> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.drewshannon.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# This Week - Aug 25, 2017
- URL: https://www.drewshannon.net/this-week-2017-08-25/
- Published: 2017-08-25T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T03:09:32.000Z
- Author: Drew Shannon
- Tags: link, ask polly, david streitfeld, gary shteyngart, heather havrilesky, inc, minda zetlin, om malik, the cut, the new york times, the new york times magazine, the new yorker, this week, willy staley, #import-blog-backlog-2026-09-13

> Intellectually, you have trouble making decisions, and you struggle with circular thinking. You torture yourself with the “rightness” of your choices a lot, probably not just in this realm. And once you decide something, you feel like you have to stick by that decision or you’re weak and bad. You’re also very ethical. You take a lot of responsibility for other people. That’s not the profile of a lifelong commitment-phobe; that’s the profile of someone who’s always in danger of settling too quickly instead of watching and waiting to see how she feels and what she’s dealing with.  
>  
> — [Ask Polly: Was I Wrong to Dump My Boyfriend? (Heather Havrilesky for The Cut)](https://www.thecut.com/2017/06/ask-polly-was-i-wrong-to-dump-my-boyfriend.html?ref=drewshannon.net)

> 'Medium feels like the perfect Obama-era platform: minimal, distinguished, self-important, elevated,’ Mr. Watson says. ‘But as soon as the campaigns really ramped up their efforts in the primaries, we were living in a post-Obama world, metaphorically, and then literally. And that post-Obama world holds no room for minimalist, distinguished, self-important, elevated thoughtfulness.’  
>  
> — [‘The Internet Is Broken’: @ev Is Trying to Salvage It (David Streitfeld for The New York Times)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/technology/evan-williams-medium-twitter-internet.html?%5Fr=0&ref=drewshannon.net)

> Twitter is short-form, real-time, and text-based. It’s built for instant alerts and rapid consumption. It is an ideal system for delivering sips of information from an abundant stream. But the live-video effort forces you not only to leave the stream but to set aside time to watch. This is an idea that must have come from a financial guy’s head: We need to boost engagement and make money, so let’s live-stream and keep people longer and sell advertisements. The question is, does any Twitter user want this?  
>  
> — [What’s Wrong with Twitter’s Live-Video Strategy (Om Malik for The New Yorker)](http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/whats-wrong-with-twitters-live-video-strategy?ref=drewshannon.net)

> Calling ‘Idiocracy’ a documentary is one of those jokes about Donald Drumpf that was made constantly in the latter months of 2016 and now reeks of a certain strain of ineffectual liberal smugness.  
>  
> — [Mike Judge, the Bard of Suck (Willy Staley for The New York Times Magazine)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/magazine/mike-judge-the-bard-of-suck.html?nytmobile=0&ref=drewshannon.net)

> How many better opportunities have you missed because that project made you too busy to pursue them? Being willing to be inactive or less active means you’ll be available when something truly worthy of your best effort comes along. It also means you’ll have the time and space to go looking for those really worthwhile projects. If you’re busy being busy, you’ll miss them.  
>  
> — [Being Lazy Is the Key to Success, According to the Best-Selling Author of ‘Moneyball’ (Minda Zetlin for Inc.)](https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/why-being-lazy-makes-you-successful-according-to-the-bestselling-author-of-money.html?ref=drewshannon.net)