Not Really A Fan 

of newsletters (here's why I read 12)

Newsletters are supposed to save me time. Instead, they've become a second inbox I resent slightly less than the first one.

I subscribe with good intentions. Someone writes something sharp, and I think: "I want more of this." I enter my email address like I'm making a commitment to personal growth. Then it arrives. Every Tuesday. Or Thursday. Or whenever the algorithm of someone else's productivity decides I need their thoughts.

The problem isn't quality. Most of what I read is good. Some of it is great. The problem is obligation disguised as generosity. Free content that costs attention. Unsubscribing feels like admitting defeat, so they pile up. Little tokens of aspiration I'll get to later, except later never comes because three more arrived while I was thinking about it.

I read 12 newsletters regularly, which means I've failed to unsubscribe from 12 newsletters I don't love enough to prioritize but love too much to delete.

Here's what keeps me subscribed:

The ones that feel like letters. Not essays. Not threads repurposed. Actual correspondence from someone who remembers I exist on the other end. Rare, but worth it.

The ones that curate better than I can. I don't have time to read everything about AI policy or media criticism or whatever niche fascination I'm temporarily obsessed with. Someone else does, and they send me the four things that matter. This is valuable until it isn't—until I realize I'm outsourcing my curiosity.

The ones that arrive infrequently enough that I'm surprised. Monthly newsletters work because they're events, not obligations. Weekly newsletters are chores pretending to be insights.

The ones I don't read but like knowing exist. This is the most honest category. I'm not reading them. I'm not going to read them. But unsubscribing feels like closing a door to a version of myself who would.

Newsletters promised to replace the noise of social media with signal. Instead, they became a different flavor of noise—optimized, artisanal, and harder to ignore because someone I respect is behind it.

I keep reading them because the alternative is worse. Doomscrolling offers nothing. Algorithms serve me engagement, not insight. Newsletters at least pretend to respect my time, even when they don't.

So I'll stay subscribed. I'll mark some as read without reading them. I'll feel vaguely guilty about the ones I've ignored for six weeks. And occasionally—maybe once a month—I'll read something that justifies all of it.

I'm just Not Really A Fan.