some tetris effect nonsense is happening where i keep trying to parse every person around me as if they were a vibecamper
Conversation
spent a *lot* of time trying to figure out who was sitting in that group of vibecampers 100 feet away
1
28
it is kinda nice to defaulting to assuming that literally every human being within eyesight is someone i could walk up to, introduce myself to, and make friends with
7
6
73
heyo
Quote Tweet
I noticed this had had a big effect on me the day I emerged from the building: I saw a stranger and I didn't pre-reflexively parse them as "potential enemy" but, rather, as "potential friend". This was new, baffling, disorienting, but so good.
Show this thread
1
12
wow this is a whole thing huh
Quote Tweet
Strange after-effect of @tpotvibecamp is my default assumption of people’s well-intentioned-ness going up by some amount: more smiling at or saying hi to strangers, more sharing on personal matters unprompted, etc
1
3
Part of me wonders if this isn’t entirely a good thing, like sometimes it’s helpful to default to defensive/skeptical mode, there are bad actors out there
1
3
Replying to
the thing is that defensiveness / skepticism so easily becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; people can tell when you distrust them and it makes them distrust you too and then etc etc. someone has to lay the guns down first
Replying to
Oh 100% true. But it strikes me that the urge to think highly of people around you *has* to be coupled with strong emotional resilience (and/or a clear feedback loop), else you run the risk of descending into a rut of resentment/loneliness
1
1
Basically I think earnestness by itself isn’t helpful, it has to be paired with savvy
2