I knew I was facing problems in my marriage when my wife and I resorted to hanging out on different devices at night. It wasn’t the screens per se that led to the fault lines – it was the content that was being displayed. To be more specific, the color schemes. I am a devoted dark mode user; the sort of person who has every app, browser, and operating system set to that sleek, battery-saving…

Three years ago, I lost my college roommate, Robert. Facebook reminded me to wish him a happy birthday last Tuesday. Alongside his profile picture, a hiking photo where he grinned at the age of eternally 32, my notifications showed a birthday wish notification. The moment was disorienting because, for the briefest amount of time, I forgot that he was dead. Then reality crashed over me—bringing with it a strange blend of grief and discomfort with…

Last Thursday, my phone buzzed at 2:17 AM with that familliar notification: “You’ve lost a follower.” I wish I could say that I went back to sleep without a care in the world, but that would not be true. I thought I was a strong enough person to not let a follower’s loss matter, but in reality, I did not have the grit. I checked the time stamp of my last comparison screenshot, and it…

There’s a moment of pure horror that exists somewhere between the time that you click ‘Reply All’ and the moment you start realizing that you have actually clicked ‘Reply All’. In 2011, I experienced this very, very clearly when on a Tuesday morning, I found myself unable to do anything while my very snarky commentary about the client’s impossible to meet demands being sent not only to my intended recipient – my project manager -…

The moment I found myself staring at a woman who looked nothing like her profile photos—and she was probably thinking the same about me—was when I genuinely grasped the reality of dating in the age of algorithms. Both of us appeared different in very different ways. She was quite literally a different person because the photos used for the date were taken seven years and one dramatic haircut ago. Those of me hid from the…

Last Tuesday was when my wife discovered my secret. She had taken my laptop to access her emails while hers updated. Then, I heard a gasp coming from the living room. “Marcus, what is THIS?” I wasn’t shocked about her finding something. Not an illicit correspondence or questionable search history—something that would be way more revealing about my psyche. In this case, it would be my browser situation. More specifically, the 147 tabs split over…

My morning ritual has shifted into something my younger self wouldn’t recognize. At the start of the day, I slowly shuffle to my bathroom, brush my teeth, and then consider my day’s most important decision: Which parts of me will be visible to the world outside? It’s a style I’ve coined the Zoom Mullet—business up top, where the camera catches most of my torso, and beneath is where I can let comfort take over. It’s…

I have a little secret to share. This past weekend, I spent the better part of two days watching a whole season of a reality show where attractive people go to an island and make very poor relationship choices. That’s right – I watched seventeen episodes. One after the other. When I finally snapped out of this stupor, I literally could not account for the time spent or understand why my room felt so bright…

The search began with a dinner observation that my wife and I shouldn’t have paid any special attention to. An expensive restaurant at which we were celebrating our anniversary was inhabited by another couple that looked like they were about our age and had in front of them sumptuous meals that seemed more like pictures on Instagram than actual food. Captivating wines and deliciously smelling meals were served, but the couple only spoke to one…

I was attending my daughter’s ballet recital and the breaking point had reached. While being her ‘first fan’ sitting in the third row, my brain went on autopilot to work emails and twitter, even the score of a random basketball game I didn’t bother caring about. It gets worse. My daughter had a solo to perform, something she had practiced for rigorously and come the moment, I had my phone on record and was checking…