A chance to spectate on strangers’ intimate lives beats seeking release from the doom and anxiety caused by impending fascism
There is nothing on the internet I love more than a good advice column. I’m an hour late to writing this piece because, in thinking about writing a column about advice columns, I got distracted and clicked through to read a few of my regulars. (Today alone: Heather Havrilesky’s Dear Polly, Daniel Mallory Ortberg’s Dear Prudence, Carvell Wallace and Nicole Cliffe’s Care and Feeding; on a regular basis, Cheryl Strayed’s The Sweet Spot, Alison Green’s Ask a Manager, Lori Gottlieb’s Ask a Therapist, Kwame Anthony Appiah’s The Ethicist, Philip Galanes’s Social Q’s, and my Chani Nichols horoscope for good measure. Sometimes I’ll throw in an Ask Amy or Carolyn Hax for variety). And judging by the proliferation of advice online, I’m far from the only person who finds it soothing to read about other peoples’ problems, and to see what an editor-appointed expert has to say.
Advice columns have been popular for years, and in the modern era have become largely aspirational, researcher Elyse Vigiletti told advice columnist Alison Green. “Mass culture’s internet literacy is at an all-time high, now that the internet has been around a while,” she said. “We as a mass audience are well trained to crowdsource our problems among strangers, to strive to put our best selves out into the world. Dashing off a letter to an advice columnist is as easy as dashing off a tweet or email to our boss, and sharing their responses is as easy and cathartic as sharing an inspirational quote on a stock photo sunset background.”
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