#i curated this algorithm carefully and with love

[subway-boss-jericho]

Guys this may come as a surprise but as it turns out i just might need ADHD medication. Like. Badly. shocker, i know

[teamatsumu]

services. (fushiguro toji x reader)

summary: With how hectic your life is, you have no room for relationships. But you still have needs, and so you decide to pay to have those needs met.

word count: 4372

warnings: fem!reader, escort!toji, porn with minimal plot, smut, unprotected sex, oral (fem!receiving), fingering, daddy kink, choking, biting, this is so self indulgent pls dont judge me.

A million guesses in the world and you never would have predicted that you would be spending your Saturday night like this.

The only sound in your living room was the tick, tick, tick of the wall clock, as well as your occasional fidgeting. Your jeans rustled from where your leg was bouncing, an outlet for your nervous energy. You played with the sleeves of your sweater, rocking back and forth just slightly. You couldn’t decide what you wanted to blame this jittery feeling on, your anxiety or the cold. You wanted to go with the latter but you knew that what you were doing right now meant it had to be the former.

Who else would be waiting for a fucking escort to come to their house?

You looked at the clock again and rolled your eyes at your own antics. It was still ten more minutes before he was supposed to get here. Why were you already so clammy and shaky? This was pathetic. Well, getting an escort was pretty pathetic in itself, but this had to be a new low.

Honestly, you hadn’t expected yourself to be in this position. When a coworker had been venting about how your grueling profession and long working hours left no room for having a personal life, you had enthusiastically agreed. It was something you had been struggling with for years. It was the reason your last boyfriend had broken up with you, saying your job was way too time consuming and he felt ignored. He hadn’t been wrong. You were working more hours than anyone else you knew. And while you loved your job and wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world, you knew it meant sacrificing relationships. Sacrificing love and intimacy and even the simple act of a physical touch.

At this point you were so touch starved it hurt.

Your coworker had then recommended this escort service, saying that it had literally saved her life. An over exaggeration on her part, you were sure, but when you had looked at their website and seen how systematic and professional everything was, you really were taken by surprise. The website was clean and organized, and it took everything into consideration. Hell, they even had you fill out a consent form that was almost six pages long, and it had every kink and sexual option known to mankind. The website claimed that the service had a sophisticated algorithm to make sure it matched every client with an escort best suited for their sexual needs, and it encouraged you to be completely honest when filling the form.

Your face had burned as you read through the form, but you thought long and hard about every option you ticked yes or no on. You were lost, truly, because you had a lot of fantasies in your head but many were ones you had never tried before, even with previous partners. It made you hesitate, and you wondered if these were things you wanted to try for the first time with a complete stranger.

“Oh, trust me, you do.” Mei Mei, your coworker, had responded when you talked to her about your woes. She swung her leg and she took a swig of her coffee, leaning back and giving you a teasing smirk. “When I say these men know what they are doing, they know what they are doing. I would argue this is the best option if you wanna be adventurous in the sheets. Because no matter how you respond, the guy will know how to handle it.”

So after many days of ruminating and carefully curating your form, choosing yes on every option you wanted to try, you had taken a deep breath and submitted it. You felt instant regret as soon as you clicked send, wondering what the fuck you were doing. You were a successful career woman, and here you were, hiring a man to come fuck you in sinful ways. God, what had you come to? If your ex could see you now….

Over the next few days, you went through the payment process and finalizing a time slot for yourself. You talked on the phone to a very nice sounding middle aged lady who had the perfect customer service voice, who told you all the details you needed to know, how many hours your were getting, sending you a number where you could contact the agency afterwards, and a whole bunch of other stuff, finally ending it by letting you know the name of the man they had matched you up with.

Fushiguro Toji.

You gulped as you wrote the name down on the paper you were noting everything else on, tuning out her next words for a bit as you stared down at it. So this was the man you were going to have sex with. Was this okay? Or had you completely lost your mind and your self respect officially?

When you finally hung up, you mulled over the option of just canceling. But the thought only annoyed you. Come on, Y/N, what’s the big deal? The lady on the phone said they were a large, country wide agency who had thousands of clients. So they’re probably doing something right. And who cares? You’re a hardworking woman, and you still have needs. You’re just fulfilling a need you have. That’s it.

Pull yourself together.

And so here you were, on a cold Saturday evening, waiting for this Fushiguro Toji to show up at your door. You nearly jumped out of your skin when the doorbell rang, just two minutes before the agreed time. You stood up quickly, swaying a bit because of how shaky your legs felt, before taking a deep breath and walking to the door. You put your eye up to the peephole, cursing when you saw only chest and shoulders, unable to get a glimpse of his face. You were so panicked that you didn’t even register that this meant he was extremely tall. You only clocked in that fact when you finally opened the door.

It was the first thing you noticed. Just how massive he was. Even though his loose sweatshirt hid most of him, there was no questioning how broad his shoulders were, or how he stood so tall that you nearly dwarfed in comparison. You felt your heart skip, swooning. 10/10 for the escort agency on the size kink option. This man was huge.

He had jet black hair, spiky but tamed, and it looked soft as hell. He looked down at you with a little smirk, and your eye caught the scar on the corner of his mouth. It somehow added to how sexy he was, and you swallowed hard. Yup, this guy was a walking wet dream.

You wanted to slam the door in his face.

He said your name questioningly, and you nodded to confirm your identity. Out of instinct, you said his name back, making him nod and his lip curl up just a bit more. You nearly shivered when his eyes quickly mapped over your figure. For a brief second, you wished you had dressed up a bit more than just your jeans and a sweater, but you doubted you could still look half as good as he did.

“C-come in.” You choked out, stepping aside to let him in. He lumbered inside, movements almost slow and lazy, but still smooth. Your breath hitched when his cologne flooded your senses. Fuck. He also smelled great.

Your hesitation only increased, but you shook your head. He’s probably been with a ton of women. His whole job is to look good and be good in bed. Of course he was attractive. The agency had promised that all their workers were physically good looking. You just hadn’t guessed they would be sex on legs.

By the time you closed the door, locked it and trudged into the living room, Toji was standing in the center of it, looking around with slow movements of his eyes. His hands were buried in the pockets of his jeans, and he was biting the inside of his cheek. He turned to look at you once you were in view again, and you watched him give you another once over. You tugged on your sleeves again, fueling your nervous habit. You heard him snort.

“My boss was right. You’ve never done this before.”

You blinked, not expecting him to say that, or have such a rough tone. It almost offended you, like he thought you were some loser. When he saw your scowl, he immediately raised his hands with a chuckle.

“Don’t mean it in a bad way, sweetheart. It’s kinda cute. Just took me off guard, considering the shit you ticked off on your form.”

Now that made you flush and fidget. The knowledge that this stranger knew everything you wanted in the bedroom was a little unnerving, and pairing that with how heated his gaze suddenly got, and you felt your core stir.

“Would you like some tea?” You blurted out, at a loss for what else to say. He raised his eyebrow in response, making you cringe.

“Or coffee.” You added weekly. “Or we could uh…. just start. Um, go to the bedroom? I don’t-” Your face was so hot, you wanted to cry. Finally, you sighed and gave up, feeling your shoulders slump. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

This made Toji let out a hearty cackle, walking to your couch and dropping heavily on it. He patted the spot next to him, which you promptly took, unable to meet his eyes any longer. You convinced yourself that you couldn’t have done this worse, so there was no way to go but up since you had already hit rock bottom.

“Why’d ya get an escort service?” Toji asked, snapping you from your thoughts. You looked at him and saw genuine curiosity in his eyes, under the bored veneer that stretched over his face. You shrugged.

“I work too much. I wanted stress relief. My coworker said your agency was good. Now I’m kinda regretting it.” You explained concisely.

The tiniest of smirks took residence on Toji’s face at your last words, his body turned towards you. He hooked his arm over the back of the couch, resting his head on his balled up fist as he stared at you. “You won’t regret it by the time I’m done with you, sweetheart.”

Your breath caught at his words, body stiffening. To Toji’s trained eye, your movement was obvious, and it made him chuckle.

“You like that? Well, I can’t be surprised. You’re big on dirty talk, aren’t ya?”

He moved closer as he talked, one hand reaching out until his finger was tracing down your cheekbone, over your jaw, up until he reached your lips. Your heart was beating a mile a minute, and your mouth opened on instinct.

“Wonder what kind of talk ya like more? Praise? You wanna be called a good girl? Or maybe the other kind? Maybe you’re a desperate little slut?”

His voice was rough, the air was charged, and despite the cold, heat flooded your veins. You felt like you could barely breathe, afraid to make any motion that could push Toji away. You felt your core pulse when he leaned forward.

“You familiar with the color system for safewords?”

You nodded almost imperceptibly. He hummed.

“Good.”

And then his lips were meeting yours.

It was slow, lazy, like all of his movements. His lips dragged over yours in an almost sensual way. His hand cupped the back of your head and tilted it to his liking, deepening the kiss more. His tongue teased your lips until you parted them, darting inside to slide it over yours. Your eyes rolled shut, shivers running over your spine, hands reaching up instinctively to curl into the material of his sweatshirt. He facilitated every move your mouth made, as if egging you to keep going, and you responded in kind, arching closer to him, pressing harder on his lips, even licking into his mouth a bit, albeit shyly. You felt his mouth curl as he pulled away, a wet squelch as your lips separated. You whined in protest, not even recognizing your voice, and he chuckled.

“We’ve got all night, sweets. Take it easy.”

His hands maneuvered you until he had you in his lap, and it was your first taste of Toji’s strength. You nearly keened at how easy it was for him to pull you around, and you once again felt your insides clench. Being on top of him made you feel intimately all the hard planes of his torso, and you finally let your hands wander. Toji didn’t stop you, watching your fingers disappear under his sweatshirt and meet his bare skin. You sucked in a sharp breath, tilting your head up to meet his lips again as your hands began their exploration.

Toji hummed, letting you guide the kiss this time, and you realized that he had played his cards very carefully to make sure you would come out of your shell. The thought turned you on even more, and you were absolutely sure that you had completely soaked through your lacy underwear by now. You pawed on his shirt, tugging it a bit.

“Take this off, please.”

Toji bit at your bottom lip. “Please what?”

You felt yourself flush hot, picking up on his implication. Another thing you had mentioned on your form. Your body stiffened but Toji squeezed at your sides, hands slipping under your sweater to rub your skin.

“Say it, baby. And I’ll do what you want.”

His lips were wandering, past your mouth, over your jaw and down your neck until his teeth were nibbling on the skin under your ear. Your eyes rolled up, subconsciously grinding down on his lap.

“Please,” you gasp when he sucked hard, likely leaving a hickey. “Please, daddy.”

Toji groaned, the first noise he had made all night, and it shot straight to your pussy. He reached behind him to tug his sweatshirt off, exposing him in all his muscled glory. Your mouth watered at the sight, hands running over him freely. You couldn’t believe you had this man under you, letting you grope and feel him up like this, looking up at you with eyes so predatory it nearly set off alarms in your head. Your touch was getting more and more firm as you continued touching him, his hands pushing down on your hips to encourage the way you were grinding on him. You felt his erection rub right between your legs, where you wanted him most, and you bit your lip in response. He felt big. Definitely the biggest you had ever had. You didn’t even have to look at it to know it would be a tight fit, and the thought of it made excitement zip through you. Your initial nervousness was dissipating, and all your repressed urges were now floating freely in your head.

You needed him to ruin you.

The thought made your movements more frantic, tugging and pulling at Toji, moaning into his lips when his hands wandered under your sweater and groped harshly at your breasts. God, when was the last time a man had touched you like this? You were so wet it made your whole body arch, pulsing with need.

“Daddy. Want- want you.” You whimpered in his ear, feeling his intake of breath at your words. Toji tugged your sweater off, pushing you back so he could take you in. You knew you already looked like a mess, and the thought made your face heat up. Toji smirked at you, stretching the little scar on the corner of his mouth. Without thinking, you leaned forward, licking at the healed over skin. His grip on your hips got impossibly tighter, and you knew it would leave bruises. He stood up, making you quickly wrap your legs around his waist, before walking towards your bedroom, which you pointed out. His lips never left your neck, nipping at any part he could reach, licking over you. You wondered if Toji had a thing for biting.

He was indulging everything you wanted, but a part of you wanted to indulge him too.

He tugged off your jeans and panties as soon as he had you lying on the bed, leaving you in only your bra. Your shyness seemed to have melted away at this point, your brain so foggy with need that you couldn’t think of anything except having him on top of you. Toji was quick to discard his own jeans, leaving him in his boxers, which were straining against the daunting bulge of his cock. You licked your lips at the sight, and the action didn’t go unnoticed by the man, who gave you a grin.

“You want my dick?”

You nodded eagerly, spreading your legs on instinct when he draped himself over you, slotting himself in the space you created. He hummed and licked his lips, eyes wandering over your figure. You felt yourself clench again at the heat behind his eyes.

“Let me get a taste of you first, sweetheart. Then you can have me.”

And then he lowered himself until his face was level with your bare pussy, breath fanning over it in a way that made your eyes flutter. You shouldn’t be shocked at how brazen he was, since this was his job, but it still surprised you. Your thoughts quickly melted away though, when he licked a fat stripe from the bottom to the top of your slit, parting your lips until he could lick at you unencumbered, swiping his tongue over your heat over and over.

You gasped and arched into him, feeling shivers run down your spread legs. Fuck, he was good. Of course he was good. His movements were purposeful, like he had done this a million times before (which he probably had). His tongue seemed to know every little nook and cranny that needed attention, gliding over your cunt until he circled your hole, sinking into the opening. You cried out when the tip hit your walls just right, enough stimulation to feel good but not nearly enough to satisfy. His lips and tongue left you breathless and wanting more. His massive hands held your thighs apart, teeth nibbling at your clit slightly until you were whining under him.

“Fuck. Toji.” Your voice already sounded so wrecked.

When his finger tip prodded at your entrance, you barely had time to process before he was sinking in, knuckle-deep. You cried out at the intrusion, eyes rolling when he curled it and seemed to immediately find your spot. You felt his lips twist up into a smirk when you cursed, knowing he had you.

His movements were merciless, one finger becoming two and pumping in and out of you so fast you were sure he would rip you apart. No matter how hard you clenched, his fingers were undeterred, as if he was adamant on ruining your cunt. You could hear the squelching of your juices, the sound filthy and so sexy it put you right on the edge. Toji seemed to notice. His dark eyes burned into yours, mouth lifting from your clit to let his fingers do all the work while he watched your writhe under his touch.

“You gonna cum, babygirl? Gonna soak my fucking hand? C’mon, baby. Wanna feel this pussy drench me. C’mon. Cum.”

His voice was so rough, adding to the sensations until you felt dizzy, muscles snapping stiff as you came all over his fingers. The noises grew even wetter, your juices flowing past his knuckles and down to his wrist. He hummed his approval, the sound set deep in his chest, eyes zoned in on your fluttering lips. When he pulled out, you let out a long, deep sigh. Your legs were trembling as Toji made his way up to you, licking up your neck before nipping at your earlobe.

“You got such a perfect cunt, baby.” He moaned into your ear, hips grinding down and pressing his clothed cock against you. “Perfect little pussy, fuck. You tellin’ me you haven’t been feedin’ her with cock on a daily basis? Because that’s what she deserves. To be stuffed full with a big dick every night. Soppy little filthy pussy like that needs loving daily.”

You keened at Toji’s words, your breath catching at how lewd he was being. He hooked a thumb into his boxers and tugged them down until his heavy cock sprang free and hit his stomach, tip flushed an angry maroon shade and leaking precum. Your mouth watered at the sight, not even caring about how big he was or how wide he would stretch you. You whined and wrapped your legs around his waist, trying to pull him closer.

“Need you, Daddy.” You breathed out.

“You have me, little girl.” He cooed, almost taunting. His lips were twisted into a wide grin, looking down at you with unbridled lust. You noticed how red the tips of his ears were, flushed down his neck as well. His hair was pushed back haphazardly out of his eyes, and his body was covered by a thin sheen of sweat. His eyes were blown.

When Toji finally sank his cock into you, in one slow stroke, he groaned and cursed loudly, sinking down to his elbows on either side of your head. He let out a long breath, cursing again before a large, rough hand came up and wrapped around your neck, squeezing the sides just a bit. You gasped and arched into him, eyelids fluttering. The light haziness in your head was now intensifying as Toji bullied his cock slowly but surely into your cunt, no matter how much it tried to resist the intrusion.

“Fuck.” His voice broke a little. And somehow, that was better than the orgasm he had just pulled out of you. Knowing you had that kind of effect on this man who had never met you before, that you were reducing him to this just by your body alone, made you feel powerful. You clenched around him on purpose, and his grip on your neck tightened, making you freeze. He looked down at you, his grin almost manic.

“You playin’ games with me, sweetheart? Nasty little slut. I never would’ve thought.”

He pulled out then, until only the tip of his cock was inside you, before surging forward, hips slamming hard into you. You screamed and arched, and Toji didn’t give you a second more, thrusting into you in earnest.

“You forgot I was the boss here, little girl. Me. Say it.”

You could barely choke the words out, having the wind knocked out of you with every brush of his cock on your g-spot.

“Y-you’re-” You screamed at a particularly brutal thrust, legs kicking and twitching. Toji’s grip on your neck tightened, and you could no longer breathe. Your eyes crossed at the feeling.

“Look at you. Can’t even say a word. Such a whore for daddy.”

When he eased his hold, you took in big gulps of air, only a few moments before he tightened his grip again. His movements didn’t slow down for one second, driving his cock into you at a maddening pace.

“I’m gonna-” You didn’t finish. You couldn’t. Because in that moment, your orgasm crashed into you like a freight train, so intense you could barely breathe, even despite Toji loosening the hold he had on your neck. Your vision blackened, stars bursting over it as you writhed and twitched under him. He didn’t stop fucking into you, didn’t even pause. He groaned when you came around his cock, and he kept going.

You realized that this was just the beginning of a very long night.

………………………………..

It was around 4 in the morning when you tapped out. Or rather, Toji finally let you tap out.

You had come so many times you couldn’t count. You had positively lost all feeling in your legs, and every muscle in your body was sore and buzzing. Toji had pulled and twisted you into every position known to man, spanked and slapped you around, choked you, tugged on your hair until your scalp tingled, and had stuffed his cock, fingers and tongue into your abused pussy so many times you felt like you were dying. It was the most you had ever felt, every sensation amplified, crying until tears soaked your cheeks, cumming until you just couldn’t anymore. He quite literally fucked the soul out of you, plain and simple.

Now you were lying on your side on the bed, watching with half lidded, barely open eyes as Toji tugged his clothes back onto his glorious, god-like frame. He had only a few marks. Your teeth marks on his neck and shoulders, and some scratches down his back. Compared to you, bitten and bruised all over, he looked unaffected.

He turned to look at you, smirking when he saw that you were already watching.

“You sure you’re done? Ya have me for two more hours at least.”

You nodded and let out an unflattering snort. “If I had to go one more round you might have to take me to the hospital.”

He let out a laugh at that, walking closer to you. He fished in the pocket of his sweatpants, pulling out a small, rectangular card. You could barely make out his name and number.

“Don’t call the service next time. Call me directly.”

You raised a teasing eyebrow. “You do personal services?”

He shrugged in return, sending you a sleazy wink. “Only for really sweet cunts like yours.”

You groaned and buried your face in the mattress, hearing him laugh loudly before standing up.

“I’ll see myself out.”

You didn’t move until you heard the front door slam, feeling your lips tug up in a smile. You would have to thank Mei Mei profusely for her recommendation. And now you understood that she didn’t exaggerate the effectiveness of this escort service.

This was definitely not the last time you would be seeing Fushiguro Toji.

[letmesleeponu4sumtime]

20220207

I’m snacking right now; gunpowder tea and cinnamon hotteok. I just had lunch, I made myself spring rolls with a side of kimchi. I’m sleepy, the weather is fluctuating a lot. Two days ago it was 65 degrees, these past two days it’s been 78-80 degrees. Fall and winter are kind of obsolete in California

_+As I pour my second cup of tea, Ryuchi Sakamoto’s “12” plays in my AirPods. I think this is my favorite album of his

I’ve been reading a lot of Health Gossip so yesterday I took my first olive oil bath and did an oil pulling. I want to make olive oil baths a part of my weekly routine. I felt so anew afterward. I listened to a semi-ambient playlist I made and soaked for about 20 minutes. My hair is so soft and hydrated

_+I’m loving this tea. You must drink it while it’s still hot enough to burn your tongue to get the balanced floral notes. I always let tea sit out...This reminds me of something I read somewhere on the internet where this woman’s mother dies and she visits her house and is reminded of her through all the full cups of tea she left around. I guess she often got distracted, I see myself in that

Today I was thinking about the art of practicing self care while at work as I recalled my olive oil bath from last night. It was a random thought. I feel like every time I scroll on Tik Tok cursed videos will slip into my carefully curated peaceful algorithm of women “looksmaxxing". They go to bed with all these devices on that are supposed to enhance your appearance over time. For example chin straps, mouth tape, head wrap, face masks, red light therapy masks…while I deeply enjoy the concept of self-care and looking after yourself and they can be quite entertaining to watch on occasion there is an insane obsession with looking perfect that exists on the internet. God forbid you get caught in a bad photo or look like you worked 40 hours that week (because you did). Despite generally hating photos of myself, I think there is something so beautiful about someone that looks human, that looks like they live in their body. Our bodies aren’t cars or vehicles that exist solely to do worldly tasks before we retreat back to the internet at the end of the day. They’re our homes. Yes, take care of yourself and indulge in excessive treatments from time to time, if it makes you feel good but there has to be an intrinsic motivation behind it. The concept of self-care that’s become mainstream is an aesthetic, not a practice with its only reward being extrinsic. When making self-care intrinsic it’s much deeper than an Aesop or Barbra Sturm face mask, lighting overpriced incense in Tekla PJ's. It’s the hard stuff; sitting in silence, reflecting, putting your phone down, having real conversations….I don’t know..just thinking out loud...

[littledata]

I know you’re probably working on those prompts, but I, too, just ended up on North Sea tiktok, and if you have time, I’m curious what Ava’s reaction to that particular algorithmic destination would be. Because like, Bea’s the most capable person ever, but those waves are Very Big, and why isn’t everyone tethered to the boat at all times??

(From the on that dizzy edge universe. An example video if anyone would like context.)

For a long time, Ava's TikTok experience was predictable. It mostly went: hot girl biting her lip, hot girl playing guitar, hot dude baking a cake, weirdly mesmerising crafting video, drama about people she'd never met, hot person kissing another hot person.

The number of straight-up thirst traps has been on the decline recently though - mostly because Ava just has to turn her head and Bea will be changing her shirt or using a hammer or standing perfectly still, all of which is a lot hotter than any video she's ever seen. In its infinite wisdom though, The Algorithm has seen her scrolling past those videos and decided it needs to fill the void with something else.

That thing, apparently, is North Sea TikTok.

They're lying in bed when it happens for the first time. Beatrice had spent the first few weeks after she came home insisting they should try to maintain separate bedrooms, move their relationship along at an orderly and appropriate pace, but she pretty quickly gave in to the allure of spooning and her bedroom defaulted to being both of theirs.

Now, before they go to sleep, they often end up lying side by side while Beatrice reads one of her insane books about lesbian necromancers or whatever and Ava scrolls TikTok or reads fanfiction about hot people falling in love in coffee shops and stuff. It makes her feel mature and settled and safe in a way that's sometimes so exciting she has to take Bea's book out of her hands and make out with her about it.

Anyway, so they're doing that (lying in bed, not making out) when it shows up on her for you page. It starts with the weird, slow sea shanty, then there's the huge waves, and then someone is getting slammed in the face with the fucking ocean.

Ava lets it loop. Then she lets it loop again. Then she taps on the suggested search north sea tiktok and she's presented with a thousand more videos exactly like the first. People falling overboard and huge waves crashing over ships and and and -

"Bea." Ava taps her arm insistently.

Bea looks up from her book without much concern - she doesn't use TikTok but she does submit to being shown Ava's curated favourites. Also, she's wearing glasses and she looks super cute.

No, Ava, don't get distracted.

"Bea," she repeats and holds her phone up to her face.

Beatrice watches with a scrutinising gaze. When the video finishes, she says, "They really shouldn't be filming in those situations, it's distracting them from proper safety precautions."

Ava stares at her. "That's all you have to say? They could have died."

"Possibly," Beatrice agrees. "Once someone falls overboard it's very difficult to recover them, although certainly not impossible. And it depends a lot on the kind of ship. I assume someone wouldn't post a video where someone died though."

Although Beatrice's naivety about what people are willing to post on the internet is adorable, Ava's mind is stuck somewhere in between the words overboard and impossible. Even Beatrice, careful and capable as she is, couldn't keep herself from being swept off her feet by some of those waves. Ava can picture her so vividly, disappearing under the surface.

"You're not making me feel better about this."

"Oh." Beatrice blinks in surprise as if she has only just realised that they aren't having a purely practical discussion. She puts her book carefully down on the nightstand. "I'm not sure what to say. I can't lie to you and pretend it isn't dangerous. Those are cherry-picked clips showing the worst though, it isn't always like that."

Which, yeah, okay, Ava already knew it was dangerous. For all the months that Beatrice is away she lives with the low-level, prickling anxiety that the next call she gets will be telling her Bea is hurt, or worse. It's different seeing it though, seeing how quick it is, how powerful -

"How often are you in the north sea?" she asks, as if that's the only problem with it.

Beatrice winces, "Well, it depends. The contracts I work - " She explains something complicated and lengthy about shipping and demand and the company she works for and Ava thinks she's the most interesting person in the world but this stuff is, also, a little bit boring and she's still pretty busy picturing her girlfriend's imminent death.

She needs to send these videos to Camila. If there's anyone she can rely on to overreact with her, it's Camila.

"Ava," Beatrice says, seeing that she's lost her. She tugs Ava's phone gently from her hands and puts it down next to her book. Then she wraps one arm around Ava's shoulders and the other around her waist and pulls her in close.

Ava has always loved being hugged by Bea, even before they got together - she's strong and solid and lets Ava hold on for as long as she needs to. (Also, she smells fucking amazing, like, all the time).

It wasn't until they started dating that she realised Beatrice had been holding something of herself back though, not letting herself relax entirely whenever they touched. Now, it's as if her whole body sinks into it, like some tension evaporates the moment Ava's arms are around her.

Ava pushes her face into Beatrice's chest and inhales, lets herself hide there in the fabric of her shirt for a moment. It's dark and warm and hard to worry about anything.

"I promise I do everything I possibly can to come home safe to you," Beatrice says into her ear, "I'm sorry I can't give you any more reassurance than that."

"Okay," Ava says, voice muffled against Beatrice's chest. It's not enough but it has to be enough. This is Bea's job, the thing she loves more than anything else, and Ava won't ever touch the sanctity of that. "I'm still going to worry about you."

"I know." Beatrice presses a kiss into her hair and pulls back, "I worry about you too though, when I'm gone."

Ava rolls her eyes, "The most dangerous thing that could happen to me is Lilith finally snapping and turning on everyone she loves."

"So fairly likely then?" Beatrice asks.

Ava snorts, "Like a 90% chance."

They settle themselves to go to sleep, lying down fully and adjusting the pillows and blankets. That's another thing Ava learned recently: Beatrice - her big, tough sailor - likes being the little spoon. She won't admit to that, obviously, but she sighs contentedly whenever Ava wraps her arms around her from behind.

So when Beatrice reaches up to switch the lamp off, Ava does just that, presses herself against Bea's back. She listens to Beatrice's breathing become slow and even, and she clings on.

[intrepidacious]

Hi, can I ask why you don’t like serial likers? Sorry if you’ve already answered something like this

thank you for asking!!

as a fanfic writer on tumblr, what i want from this platform – and what it's built for, really – is a sense of community. to publicly indulge in common interests like certain characters or tropes, something we might not have the space for in real life; or at least not to the same extent. it's about sharing this love and creativity, talking about it, bouncing off each other. the lack of an algorithm on tumblr's classic dashboard allows you to cater this site to you, personally, and i think that's always been one of its strongest points.

imagine, now, that carefully curated dashboard sitting empty. that's what happens if we, as users, don't reblog things. serial liking is a private activity, and it doesn't tell the creator anything. i know people still use their likes as bookmarks, but a lot of the time, that is sadly where their interaction ends. and the net of interconnection that reblogs weave grows a little weaker again.

i don't expect every person who reads my fics to leave a comment. i know it can be difficult sometimes. but i've seen so many people leave writing behind entirely because sending a story that was written with heart and passion out into the void and getting nothing back over and over again is tiring. it makes me sad and it makes me frustrated.

tumblr's been a sinking ship for the past 10+ years, but the orchestra is still playing. as long as it does, i want to encourage using its advantages. you can't maintain a community if no one talks to each other. please reblog things you enjoy.

[blkdaddie]

A slightly meta post

So it finally happened, someone has reposted my work without context or credit. I took a calculated risk of not watermarking my works, partly for aesthetic reasons, partly out of laziness, partly from being overly trusting. For those who believe AI generated art is stealing, some points: I am an analog artist IRL and I fully understand the copyright issues attendant with algorithmic models and would support an opt-in and payment model for photographers and other artists to have their work licensed for alternative use. A few points:

I do not monetize the images I create using AI

Good prompt writing is both art and science

All of my posts here are carefully curated to accompany my or a collaborators original writing.

I have no issue with sharing. I love a repost. I love a comment. I love a tag for attribution. So yeah, when I see my work stripped from the original context and posted without credit it feels intentional. Do better.

[mariacallous]

The algorithm has won. The most powerful social, video, and shopping platforms have all converged on a philosophy of coddling users in automated recommendations. Whether through Spotify’s personalized playlists, TikTok’s all-knowing For You page, or Amazon’s product suggestions, the internet is hell-bent on micromanaging your online activity.

At the same time, awareness of the potential downsides of this techno-dictatorial approach has never been higher. The US Congress recently probed whether social media algorithms are threatening the well-being of children, and new scholarship and books have focused fresh attention on the broad cultural consequences of letting algorithms curate our feeds. “I do think it reifies a lot of our cultural tastes in a way that at least I find concerning,” says Ryan Stoldt, an assistant professor at Drake University and member of the University of Iowa’s Algorithms and Culture Research Group.

In response to the growing sense of unease surrounding Big Tech’s mysterious recommender systems, digital refuges from the algorithm have begun to emerge. Entrepreneur Tyler Bainbridge is part of a nascent movement attempting to develop less-fraught alternatives to automated recommendations. He’s founder of PI.FYI, a social platform launched in January that hopes to, in Bainbridge’s words, “bring back human curation.”

PI.FYI is born out of Bainbridge’s popular newsletter, Perfectly Imperfect, and a simple conceit: Humans should receive recommendations only from other humans, not machines. Users post recommendations for everything from consumer products to experiences such as “being in love” or “not telling men at bars you study philosophy,” and they also crowdsource answers to questions like “What did you read last week?” or “London dry cleaner?”

Posts on the platform are displayed in chronological order, although users can choose between seeing a feed of content only from friends and a firehose of everything posted to the service. PI.FYI’s homepage offers recommendations from a “hand-curated algorithm”—posts and profiles selected by site administrators and some carefully chosen users.

“People long for the days of not being bombarded by tailored ads everywhere they scroll,” Bainbridge says. PI.FYI’s revenue comes from user subscriptions, which start at $6 a month. While its design evokes an older version of the internet, Bainbridge says he wants to avoid creating an overly nostalgic facade. “This isn't an app built for millennials who made MySpace,” he says, claiming that a significant portion of his user base are from Gen Z.

Spread, a social app currently in closed beta testing, is another attempt to provide a supposedly algorithm-free oasis. “I don't know a single person in my life that doesn't have a toxic relationship with some app on their phone,” says Stuart Rogers, Spread’s cofounder and CEO. “Our vision is that people will be able to actually curate their diets again based on real human recommendations, not what an algorithm deems will be most engaging, therefore also usually enraging,” he says.

On Spread, users can’t create or upload original text or media. Instead, all posts on the platform are links to content from other services, including news articles, songs, and video. Users can tune their chronological feeds by following other users or choosing to see more of a certain type of media.

Brands and bots are barred from Spread, and, like PI.FYI, the platform doesn’t support ads. Instead of working to maximize time-on-site, Rogers’ primary metrics for success will be indicators of “meaningful” human engagement, like when someone clicks on another user's recommendation and later takes action like signing up for a newsletter or subscription. He hopes this will align companies whose content is shared on Spread with the platform’s users. “I think there's a nostalgia for what the original social meant to achieve,” Rogers says.

So you joined a social network without ranking algorithms—is everything good now? Jonathan Stray, a senior scientist at the UC Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI, has doubts. “There is now a bunch of research showing that chronological is not necessarily better,” he says, adding that simpler feeds can promote recency bias and enable spam.

Stray doesn’t think social harm is an inevitable outcome of complex algorithmic curation. But he agrees with Rogers that the tech industry’s practice of trying to maximize engagement doesn’t necessarily select for socially desirable results.

Stray suspects the solution to the problem of social media algorithms may in fact be … more algorithms. “The fundamental problem is you've got way too much information for anybody to consume, so you have to reduce it somehow,” he says.

In January, Stray launched the Prosocial Ranking Challenge, a competition with a $60,000 prize fund aiming to spur development of feed-ranking algorithms that prioritize socially desirable outcomes, based on measures of users’ well-being and how informative a feed is. From June through October, five winning algorithms will be tested on Facebook, X, and Reddit using a browser extension.

Until a viable replacement takes off, escaping engagement-seeking algorithms will generally mean going chronological. There’s evidence people are seeking that out beyond niche platforms like PI.FYI and Spread. Group messaging, for example, is commonly used to supplement artificially curated social media feeds. Private chats—threaded by the logic of the clock—can provide a more intimate, less chaotic space to share and discuss gleanings from the algorithmic realm: the trading of jokes, memes, links to videos and articles, and screenshots of social posts.

Disdain for the algorithm could help explain the growing popularity of WhatsApp within the US, which has long been ubiquitous elsewhere. Meta’s messaging app saw a 9 percent increase in daily users in the US last year, according to data from Apptopia reported by The Wrap. Even inside today’s dominant social apps, activity is shifting from public feeds and toward direct messaging, according to Business Insider, where chronology rules.

Group chats might be ad-free and relatively controlled social environments, but they come with their own biases. “If you look at sociology, we've seen a lot of research that shows that people naturally seek out things that don't cause cognitive dissonance,” says Stoldt of Drake University.

While providing a more organic means of compilation, group messaging can still produce echo chambers and other pitfalls associated with complex algorithms. And when the content in your group chat comes from each member’s respective highly personalized algorithmic feed, things can get even more complicated. Despite the flight to algorithm-free spaces, the fight for a perfect information feed is far from over.

[warsofasoiaf]

When it comes to Joe Rogan, I’m of two minds. On the one hand, he doesn’t really take responsibility for having a large platform that clearly reaches and influences a lot of people.

On the other, if you’re primarily getting your medical and political information from Joe Rogan podcasts, isn’t there a bit of personal responsibility that needs to be taken from the individual?

I would love for people to take personal responsibility to vet the information that they consume and are exposed to. Not only would that weed out the cranks, but it would improve the quality of genuine sources and prevent filter bubbles. Contrarians and freedom to question are an essential part of the information ecosystem and avoiding groupthink, which creates a much healthier population overall. That's not going to happen though.

One problem is quantity, there is simply too much information for the average Joe or Jane to fact-check. If you've ever heard the term "big data" and know what that industry is all about, you'll know that there's simply an enormous amount of data out there that needs to be made sense of that simply can't be done by the normal human brain. We've not only been making algorithms to filter out the noise and get only the parts of data that are useful, but we've been designing machine learning to be able to automate that, to train computers by programming to recognize these things simply so we can produce useful knowledge out of massive data sets. We only have so much attention span and so much time to spend researching to find out what is true and what isn't.

The other problem is qualitative, you need expertise to be able to determine what's real and what's pseudo-realistic bunk. Charlatans from throughout history have used the seeming appearance of knowledge to grift people that don't have the specialized knowledge to know better, and I know this from personal experience. These days, disinformation is carefully curated for maximum psychological validation that causes the listener to self-curate and automatically tune out any evidence to the contrary. Just look at any of Putin's or Medvedev's speeches at how they are carefully tailored for everyone from tankies to alt-right tradcons to pick and choose a line to run with to further their grandiose delusion of reality. Rogan might just be engaging any sort of contrarian on his podcast to appeal to his target audience, but if you don't know anything about the subject, you might believe whatever bogus study was commissioned because it sounds authoritative and you don't have the knowledge to correct it. This comes from a guy who is highly critical of some of what academia does - particularly history departments - you do need experts and they do need credibility.

In an ideal world, we'd have trusted sources of information, institutions with the weight of validity behind them, but unfortunately we simply don't have that these days. Part of it is the institutions' fault, they are reluctant to admit when they're wrong and the idea of promoting healthy debate has long gone out of style in favor of a quick serotonin high castigating any dissent as immoral. Technology these days has only contributed to the information overload which curates filter bubbles and groupthink for maximum engagement. But a lot of it isn't, there's plenty of malicious actors who use every trick of the trade to prey on people because they don't know and are too busy to be able to figure it out. Click-based algorithms, short attention spans cultivated by TikTok and Twitter, and highly sophisticated disinformation programs have done a lot of harm to the information space.

What I'm at a loss to do, however, is find a way to fix it in a practical sense. A truth and information board would simply become co-opted and corrupted and anyone who doesn't believe that is either a damn fool or hoping for the power to be the arbiter of truth. Letting the information space lie has not produced a sort of self-correction. Sorry to end it on a downer, but that's just how it is.

Thanks for the contribution, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[drdemonprince]

hey! i'm really glad i found your writing and have been following you, you've been really helpful for innumerable acceptance and mental health things! My question is; when it comes to "creating content", do you mostly just keep creating into the abyss until something sticks or is there more rhyme and reason to it? I'm really inspired by your career (i wrote arc originally, jesus) and though I'm trying to do video stuff i assume some stuff is applicable. thanks so much!

Yes! Speaking for myself, I think the best way to develop a voice and build a 'following' is not by being super intentional and trying to game out the exact right things to post, and times to post based on the ever changing vagaries of the algorithm... but to just fucking post a lot, and make whatever the hell you want to make and find fun to create, and eventually you will refine your writing/creation skills from that large volume of activity, while also maximizing the odds that something you have made will catch on and find the fans it deserves. This process takes years. It took like upwards of 15 years for me.

I have been regularly posting writing online since like 1999. I started by posting regular comedy content on AOL's Antagonist Game Network when I was in forth or fifth grade. Not long after that I started regularly posted writing on Livejournal, and then in the years to come Myspace, Dangerous Intersection, a bunch of different forums. Then in 2011 I got a tumblr, where I posted essays, blog posts, short stories, and even serialized multiple novels (I have 17,000 tumblr posts in my archive to give a rough sense of the volume). By then I'd amassed enough practice and engaged with enough readers and other writers to be decent at what I was doing, and a few things did modest-to-good numbers.

After tumblr I switched to Medium, where I finally started getting paid and went 'viral' enough to start getting interviewed by news outlets and the like. I refined my voice based on what people expect from that platform and got really good at it pretty quickly (like, a year). Then my essay Laziness Does Not Exist on medium blew up and got 3 million plus reads, which became a book deal. then i finally migrated to the "big socials" of today, like IG and Twitter, for the sake of promoting my books, and it took a few more years of posting on those to find any traction and get really good at it.

All of which is a VERY long winded way of saying: for me, success has always come through making a TON, all the time, not filtering myself, and knowing that 99% of what i make will not catch on very much. I think most writers/content creators suffer from filtering themselves too much, and trying to be too strategic in their social media promotion strategy, when really what they ought to be doing is just making things a lot. because that's the only way you get good at making things -- by practicing.

the way social media works, a lot of very wonderful creations will not get noticed. that's just how it is and as a creator you have to find some way to make peace with it and keep moving. my strategy has always been to absolutely blast the timeline with everything that excites me, and i do think that kind of genuine enthusiasm is infectious. i think people can tell the difference between carefully curated, formulaic posting and posting fueled by sheer love of the game. but i've never had any choice but to operate this way. this is just what comes naturally to me. i have to like, bloodlet the words/takes on a daily basis or so it feels.

NOW admittedly some of this will look very different for video production, which is what you're wanting to do. absolutely blasting the timeline with videos is not as possible -- but I think the same basic idea still holds. just make what you want to make, and enjoy making it as best you can, and then yeah, keep letting it loose into the abyss. don't let it discourage you when it doesnt immediately make a splash. this stuff takes years to catch on sometimes. but later, when you do eventually build an audience, you can revisit the great work you made when you were more obscure and it will find fans/appreciators too. none of the time spent creating is ever wasted. you'll learn skills and refine your voice along the way, and hopefully enjoy the act of creation too. it takes a long time to pay off in an obvious way, but for me anyway, it's been worth it.

[smute]

ive started ripping cds again and i love it. at first it was bc of my recent audiophile hyperfixation and wanting to experiment with different quality levels but theres something about the process of picking and choosing and not having everything available instantly that makes me listen to music much more consciously idk. its like the difference between chugging a cup of drip coffee in the break room vs. like taking 15 minutes out of your day to make a cappuccino for breakfast. (btw the "process" is so much easier today, i rarely (if ever) have to name/rename tracks like. it even finds the right cover art and lyrics? all by itself? insane.) also, something ive been noticing for a while is that despite having access to a huge streaming library i tend to listen to the same 3 playlists and 5 albums over and over and over and over and.... idk i rarely try out new stuff anymore (see the 271 poasts i made about my constant back and forth between apple music and spotify). actually, ive recently been going entire DAYS without listening to music?? which is a) a terrifying development and b) likely another early warning sign of post-30 conservative brainrot, next to the avoidance strategies my subconscious now employs when it comes to trying out new stuff. and anyway, i think curating my music library a little more deliberately instead of relying on an algorithm that only ever sees me listening to 2015 pop songs is a fantastic idea regardless of my motivation. but yeah. carefully picking out a cd and bringing it home and putting it on my puter and finally listening to it without distractions is an experience that a discover weekly playlist simply cannot recreate

[crones-trash]

Damn. Since I got the new update for Google Chrome, when I click one of my search results I get sent to a friggin' AD related to my answer instead.

Example: I asked about transferring my driver's license & got an ad for a Driver's Education School. Another: the answer I sought was on a Reddit link, which I clicked, but it opened a vaguely related ad instead. In both examples, I immediately X the ad, try the link again & it works. But THE BOTHER of having to take 2 steps to get where I want to go is infuriating.

I gave up Firefox over 20 years ago & I've been in love w/ Google ever since. But now, no longer content w/ placing ads on the side of the page, they're pushing them in my face.

Not to mention, I upgraded my PC to Windows 10 & now my computer is slow as fuck. My son, the computer genius, says I need to upgrade my box—minimum cost $550!

Also, Instagram is fucking up my scroll by inserting posts as "suggestions" for accounts I "might like to follow" in between the ones I already do. Sometimes this causes me to miss a post by someone I DO want to see. AND, every 2 or 3 days, before I get to my bookmarked app, I'm asked if I want to "continue as The Crone1948" like I've got an alternate identity. Of course, I do—my full legal name, which I only use on Facebook on an account restricted to "Friends Only". Ah, doesn't Meta own both? Are they mixing their databases?

AND TWITTER: O-my-gawd, what a fucking mess! I've carefully curated my feed to avoid Elon Musk. But 3 days ago, there he was being stupid at the top of my feed first thing in the morning! The next day I learned he had his techs change the algorithm to force him on everyone whether they like it or not. I dare not block him because I'd probably get on a list of targets for his bro-bots to harass. I can only scroll past as fast as I can to get away from him.

What is wrong w/ all these tech titans fucking up perfectly usable apps by adding "improvements"?

Surprising exception: Tumblr is getting better! <imho> Their Staff reports are hilariously snarky.

[my-music-1460]

Pump Up Your Workout with Spotify’s Workout Playlists

Spotify’s workout playlists are designed to keep you motivated and energized during your exercise routines. Whether you’re hitting the gym, going for a run, or practicing yoga, there’s a different types of playlist on Spotify to match your workout intensity and style. With carefully curated tracks, these playlists ensure you stay focused and pumped throughout your workout. Let's dive into how Spotify's workout playlists can transform your exercise experience.

What are Workout Playlists?

Workout playlists on Spotify are collections of songs specifically chosen to enhance physical activities. They are tailored to provide the right tempo, rhythm, and energy to keep you moving and motivated. These playlists are updated regularly to include the latest hits and timeless classics, ensuring a fresh and exciting listening experience every time you work out.

Popular Examples of Workout Playlists

Spotify offers a variety of workout playlists to suit different exercise preferences. Some of the most popular ones include:

Beast Mode: High-energy tracks designed for intense workouts and weightlifting sessions.

Workout Twerkout: Fun and upbeat songs that make cardio workouts more enjoyable.

Cardio: Fast-paced tracks perfect for running, cycling, or any high-intensity cardio routine.

Yoga & Meditation: Soothing and calming tracks for yoga, meditation, and stretching exercises.

Pop Workout: Popular pop songs that keep you motivated and entertained during your workout.

How are Workout Playlists Curated?

Spotify’s workout playlists are curated using a combination of algorithmic recommendations and human expertise. The algorithms analyze various factors such as tempo, beats per minute (BPM), and user feedback to select tracks that match the desired energy level. Additionally, Spotify’s team of music experts reviews and updates the playlists to ensure they include the latest hits and trending tracks that resonate with listeners.

Benefits of Spotify's Workout Playlists

Using Spotify’s workout playlists offers numerous benefits:

Enhanced Motivation: Music is a powerful motivator. The right playlist can help you push through challenging workouts and stay motivated to reach your fitness goals.

Improved Performance: Listening to music while exercising can improve your performance by reducing the perception of effort and increasing endurance.

Consistency: Regularly updated playlists keep your workouts fresh and exciting, helping you maintain a consistent exercise routine.

Customization: With a wide range of playlists available, you can easily find one that matches your workout style, whether it's high-intensity interval training (HIIT), weightlifting, or yoga.

User Experiences and Testimonials

Many users have shared their positive experiences with Spotify’s workout playlists. Here are a few testimonials:

Alex: "The 'Beast Mode' playlist is my go-to for weightlifting. The high-energy tracks keep me pumped and focused throughout my workout."

Sarah: "I love the 'Cardio' playlist for my morning runs. The fast-paced songs keep me energized and help me maintain a steady pace."

Emily: "The 'Yoga & Meditation' playlist is perfect for my yoga sessions. The calming music helps me relax and stay present in the moment."

Tips for Making the Most of Workout Playlists

To get the most out of Spotify’s workout playlists, consider the following tips:

Match the Playlist to Your Workout: Choose a playlist that aligns with the intensity and type of your exercise routine.

Create Your Own Playlists: Combine your favorite tracks from different workout playlists to create a custom mix that suits your preferences.

Update Your Playlists Regularly: Keep your playlists fresh by adding new songs and removing tracks that no longer motivate you.

Use Spotify’s Features: Utilize features like the 'Discover Weekly' and 'Release Radar' to find new tracks and add them to your workout playlists.

Conclusion: Spotify’s workout playlists are an essential tool for anyone looking to enhance their exercise routine with the power of music. By providing a mix of high-energy tracks, these playlists keep you motivated, improve your performance, and make your workouts more enjoyable. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or a casual exerciser, there's a Spotify workout playlist that's perfect for you. So, next time you gear up for a workout, let Spotify's workout playlists be your ultimate fitness companion.

[rebeccausa]

If You Knew This Fact, You Will Never Search For How To Turn Off Glance In Motorola G13

Attention all Motorola G13 users! Are you constantly searching for how to turn off Glance on your device? Do you find yourself typing "how to turn off Glance in Motorola G13" into your search engine, hoping to find a solution to disable this feature? Well, what if I told you that there's a crucial fact that might change your perspective on Glance for Motorola entirely? A fact so compelling that once you know it, you'll never want to turn off Glance again!

In this blog post, we'll dive deep into the world of Glance for Motorola, exploring the incredible benefits and features that make this lock screen experience a game-changer for Motorola G13 users. By the end of this article, you'll understand why searching for how to turn off Glance in Motorola G13 might be a mistake, and how embracing this innovative feature can enhance your smartphone experience in ways you never thought possible.

Understanding Glance for Motorola

Before we delve into the reasons why you should keep Glance on your Motorola G13, let's take a moment to understand what Glance for Motorola is and how it works.

Glance is a revolutionary lock screen platform that transforms your device's lock screen into a dynamic, personalized content hub. It brings you a curated feed of news, entertainment, sports updates, and more, all tailored to your interests and delivered right to your lock screen. With Glance for Motorola, you no longer have to unlock your phone and navigate through multiple apps to stay informed and entertained – everything you need is just a glance away.

The Fact That Will Change Your Mind

Now, here's the fact that will make you think twice about searching for how to turn off Glance in Motorola G13: Glance is not just another app or bloatware that clutters your device. It's a carefully crafted, intelligent feature designed to enhance your smartphone experience and save you valuable time and effort.

When you disable Glance on your Motorola G13, you're not just turning off a feature – you're missing out on a world of personalized content, convenience, and discovery. You're denying yourself the opportunity to stay informed, entertained, and connected in a way that seamlessly integrates with your daily life.

The Power of Personalization

One of the key reasons why you should embrace Glance for Motorola instead of searching for how to turn off Glance is the power of personalization. Glance isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. It learns from your interactions and preferences, curating a content feed that is unique to you.

As you engage with the content on your lock screen, Glance for Motorola uses advanced algorithms and machine learning to understand your interests better. It analyzes the articles you read, the videos you watch, and the topics you interact with, constantly refining its recommendations to serve you more of what you love.

This means that every time you glance at your lock screen, you'll be greeted with a fresh selection of content that aligns with your passions and curiosities. Whether you're a sports enthusiast, a politics junkie, or a tech geek, Glance for Motorola has got you covered.

Saving Time and Effort

Another compelling reason to keep Glance on your Motorola G13 is the incredible amount of time and effort it saves you. Think about how many times you unlock your phone throughout the day, navigating through various apps and websites to stay updated on the topics that matter to you. It's a time-consuming process that can quickly add up, taking away from the moments you could be spending on more important things.

With Glance for Motorola, you can access a wealth of information and entertainment without ever leaving your lock screen. A quick glance is all it takes to stay informed on breaking news, catch up on the latest sports scores, or discover new and trending content.

Imagine being able to check the weather forecast, read a quick news summary, or watch a viral video, all without having to unlock your phone and search through multiple apps. That's the convenience and efficiency that Glance for Motorola brings to your fingertips.

A World of Discovery

In addition to saving you time and effort, Glance for Motorola also opens up a world of discovery right on your lock screen. The platform partners with a wide range of content providers, bringing you a diverse array of articles, videos, and interactive experiences from trusted sources.

Through Glance, you might stumble upon a fascinating article about a topic you never knew you were interested in, or discover a new favorite content creator that inspires and entertains you. The serendipitous nature of Glance's content feed means that every glance holds the potential for surprise and delight.

By keeping Glance on your Motorola G13, you're not just staying informed – you're exposing yourself to new ideas, perspectives, and possibilities. You're embracing a more dynamic and enriching smartphone experience that goes beyond the confines of your usual apps and sources.

Customization and Control

Now, you might be thinking, "But what if I don't want to see certain types of content on my lock screen?" Fear not, because Glance for Motorola gives you complete control over your content preferences.

In the Glance settings, you can easily customize your content categories, choosing the topics and sources that interest you most. Don't care for sports updates? Simply remove them from your feed. Want to see more content related to your favorite hobbies? Add those categories and watch your lock screen transform.

Glance for Motorola also respects your privacy and gives you control over your data. You can adjust your privacy settings, deciding what information Glance can access and how it can be used to personalize your experience. With Glance, you're always in the driver's seat.

How to Enable Glance on Your Motorola G13

Now that you understand the incredible benefits of keeping Glance on your Motorola G13, let's quickly recap how to enable this feature:

Go to your phone's Settings menu

Scroll down and tap on "Display"

Look for the "Glance" or "Glance for Moto" option

If the toggle switch next to it is off, tap on it to turn it on

Follow any additional prompts to set up and customize your Glance experience

And that's it! With just a few simple steps, you'll have unlocked a world of personalized content, convenience, and discovery right on your Motorola G13's lock screen.

The Future of Glance for Motorola

As Glance continues to evolve and innovate, the possibilities for your lock screen experience are endless. In the future, we can expect to see even more advanced personalization, integrations with other apps and services, and interactive features that blur the lines between your lock screen and your favorite content.

By embracing Glance for Motorola now, you're not just enhancing your current smartphone experience – you're also positioning yourself at the forefront of the lock screen revolution. You're joining a community of users who recognize the value of a smarter, more intuitive, and more engaging lock screen.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you're a Motorola G13 user who has been searching for how to turn off Glance, we hope this blog post has given you a new perspective on the incredible value of this feature. By understanding the power of personalization, the time-saving benefits, and the potential for discovery that Glance brings, you'll see why disabling it might be a mistake.

Instead of searching for how to turn off Glance in Motorola G13, we encourage you to embrace this game-changing feature and explore all that it has to offer. Customize your content categories, discover new sources of inspiration, and let Glance for Motorola transform your lock screen into a dynamic, personalized hub of information and entertainment.

Trust us – once you experience the magic of Glance on your Motorola G13, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. So, go ahead and enable Glance, and get ready to unlock a whole new world of possibilities, right from your lock screen.

Happy Glancing, Motorola G13 users!

[reneecooper461]

ANALYZE COMMUNICATIONS

Dyson Airstrait

Yesterday I was scrolling through my TikTok app when I watched a video from a content creator about Dyson’s newest product called Airstrait. The content creator introducing the Airstrait explained what it is, what it does, why it’s beneficial, and why we have to have it. The creator started out by saying, “this is not a flat iron” which initially grabbed my attention because it looked exactly like a flat iron and that’s how he was able to hook my attention.

TikTok’s algorithm is able to curate content to my specific preferences and uses a combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze user data, such as likes, comments, and watch time to send videos TikTok users will love and be able to engage with. Dyson's marketing team sent the Airstrait to different content producers on TikTok as a way to leverage the platform's powerful influencer marketing capabilities.

Influencer marketing has become a very popular and successful advertising strategy, especially on social media platforms like TikTok, where users often look to content creators for product recommendations and reviews. By sending free products to content producers, Dyson's advertising team can potentially reach a wider audience and generate more buzz and excitement around their products and this was the case with the Airstrait.

Content creators may feature the products in their videos, share their thoughts and experiences with their followers, and even provide demonstrations of the products in action. This user-generated content can be highly engaging and authentic, as it comes from real people with real experiences, and can be more effective at driving conversions and sales than traditional advertising methods. This was an effective way to advertise to someone like me, who has an interest in Dyson’s hair products, loves watching TikTok’s and loves to shop online.

 While influencer marketing can be effective, it's important for Dyson's advertising team to carefully choose the content creators they work with to ensure that their brand values and messaging align with those of the influencers. If the content creators are not a good fit for the brand, the advertising may not be as effective, and could even harm the brand's reputation.

This form of communication and advertising isn’t suited for everyone and there is a large audience of people who would be interested in purchasing this product but doesn’t have a TikTok account or social media presence in general. Older or more traditional consumers may not be as active on the platform or may not find the content engaging or relevant to their interests and would prefer to research and purchase products through more traditional ways.

Sources:

Contributor, B. (2023, April 20). Brandstorytelling Brandvoice: How episodic series spotlight brands making A difference. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandstorytelling/2023/04/20/how-episodic-series-spotlight-brands-making-a-difference/?sh=5eb68dbb7673

Dyson AirstraitTM straightener: Nickel/Copper. Dyson AirstraitTM straightener | Nickel/Copper. (n.d.). https://www.dyson.com/hair-care/hair-straighteners/airstrait/bright-nickel-and-rich-copper#features

Staff, E. (2022, January 25). Campaign teardown: How the Dyson Airwrap became a viral holiday gift . NeoReach. https://neoreach.com/dyson-airwrap/

[persephoneslounge]

If You Love Art, Astrology, or Just Need a New Platform, Check this Out

If there's one thing I learned during my Saturn Return, it's I'll never fit in, and that's absolutely okay, because neither do a lot of people. A lot of voices aren't counted in the world of social media and even beyond it, and what does Nina Simone say? "You've got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served." But to put her idea further, you have to build your own table, and make sure that the people sitting there genuinely are meant to be there. And that's what I'm doing with my brand new social media space. I'm building a table especially for those who don't have a seat at the others. And I'm not doing this to be rebellious or make a statement, I'm really doing this to prove that social media can be done properly, with feeling. What started as an idea for a space for artists and astrology lovers, became more.

One thing that’s always stood out to me when it comes to social media is its aesthetic. Haven’t you noticed? Everything is blue, and grey. This concept of neutrality was designed to attract as many people as possible, which is great at first, until you consider what it really means: it erases diversity. There’s this idea that we mustn’t address our differences to avoid rocking the boat, because that’s dangerous. It disrupts the harmony of posting, sharing and liking, and pushes us to think critically on the content we consume and create.

Well I’ve never been the neutral type. I’ve ended friendships and even connections to family members over a silent agreement to being neutral. Yes, to some extent, we need to give people grace, but in situations where there’s an elephant in the room and people try to decorate that elephant with shiny objects, this creates a culture of conflict avoidance, which then leads to either of two things: passive-aggressiveness or censorship.

For example, on social media, you might notice people typ|ng c@pt|ons l|ke th|s. This is one way to avoid being flagged or banned with certain words, and the irony is often these words aren't actually offensive, it's what they represent. Usually people have to do this when making posts about subjects like abuse, trauma, or social issues. You know, anything that reminds the algorithm that we don’t have a perfect world where everyone is a flawless and tanned influencer. And no hate to people who work as influencers, it's just that I like my feed filled with people I actually follow already.

Social media as an introvert and artist used to be my happy place, because it’s the easiest way to connect and express myself. Till it wasn’t, and I had to carefully curate each post based on what would be the most tolerable, most "like"-able and least likely to get muted. It’s easy to say we shouldn’t take the internet seriously, but whether we want this or not, it’s a huge part of our lives, so we have no choice to make it better.

One thing that’s been lacking on social media is how we go about people who don’t fit into a specific box. I get it, it’s hard to market or share if you’re someone who’s passionate about a million and one things, but it’s even harder to put your work out there if you’re an artist since obviously, most artists enjoy more than one skill. It’s also hard sometimes for those who love spiritual topics like astrology because to an extent, there’s still a certain taboo. You could imagine how much harder this gets on platforms that thrive on stereotypes and niches. As someone who’s both an artist and an astrologer, of course I thought of you, but let’s not gatekeep either. We know what that feels like.

This is where that new platform comes in. It’s called Persephone’s Forum, and while initially it was going to be just a forum added onto my main website, I decided to take it a step further, by making it into its own social media website. You can add friends, chat, and post as expected, but... values are key here. You can even get verified, as long as you show that your account name is what you typically use online. More importantly, you don’t have to walk on eggshells anytime you post. As long as you aren’t making remarks that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or show any type of discrimination, and you don’t bully people, you’ll be welcome. Sounds like the obvious, right?

Actually that’s another thing I felt was lacking in mainstream social media, the inability or even refusal, to draw a difference between self-expression and talking down to others. It just shows the privileged position of the people who run these spaces, when they’ll ignore blatant discrimination, but will gladly ban someone just for saying something about Black Lives Matter or women’s issues, or even for mild swearing. And I get it, sometimes kids are online, but there’s only so much pleasing everyone. At some point, we need every adult to take accountability. If it’s more important to make extra profit with certain business partners than to do the right thing, is your business actually that social? If companies like Ben and Jerry’s can go about raising awareness on social causes and still make money, then the issue isn’t reputation, it’s about priorities, and those like Zuckerberg seem to be picking the wrong ones.

Going back to the point of encouraging neutrality, I think it’s just another way of saying who has a voice and who doesn’t. Because who decides what that looks like? Beyond the obvious like religion, sex, and politics, are we supposed to avoid every topic that brings up some emotion? There’s something very patriarchal in telling us that we have to swallow our emotions and just buy whatever products come up in suggested pages or late night scrolls, or to do another little dance vid. The idea that emotional posts and videos aren’t likely to get pushed for views, says a lot about where we stand as a people.

Never in my life did I even imagine creating my own platform, but in hindsight, it was bound to happen. I’ve been on almost every version of social media since 2006, and in university, my friends were a group of guys from the engineering department, so most of our conversations revolved around computers and software. Despite all this, I was studying in film but didn’t fit into that department any more than the engineering department. And if there’s one person in tech I admire for being a misfit too, it’s Steve Jobs, despite having no interest in Apple products.

Persephone’s Forum is born in a time when a lot of world events are happening, and people need a safe space. It’s here at a time where creators have to avoid posting certain pictures to prevent being shadowbanned for nudity, when there’s no actual nudity there. It’s born at a time where Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook/Meta, announced that he would start charging for the blue checkmark, which let’s be real, was initially a symbol of privilege anyway since only famous people seem to get it. It also comes at a time where Elon Musk bought Twitter, only to destroy it slowly from the inside. It also comes at a time where more than ever people are looking for ways to just be heard.

At one point, social media was the place where you could reconnect with an old friend or even just learn HOW to connect. In 2023, it’s become a place where the rich flaunt their Gucci purses and latest vacations in front of millions of followers who most likely are struggling to feed their families. It’s become a place where class is what gets you up there, unless you’re lucky, or patient enough to post incessantly every day. Not to mention scrolling feels like you’re mindlessly absorbing content, when the whole point is to be social. Now it’s just... media. I’d like to change that in some way.

Just over ten years ago, owning a social media platform was revolutionary, but these days, it’s a part of our everyday lives, which means it’s no longer enough to wow people with new emojis or life-like filters, or talks of virtual reality. These days, you have to have values and integrity. You have to show others that their voices are heard, and one thing I learned is that to the people who’ve run the show till now, we aren’t heard. That’s why I did something.

In all honesty, how can you expect diversity from mainstream platforms anyway, when they’re predominantly founded and owned by white men? Aside from Zhang Yiming, the founder of Tiktok, and Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Meta, and of course if you want to count Whitney Wolfe Heard, the founder of dating app Bumble, there’s not much more representation. Black-owned apps TrueSo and MelaninPeople are gaining traction, but have yet to really be put in the spotlight.

Even when it comes to the aesthetic for Persephone’s Forum, there’s no blue or grey. It’s classic and elegant, but also practical, just like the Greek Goddess. It reflects what’s possible when a person takes something into their own hands. And like Persephone leaving the Underworld, it reflects a bit of hope.

The idea for Persephone’s Forum started out as really being intended for people who are artists, or who just love the arts, for people who are astrologers or who just love astrology, but I don’t like fences, I like bridges. Think of it as more of a space where you can be... yourself, whatever that means. Without any algorithm. Without any influencers (sorry not sorry). And especially without darn crummy eggshells. Also, hopefully without bots either, because those can be a pain in the #ss, and the work will be put in to keep it that way longterm.

And if I’m being honest, I don’t expect Persephone’s Forum to change the whole world. If ever it does change something, that would be amazing, but my priority is to simply keep it true to who I am, and to who a lot of other people are. It isn’t reinventing the wheel, it’s just showing off the parts that truly matter. And what we’ve been seeing lately, ain’t it. Maybe for some, but for the rest of us, we’ll be over here. Where we can be who we are, not who they want us to be.

Register for Persephone’s Forum at persephonesforum.com. The Queen of the Underworld welcomes you.

To check out my books, social media and more, visit persephoneandco.org.

https://www.tumblr.com/media/3f98dfc1c8338445c5379e82d0e791d5

[jooyeone]

i don't know who needs to hear this but if you love a song then you are very much allowed to listen to it on loop