Pop-up ads on Instagram; Gen Z loves blue collar jobs on TikTok.

Finite Scroll #17

Hey buds, this is another late one this week. (I'm not going to keep saying "sorry," but thanks for your patience, and happy Saturday.)

Anyway, here we go. It turns out that just by doing your day job, you can actually impact people, grow an audience, and make more money than your clock-in fees. This trend has been going on in TikTok for a while now, with local business owners and service providers creating fan followings and niche communities around activities like pool cleaning, gift wrapping, construction, and more. Day-in-the-life vlogs have become potential money-makers, and Gen Z loves it. And I have to admit, I love it, too.

In less-than-fun Gen Z news, check out how the anonymous messaging app Fizz created absolute chaos at a high school in Vermont because they took to publishing mocking posts about each other every day instead. It's an IRL burn book for all to see, tbh.

With that, my potentially Internet-addicted pal, have fun clicking around and reading some links I saw this week that I couldn't get off my mind. ✨

You can read any/all of these today, over the weekend, or treat them as orphaned tabs you open in the background, only to come back to close in a few days. 🤳

• It looked like a reliable news site. It was an A.I. chop shop.
• "The Blair Witch Project" actors call out "reprehensible behavior" after missing out on profits for decades: "Don't do what we did."
• Spotify's biggest campaign since 'Wrapped' is deeply personal and relatable.
• Gen Z plumbers and construction workers are making #BlueCollar cool.
• Instagram experiments with injecting pop-up ads into your friends' Stories.
• If Ray Kurzweil is right (again), you'll meet his immortal soul in the cloud.
• F.D.A. warns against 'microdosing' mushroom chocolate bars.
• Why 'Girls5eva' star Busy Philipps chose QVC to make her return to late-night TV.
• Why Perplexity's cynical theft represents everything that could go wrong with A.I.
• Supreme Court sides with Starbucks in blow to union movement.
• China's A.I. surveillance enters the classroom.
• Adults and teens turn to 'dumbphones' to cut screen time.
• How Fizz, an anonymous messaging app for Gen Z, tore a high school apart.

Let me know what you're reading or checking out this week or if you're enjoying this newsletter.

And, if you've gotten this far, a simple favor from me: send Finite Scroll to a friend (or seven) who'd benefit from subscribing. 🫡