The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality

by Amanda Montell

No one was leaving their couch, but everyone was afraid. No one was speaking out loud, but the world felt like one big shriek, an eight-billion-piece orchestra tuning and tuning ad infinitum.

“Women, who are objects of simultaneous worship and disgust in the public eye, become both victim and villain.”

They wanted a relatable populist who spoke their language, and whom they could access for free on their phones, to tell them in certain terms that there was one big, on-purpose reason why they were feeling terrible and the world couldn’t breathe, not a haphazard miscellany of tiny reasons that looked different for everyone.

Paranoia is a profitable disposition.

When presented with a problem, most people naturally think the cause must be that something is missing, rather than that

something is gratuitous or out of place.

I thought the key to victory was an armory of fancy outdoor gear, but really all I needed was my own two feet.

Surrounding yourself with the best people doesn’t make you look worse by comparison. It makes you better… True confidence is infectious.”

When assessing the salience of contemporary concerns, we can’t always trust our attention as the most reliable barometer.

“Perhaps wilderness is an antidote to our postindustrial self-absorption.”

“We’ve lost consensual reality, and I don’t know how we get that back. It’s like a menu now—choose your own reality,”

“I can’t be a pessimist because I am alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter.”