olgakhazan

Omg! I feel the same way about quarantine haha. I do think there are downsides, though. In my book, I talk about the extreme pain of social ostracism. Most of us think of that as a middle-school, and high-school thing, but actually, there was a study done with *adult researchers who knew they were being ostracized.* Even though they were aware the ostracism was gonna be taking place, and it was being done as part of an experiment, it was still incredibly painful to them. They said things like, “I feel like I am a ghost on the floor that everyone hears, but no one can talk to." I think people make jokes about what it's like to not be invited to a wedding, or even a meeting, but the really deeply hurt feelings that can provoke are real.

It's been very strange! I'm trying to find ways to tie the book material into COVID (there are a few connections, surprisingly!) And obviously people can still buy and read the Kindle book instantly on April 7 -- and might have more time to do so. But would I have not chosen to have this come out in the middle of a pandemic, had I known? Absolutely :)

Wow, really interesting question. I guess my instinct is no? So many prominent journalists have emerged from "blogs," and so many websites have been called "blogs" until just recently. I would say it has perhaps made journalism more competitive, because now not only are you trying to beat the WaPo or NYT at whatever you're doing, you're also racing against ScienceBlogger.com or whatever. But in general, I'm of the "let a thousand flowers bloom" school of journalism, where there are generally more stories than people to write them, and everyone who can and wants to should be able to give it a go

I totally think we should mindshare this synergy offline

Ah yes, the abyss my old friend. I can't stop thinking about how these past 10 years have been bookended by apocalypses. I would say starting a journalism career during the Great Recession was the hardest thing I've ever done. I honestly still talk to my therapist about it. Basically, people were looking for ways to tell you that they can't hire you because they can't afford it, but they would instead make it about *you*. "You're not what we're looking for," etc, "you don't have the right experience." It really did a number on my self-esteem! So I guess one lesson learned is just that not everything is about you ... sometimes you're great and the news org is just a flaming money fire with a "this is fine dog" sitting in the middle. So try to keep that in mind I guess. But not gonna sugarcoat it, it sucks. Good luck!