Another spoiler-free thought from Megan Angelo’s Followers. It’s once again from a 2051 section of the book, when people are televising their lives in an endless livestream a la The Truman Show.

On page 205, Marlow talks about the benefits of being watched, of living out her life online. She knows that if she ever got into trouble, millions of people would know instantly. And they would rush to help her, even if it was just to alert the authorities.

She knew there was a third thing keeping her safe: the network. Her followers … Her whole life, Marlow had been sure that if she got into trouble, the network would protect her.

I always think about this tale from the early days of the Internet. Ayelet Waldman wrote a blog post while in a depressive episode, and someone read it and reached out, staying on the phone until she called her psychiatrist. Waldman’s network may have saved her life.

And that type of story repeated over and over again in those early days of the Internet when we used it to connect rather than scream at one another. Okay, so maybe we screamed at each other back then, too–it’s not as if trolls were formed out of thin air in 2016. But it did feel like a different time online, even though stories like Waldman’s continue to happen today.

There is this weird sense of safety that comes from being online. I’m assuming (and maybe I’m wrong) that if I didn’t post for a week or two, someone would send me an email and inquire whether I was okay. It’s out of character; I post here at least five times per week. You tether me. And, hopefully, I tether you. We tether each other. That’s a network.

And networks, sometimes, save us.

Maybe that is why it is so disconcerting when someone stops blogging and never returns. You were tethered to this person by their story–and they were tethered to you. A closing post allows you to tie a loop. But slipping away with the story open feels like a snapped cord dangling in the air.

This isn’t a guilt trip. It’s just something I was thinking about as I read those lines. How much you all mean to me.

Another more thought-provoking, spoiler-free moment from Followers by Megan Angelo.

On page 288, a character receives a letter where the sender tries to explain why she did what she did. In other words, she did something horrible.

Think Jean Valjean in Les Misérables: Stealing is wrong. But the character adds context. In Les Misérables, we empathize with Jean Valjean. Sure, he did something wrong, but he only did it because he was starving. If we don’t feel anything, we’re as bad as Javert, who is held up as the antagonist. The “because” becomes just as important as the action, softening the edges.

Back to Followers, the writer of the letter has done something awful, but she’s trying to give context. (Telling you what she did would be a major spoiler. I want to talk about it, but I’ll wait a little while before I write it and mark that post as clearly containing a spoiler.)

The letter states:

There’s one thing I get that you never have. There aren’t actually heroes or victims or villains. Not in our story, and probably not in anyone else’s. I know you know this deep down: it’s all in the edit.

I am clearly the protagonist in my story. I may do terrible things, but that’s because I’m loveably flawed. Other people do terrible things, and my brain paints them as fully evil. I do something wrong, and there’s a “because.” Someone else does something wrong, and the only explanation is that they’re malicious. We are quick to forgive our friends. We are quick to find fault with our enemies… even if our enemies are politicians on Twitter or that annoying person who sends 14 insipid posts per day on the neighbour listserv, clogging your inbox.

It comes down to how we edit the situation; the story we tell ourselves.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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So yesterday’s quote from Followers was funny, but today’s is sobering. On page 166, a person in 2051 is speaking with a robot name Mateo at an archive who offers her earphones so she can listen to the audio portion of a video. Most people in 2051 have devices embedded on their bodies by the time they’re seven, so they would have no trouble hearing the audio sans earphones. This person, on the other hand, does not have a device and asks about the earphones.

Mateo nodded. “The Archive currently uses them for our guests younger than seven, and our guests whose income indicates that they live below the information line,” it said. “In other words, our guests who do not have devices.”

Which, of course, is a scenario that plays out in our world daily. In many cases, despite the best efforts of schools and libraries, the poverty line IS the information line. How can you keep up with the flow of information if you can’t afford to access it? And accessing information, in the here and now, involves a computer or digital device. It’s sobering how many assumptions are made about access. That everyone will be reachable or be able to access information online, whether they’re at work/school or home.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

I just read a truly stunningly fantastic book, Followers by Megan Angelo, and I need to unpack some of the thoughts in there–the deep ones and the not-quite-so-deep ones (like today’s)–completely spoiler-free. So dive in with me, yes?

All you need to know is that Followers moves back and forth between 2015, which is just like the real 2015, and 2051, which is a future society where some people’s lives are televised 24/7, like The Truman Show.

The first quote was just funny, but once I stopped to think about it… I really couldn’t make sense of Twitter. It’s someone from 2051 reflecting on what life was like back in the olden days. On page 112, Marlow visits a nursing-home-like place and encounters a man there:

“I was Twitter-famous,” one of the old men croaked at her, glaring, and Marlow just nodded and smiled, pretending to be impressed. She had never quite understood Twitter, through ***** still talked about it like a dead, beloved friend. Short messages, but to everyone, mostly pointless, with blatant lies allowed–Marlow could not imagine what had been the appeal.

[See, really, no spoilers. I even blotted out the person’s name with asterisks so you won’t know the connection between characters before it happens in the book.]

I laughed reading the lines, but then I thought about it. Why do we go on Twitter? It’s not a great space for unpacking big feelings, unlike a blog. Anyone can read it, unlike Facebook. It’s mostly pointless, again, unlike a blog. And blatant lies are allowed by the platform itself… how is it even a helpful source for information?

I don’t spend a lot of time on Twitter. I pop on to get questions answered (eg. is a site down for everyone else, or is it just me?) and sometimes to post a thought so I don’t lose it. It’s not my favourite platform. Though, I guess, you could break down every other internet space–including blogs–by similarly stark observations and wonder why we spend so much time online.

Do you like Twitter?

Remember many years ago when some of us read Baby Trail as part of the online book club? Sinead Moriarty followed up that IF book with three more, all based on her own, first-hand experience with family building, and all are now available on Kindle. For some reason, they’re not looped in with the paper book’s listing, but you can get the first one for free today.

The offer goes from the 5th to the 9th.

Happy reading!

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Vacances” (Des méandres aux étoiles)
• “Happy for a Friend” (By the Brooke)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix sums up life after several difficult events perfectly with these lines: “I’m glad to be where I am. It required me to do a shitload of work though. It demanded a willingness to carry a very deep pain for a very long time. But the load has gotten lighter.” It’s not that things are perfect. It’s not that it all goes away. But the load is lighter. It’s what we hope we find in the future.

Kmina’s Blog has a moving post on 02.20.2020 about a roller coaster of pregnancy and loss. I love this line: “There are flickers of light and hope in the world, but gosh, do they need work to keep alive.” Keeping you in my heart, and glad to hear your voice again, Kmina.

Finally, I also bookmarked By the Brooke’s post, “Happy for a Friend.” I love that it validates all the feelings: the happiness for a friend, the jealousy, the anger. We’re complex people and we have complex feelings. She asks fantastic questions in the post that will get you thinking: “What if everything is a gift? What if I remember that I’m entitled to nothing? What if I accept it as a shocking and delightful surprise that three of my children are alive, instead of expecting it as the standard outcome?”

The roundup to the Roundup: IF fiction for free. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between January 31 and February 8) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.