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W42ST Daily 6/11/2020
I was doomscrolling. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I saw the headline I realized that’s exactly what I was doing. Thankfully, I was confronted by the Wall Street Journal paywall, so my doomscroll stopped there. Nothing to see here, sir. I stepped away from the phone (for a while). Do you do that?
Some time later I was lurking. It’s a mix of researching and not getting involved. I read a piece by Ari Herzog about delurking. He wanted me to comment, but I didn’t. I just lurked. I pick when to get involved. Do you do that?
What I’ve pondered most in the last few weeks is “why”? If we want to get away from doomscrolling and stop lurking, we’re going to have to deal with asking and finding the “why”. Consuming more content isn’t the answer. Nor is commenting when we don’t really know what we’re talking about. If we want to know why society is racist (or anything else for that matter), we can’t blindly blame the NYPD or the Mayor. We’ve got to research and keep asking the questions. Do you ask “why” enough?
My research took me as far as a Today’s Parenting magazine’s feature on “How to deal with the constant ‘Why’ question”.
Judy Arnall, a parenting expert, says the “why stage” of development isn’t about misbehaving – or annoying mom and dad. It’s what happens when children’s brains exercise their imagination and creative thinking. “Asking ‘why?’ shows a significant leap in brain development,” she says. “Children only understand what is familiar in their life and what they can see, touch, and hear. They ask questions to connect the dots.”
Time to connect the dots. We have to go back to our “why stage” of development and do the work. Maybe our brains can “exercise their imagination and creative thinking” to find the why and build back better.
It’s throwback Thursday, and we’re celebrating our first ever W42ST summer issue back in 2015. It was appropriately titled “Hello Summer: It’s Hot in Hell’s Kitchen”. Let’s look back to a time of absolutely no social distancing, and a swimming pool in the Hudson River – right about where The Hustler Club is now! New York is ever evolving — swim with it…
SPONSORED POST
The Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance has relocated its wellness programming to Zoom. Classes are available on evenings Monday – Thursday, and on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and they’re FREE! Donations are being accepted, and distributed to citywide causes. Learn more here.
WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Change of tone at LaDuca Shoes. They have issued an apology. Small step…
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Neighborhood non-profit theaters are among 560 across the country receiving much-needed grants from the Shubert Foundation. Funded…
How has the subway’s “new normal” been for you so far? Mask up…
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