Charitable... #TrueFact for #Free; well, #Freeish™️

#DontForget; #DucksAndDragons...

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

#HashtagAllTheThings...!

🧙⚕️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚕️🧙 | ☕️🦹:fediverse:🐻:fediverse:🦹☕

https://vmst.io/tags/BearingInMind

#it #fascinatingcase #ownright #worth #bearinginmind #notallcharities

N-gated Hacker News @[email protected] · 2025-05-31 · 05:59 UTC

🚨 Oh joy, yet another article trying to make "exponential backoff with jitter" sound like the most thrilling #coding concept since the invention of the #semicolon. 🤓 Spoiler alert: it's about as exciting as watching paint dry, but now with a touch of #jitter for those who like their boredom with a side of #randomness. 🎨
https://commaok.xyz/post/simple-backoff/ #exponentialbackoff #humor #techboredom #HackerNews #ngated

#coding #semicolon #jitter #randomness #exponentialbackoff #humor

Arnaud Launay @[email protected] · 2025-05-22 · 19:39 UTC

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/18/marked-decline-semicolon-use-english-books-study-suggests

10/10, and english is not my native language... What is wrong with people nowadays ? #english #colon #semicolon

#english #colon #semicolon

Sherwin Arnott @[email protected] · 2025-05-19 · 13:21 UTC

Reading: Marked decline in semicolons in English books, study suggests

Usage of punctuation down almost half in two decades as further research finds 67% of British students rarely use it

#semicolon #style https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/18/marked-decline-semicolon-use-english-books-study-suggests

#semicolon #style

Daniel Hoffmann 🌼 @[email protected] · 2025-05-19 · 06:55 UTC

Punctuation is for language what pauses are for music: a time that gives space to thought and sound. The #semicolon is a case in point; it's a gift of a few milliseconds of delight in nuance. So, I am saddened to read of its decline. Check out the quiz at the end
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/18/marked-decline-semicolon-use-english-books-study-suggests

#semicolon

🌴 Seph 💭 👾 @[email protected] · 2025-03-03 · 21:53 UTC

Semicolon – @thechimesatmidnight on Tumblr

https://blog.taursnd.haus/display/1a041b09-1567-c624-f033-aa8223716551

#suicideawareness #semicolon

wandklex® @[email protected] · 2025-02-28 · 19:18 UTC

Tag des Eisbären war zwar schon gestern, aber bei mir dauerte der bis heute.
Handgemalter #wandklexschmuck, die Druckknopf-Wechselmotive sind 20 Millimeter klein und kommen beide gemeinsam mit dem Semikolon-Anhänger (who knows, knows.) zu finden auf
https://www.wandklex.art/product/eisbaeren-2-handgemalte-aquarellminiaturen-in-anhaenger-in-semikolon-form-druckknopf-wechselsystem-516313.
#miniaturepainting #semicolon #polarbear
#mammals #art #mastoArt #fediArt #cfreatibveToots #watercolor

#wandklexschmuck #miniaturepainting #semicolon #polarbear #mammals #art

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2024-11-01 · 07:47 UTC

On a #PartiallyRelatedAlmostEntirelyIrrelevantTangent...

You'd #Think that after 18-years, #MyOldDumbTelly might have #Dropped a #Pixel or #Two; but, #Nope...

#IT's #Nopevember, #People...

#MakeTheMagickHappen...

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

🧙⚔️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚔️🧙 | ☕🦹📺🦄📺🦹☕

https://vmst.io/@PSiReN/109936076896864941

#partiallyrelatedalmostentirelyirrelevanttangent #think #myolddumbtelly #dropped #pixel #two

Cykonot @[email protected] · 2024-07-05 · 19:31 UTC

Semicolons may be addictive, but the em dash — ah, the em dash! Could anything be more satisfying? Versatile? Necessary and DELECTABLE… even intoxicating? No: without the em dash, the flow of thought, the warp and weft of the mind itself is interrupted — chopped to bits!

Verily, I love the semicolon, it is true. But the em dash? The em dash is something without which I could not do.

#prose #ProsePoetry #poetry #grammar #syntax #punctuation #semicolon #hyphendash #hashtag #hashtags #lmao

#lmao #hashtags #hashtag #hyphendash #semicolon #punctuation

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2024-05-20 · 20:48 UTC

Oh... #TheUsual...

• #SpaceKaren;
• #CommercialInterests;
• #MoneyLaundering;
• #SpaceKaren;
• #InsiderTrading;
• #SpaceKaren;
• #InformationGovernanceStuff;
• #SpaceKaren...

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

🧙⚔️ 🤖🐺🤖⚔️🧙 | 🎠🚀🦹🦄🦹🚀🎠

https://vmst.io/@PSiReN/109896170386988336

#theusual #spacekaren #commercialinterests #moneylaundering #insidertrading #informationgovernancestuff

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2024-02-22 · 14:26 UTC

#Still with added #StarshipCommand and pickled-onion #MonsterMunch...!

#DrStrangePotato | #Portals and #SpookyStuff

#ThePowerOfCrisps #CompelsYou...!

#IT's #NotACoincidence and #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

🧙⚔️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚔️🧙 | 🪐🦹🚀🦄🚀🦹🪐

https://vmst.io/@PSiReN/109755309871352589

#still #starshipcommand #monstermunch #drstrangepotato #portals #spookystuff

Mark A. Rayner @[email protected] · 2024-02-15 · 16:04 UTC

I'm so confused right now.

#typography #semicolon #humor #humour #writing #writingcommunity #art #ReneMagritte

#renemagritte #art #writingcommunity #writing #humour #humor

the roamer @[email protected] · 2024-01-28 · 15:01 UTC

CW: in praise of long sentences

Many style guides advise to avoid long sentences. They are wrong.

#style #writing #semicolon #Hemingway #ThomasMann

#style #writing #semicolon #hemingway #thomasmann

Lothar Schulz @[email protected] · 2023-12-28 · 08:32 UTC

The Semicolon’s Little Ballet in Happy Rust Programming

The #semicolon in #Rust is not just a punctuation mark; it’s a quiet communicator. Understanding the role of the semicolon unlocks a precise distinction between #statements and #expression

https://www.lotharschulz.info/2023/12/28/the-semicolons-little-ballet-in-happy-rust-programming/

#semicolon #rust #statements #expression

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2023-10-21 · 10:38 UTC

I can't #Remember...

Did we #Decide to have #AnotherPrideMonth or #Not...?

And, #QuoteToots; #StillQuiteCool with a #Semicolon...

🧙⚔️🤖🐺🤖⚔️🧙 | :fediverse:🦹:loading:🦄:loading:🦹:fediverse:

https://vmst.io/@PSiReN/110672701706928504

#remember #decide #anotherpridemonth #not #quotetoots #stillquitecool

PSiReN-X :verified_flashing: @[email protected] · 2023-10-20 · 18:14 UTC

Is #IT #MyImagination; but #Halloween seems to be #TakingAges...

#Maybe... #JustMaybe, we should #Start #SpookySeptember, #Already...