Monday, December 23
Happy holidays to you and your family from me and the team here at BuzzFeed News.
Thank you for reading along, sharing feedback, and replying as we've chronicled an intense year for the tech giants.
2020 promises to be even more heated as regulators and politicians push ahead with their plans to rein in these companies, and we'll be covering the action. Please continue to reply to these emails with your thoughts, ideas, and story suggestions. The back and forth makes writing this newsletter tremendous fun.
In case you haven't settled on a book to hunker down with over the holidays, here are a few I found enriching over the past year:
Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas
The political debate in the US is focused on billionaires, and Winners Take All outlines how they've worked to keep the current system in place by engaging in charitable endeavors, attempting to convince us their extreme wealth is a net positive to society. Giridharadas makes a powerful case that the public sector — not billionaires — should take on our most pressing problems.
Indistractable by Nir Eyal
In you read our team's post about the things we tried and liked in 2019, you may recall that I mentioned Forest, an app and browser extension that blocks apps and websites of your choosing for 25 minute intervals. Trying to focus and fend off distraction is a major struggle, and Nir Eyal — the best-selling author of Hooked — has written a helpful guide to unhook yourself from the many forces clawing for your attention today.
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work, realized telling people the value of focusing on their projects wasn't enough. That knowledge could only go so far without a set of practices that would help people lock in. As our dependence on digital devices increases, this type of knowledge will only become more important. The more we think about the problem and its solutions, the better off we'll be.
Am I Overthinking This? by Michelle Rial
A delightful collection of social commentary in chart form by my former colleague Michelle Rial. You can tell her work is resonating, because half the internet seems to be shamelessly copying it and putting it on coffee mugs, pillows, and their LinkedIn pages.
That's all from me for this year. Hope you have a terrific holidays and a pleasant new year. I'll see you again in 2020!
Best,
Alex
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