#8: This Summer Will Not Be Optimized
We are burnt out beyond the point of nootropic repair
Hi, hello, and welcome back. Scroll Sick is a newsletter I send out every two weeks with cherry-picked (human) suggestions about where to devote your attention. Thanks for reading!
At any given time I tend to have one topic that I obsess over and track via trend signals and currently that is Summer 2026. In recent years we’ve had “hot girl summer”, “brat summer”, “tomato girl summer”, and then something with butter yellow or lemoncello vibes that I felt Rhode jumped on well. But I think we’re all with it enough to recognize that the conditions this year aren’t ushering us toward a definitive colour or fruit or fizzy cocktail. There’s been too much societal disruption, mass layoffs, political collapse, exponential AI growth, and war to declare a mélange of hard liquor and juice as our emblem of the season.
I have a wee theory, and maybe I’m out to lunch, that the analog trend every forecast mentioned late last year wasn’t off the mark so much as early, and it took us absolutely botching it in the first half of this year to make way for what might be a genuine cultural movement this summer. The thing about forecasting that people don’t always understand (because it can be next to impossible to quantify), is that forecasts aren’t standalone predictions that exist in vacuums — they’re hypothetical versions of the future, of which there are many. And these hypothetical versions of the future can then influence the future, especially if they’re published in widely circulated reports or social media videos that get propelled by algorithmic waves that amass millions of views and then catch the eye of journalists and get featured in legacy media outlets.
I don’t think we’re gearing up for an “analog summer” per se, but I do sense we might be moving towards something analog-adjacent, that denounces productivity hacks, 9-9-6 culture, and mind/body optimization. Sacrificing all your time to be heads down in the present only works when the promise of tomorrow is more prosperous, and from where we stand right now, the future looks increasingly bleak.
I wouldn’t have guessed that Steven Bartlett’s complete inability to weather a light hangover would become the pivotal moment in rallying an anti-optimization-maxxing movement—but it fits. We are working harder than ever, for fewer opportunities, as our mouse strokes are tracked and our sleep scores plummet and you’re telling us that we can’t get tipsy on a patio? REVOLT! RESIST! RISE UP!
So what kind of summer do I think we’re in for this year? A hedonistic one. A take your PTO shame-free one. A cast aside your Oura ring and rid yourself of personal KPIs one. We have honed and curtailed and pruned ourselves into joyless oblivion, and it’s a relief that smart, outspoken people are finally begging us to reconsider the spiritual value of such. As Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick astutely declared, “we’re entering a great unoptimizing”, which, thank God.
Last week when I conducted a highly unscientific poll across Threads and IG about what would define Summer 2026, the themes and predictions that came up multiple times were: no bras, full bush, cigarettes, analog, staycations, recession-core, de-optimization, and offline.
So on now, enjoy yourself! I’m cheering you on! And don’t you dare report back on the ROI.
Now let’s take a look at everything I read and saved for you:
The Old World Is Dying, Jasmine Sun
Reading about work and careers is becoming a theme for me lately, and this essay breaks through so much noise. It’s a meditation on navigating meaningful work in the age of AI, which of course is a source of anxiety and question marks for so many of us, and I appreciate the way that Sun neither sugar coats nor fear mongers. To me, it reads like a letter to a friend, with tenderness and frank honesty.
Sure, it’s easy to point to a wildly popular Substack essay and say, “here, read this it’s great” but let us not conflate internet popularity with a lack of substance! If anything, the fact that longform, thoughtful essays like this can still “go viral” on Substack, is testament to a functioning algorithm.
Among her most resonant tips are: build relationships, become more visible, get obsessed with one platform to share your work, and participate in the world around you.
My favourite quote deals with the empty allure of prestige as she notes:
“Prestige is a brain worm, and its shape changes all the time. Keep your identity small, and don’t fear starting over. The people who will win are those who can remake themselves again and again: to summit one peak, descend it, and then hike up the next.”
Working Theories with Cris Címbora, in Post-Culture by Sibling Studio
I always enjoy the “Working Theories” interview series Lucinda Bounsall conducts with creative minds from creative fields, and this recent one with Cris Címbora of MANGO and the internet pearl🦪 was a treat.
I nodded along through Címbora’s suggestion that strategic foresight is a crucial piece of meaning-making, especially as we’re drowning in so much internet analysis. In her own words:
“Put in perspective, trend research without a futures dimension is just a very well-organized rearview mirror. We need to stay nosy about what’s going on, but also ask better questions. Bringing a future-oriented lens to research opens up not only what is emerging, but what it makes possible, what it displaces, where these tensions might lead, how they will affect us, and whether we can read them differently.”
The Wind That Lays Waste, Selva Almada
I picked up this slim novel in Lisbon, which is from an interesting Scottish publishing house called Charco Press, that “focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world.”
The story by Selva Almada (who was shortlisted for the Booker in 2024) follows a single day in the lives of four characters — a preacher, his daughter, a mechanic, and his son — as a storm approaches and they take cover in the mechanic’s shop. Almada has been compared to Carson McCullers, one of my favourite authors who I read voraciously in my 20s. Ultimately, it was nice to pick up and devour something that felt entirely external to the booktok realm.
The Income/Status Matrix, Hannah Zhang
Hannah Zhang is one of my favourite creators right now, and when she talks about navigating career decisions it’s clear that she’s exercising layers of pragmatism, discernment, and careful self-reflection.
This particular video is about the income/status matrix, and the interesting opportunities that are defined by low status but high earning potential. As someone who’s spent the past 15 years working in social media I know all about low status roles, and I’ll be honest that I rarely even considered high-status a possibility (or goal).
POV: You try to rob a mom
This is the funniest video I saw on social this week, and the execution is so good. Oh, so you want to threaten a parent? Think again, bucko.
A Real Life Magic Wand
Cash App launched an NFC-equipped magic wand so that people can make purchases just by tapping with their jewel-encrusted star. It lives on your key chain. It looks cute. It’s whimsical and probably makes you feel like spending more money. As far as creative marketing that also gets talked about on social, this one takes the cake for me.
A String Of Beautiful Days Calendar
I saw this beautiful calendar in an Instagram video (that I don’t think was sponsored but who can be sure these days), that is sewn with one continuous thread. Each day you pull the thread to gently unravel another day, and as a lady who loves to knit and sew this spoke to me. If I had one iota of personal bandwidth, I would probably attempt to DIY it.
“I’m really lazy”
Prolific author and relatable queen Ali Smith talks about being lazy, but also the value of “staring off into space” before real work can get done. I know this one made the rounds on social recently, but it’s for good reason. It’s nice to be reminded that procrastination isn’t some terrible character flaw, but a ubiquitous part of the human experience.
And finally, from Gabe:
Thanks for reading this week, and if you’re feeling brave, I’d love to know what kind of summer you’re gearing up for. See you in a fortnight!
Oh, I just love the cover pic for this one (and ofc the article)! It really captures motherhood and summer for me.
I feel absolutely on board the unoptimised train!