u/Wonderful_Key_8021

I give it a few months before it pops up on my Netflix homepage

Pretty sure we are not supposed to see our reflection 24/7 at work but I have to deal with this, and seeing my face all the time makes me feel so ugly
I used to feel very confident about my apparence but this constant state of facing my reflection make me only see defaults

I never thought I’d be grateful for owning a seven-year-old iPhone.

Last week I was complaining about it.
Every app kept telling me to update.
Every few hours I’d get another notification:
“iOS 50 is now available.”

Except it wasn’t.

My phone wasn’t compatible anymore.

I remember standing on the subway watching everyone around me excitedly planning to install the update when getting back home.

A guy next to me even joked that Apple had finally “reinvented social media.”
I rolled my eyes.

People already spent enough time staring at their screens.

The next morning started like every other Tuesday.
Coffee.
Toast.
Shower.
Keys.
Wallet.
Phone.
I left my apartment at 7:40.

That’s when something felt wrong.

The street was empty.

Not “early morning” empty.
Completely empty.

No delivery trucks.
No people walking dogs.
No cyclists.
Nothing.

I figured maybe there’d been some emergency alert overnight.

I opened Safari.

“National holiday today.”
Nothing.
“Ontario lockdown.”
Nothing.

“War.”
Nothing.

The date on my phone was correct.
June 24.

Then something else caught my attention.
Every news website stopped updating at exactly 12:01 AM.
CNN.
BBC.
CBC.
Reuters.

Every headline was from yesterday.
No new articles.
Anywhere.

I laughed.

Some weird internet outage, I thought.

I FaceTimed my best friend.
He answered immediately.
He wasn’t looking at me.
He was looking at his screen though.
His thumb moved with the same rhythm over and over.

Swipe.
Swipe.
Swipe.

“Dude.”
Nothing.
“Mike.”
“…Hey.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”

Swipe.

“Why is nobody outside?”

“Huh?”

“Seriously. The streets are empty.”

“…that’s crazy.”
Swipe.
Swipe.
Swipe.

“Are you even listening?”
“…yeah.”
Swipe.

Then he hung up.

I called back.
Declined.
Again.
Declined.

I walked next door.
My neighbors usually left around this time.
Their car was still in the driveway.
I knocked.
Nothing.

I knocked harder.
Still nothing.

Their living room curtains were half open.
I looked inside.
The entire family was sitting on the couch.
Mother.
Father.
Teenage daughter.
Every single one holding a phone.
Scrolling.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody looked up.

I banged on the window.
Hard.
The father blinked.
Kept scrolling.
I screamed.
Nothing.

I don’t know why, but that scared me more than if they’d all been dead.
They were alive.
They just couldn’t stop.
…
Back home I searched everything.
Instagram.
No posts since midnight.
Facebook.
Frozen.
TikTok.
Frozen.
Even YouTube had stopped uploading.
Reddit was almost silent.

I created an account and made one post.
“Is anyone else outside? Where did everyone go?”
Nobody replied.
Eventually exhaustion caught up with me.
I fell asleep at my desk.

When I woke up…
One notification.
One comment.

« Don’t install iOS 50.

It isn’t malware.

It’s an engagement algorithm.

It learned human psychology too well.

Once it learns you…

you don’t stop scrolling.

If you’re reading this from an old phone, you’re one of the last people not affected.

There’s a data center in Nevada.

We’re trying to shut it down. »

There was an address.

I laughed.
It sounded insane.

Then the pictures started appearing.
One every few hours.

Hospitals.
Living rooms.
Restaurants.
Airports.
Entire families sitting exactly where they’d first picked up their phones.
Some looked days older than they should have.
Dry lips.
Sunken eyes.
Children crying beside parents who never looked up.
People soiling themselves.
People had started dying…
…still holding their phones.

The comments underneath each image were even worse.
“My husband just died, I tried to feed him…to give him water…he was not responding to anything.”
“My daughter is in panic and screaming that she is not able to stop scrolling. I tried to take her phone away but she started attacking me. I don’t know what to do !….»
Nobody could stop.

Then I understood something.
The phone wasn’t just addictive.
It had become necessary.

Cars required your phone to start.
Public transit gates opened through the app.
Public washrooms needed QR verification.
Food delivery.
Banking.
Medical appointments.
Everything depended on the same operating system.

Nobody could simply throw their phones away.

I decided I had to get to that data center.
If there was even a one percent chance it was real…
I had to try.

About eight hours into the drive I stopped at an abandoned gas station.
While getting out of my car my phone slipped from my pocket.
It hit the concrete.
The screen shattered.

Black.
Dead.
No GPS.
No map.
No way to find the address.

Inside the station I found a brand-new iPhone still sealed behind the counter.
I stared at it for a long time.
I knew.
I knew exactly what version it would be running.
But without GPS…
I wasn’t going anywhere.

I turned it on.
The setup finished.

Before I even reached the home screen…
Instagram opened by itself.
One video.
I closed it.
Another.
Locked the phone.
Another.
I threw it across the car.

I watched it lying on the passenger seat.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Thirty.
Then I climbed over the console…
…and picked it back up.

I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here.
It’s dark outside now.
My battery is almost dead.
Not the phone.
Mine.
My eyes hurt.
I’m thirsty.
I’ve been crying for hours.
I keep telling myself to put it down.
I keep screaming at myself.
My hand won’t listen.

If you’re reading this on an older phone…
Don’t replace it.
Don’t update.
And whatever you do…
Don’t tell yourself you’ll watch just one reel.
That’s what I told myself.
I’m still scrolling.

Moved here from Europe recently and love to go see some races but I don’t know if the culture is huge here

This area gets really bad sometimes I don’t know what’s going on

I’m trying to understand whether what I’m experiencing is normal and what people actually do to manage it.

I’m a 31 y.o female originally from France but moved to Canada alone about 5 years ago. I’ve built a life there, met my partner (Canadian), and overall I’m happy with my life.

My mom have a bipolar disorder since I was a kid, depression, and severe anxiety. There was a lot of emotional intensity in the household. My dad is very kind, but his coping style was mostly to avoid conflict and keep the peace. My brother and I grew up in that environment and both became anxious adults.

My parents are genuinely loving people. We were never deprived materially and they did their best. But looking back, what was missing wasn’t love, it was emotional calm and safety.

Now as an adult I notice a strong pattern. Every time I go back to visit them I become extremely anxious. I usually visit once a year for about two weeks and spend at least a week staying at their house.
Last summer was especially bad. I was already burnt out from work before the trip and once I arrived I had near constant anxiety and panic. The long flight, jet lag, being out of my routine, and especially the emotional environment at home made everything worse. When I came back to Canada I eventually started therapy and medication.

Now we are considering visiting again in October and I’m already anxious months in advance. Part of me is also excited and misses them, I want to see my city and friends too, but another part of me is overwhelmed before anything has even happened.

What makes it more complicated is that my parents really miss me and want to spend almost all their time together when I’m there. Every meal is expected together, they wake us up in the morning, and there is very little space or privacy. They sold my car so we are dependent on them. Objectively they are being loving and excited to have us there. They have a beautiful house, cook for us, and want to make the most of the time.

But emotionally it feels overwhelming for me.
What complicates things even more is that my partner also cannot stand my mom’s behavior. He can feel her anxiety, mood swings and pressure very strongly when we are around her. My brother and his wife feel the same way.

I also feel like I don’t even want to go at all right now. The idea of the trip itself is making me anxious. Even the long flight is now something I dread and it triggers anxiety on its own. It feels like my body starts reacting before I’ve even made a decision, like I’m already stressed about the plane, the lack of control, and what comes after landing.

At the same time I feel a lot of guilt. I love them. I miss them. I know they won’t be around forever. And I feel guilty even thinking about not staying in their house the whole time or wanting space.

One idea I have is staying partly in a hotel or Airbnb so I can decompress, but I feel like this would hurt their feelings because they’ve prepared everything for us and expect us to stay with them.

So I feel stuck between wanting to see them, feeling anxious before the trip even starts, feeling overwhelmed during visits, and feeling guilty for wanting space or even not wanting to go at all.

What I’m trying to understand is whether this is a normal reaction for people with similar family dynamics, how people actually deal with it in real life, and what strategies help without damaging the relationship.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through something similar.

I’m trying to understand whether what I’m experiencing is normal and what people actually do to manage it.

I’m a 31 y.o female originally from France but moved to Canada alone about 5 years ago. I’ve built a life there, met my partner (Canadian), and overall I’m happy with my life.

My mom have a bipolar disorder since I was a kid, depression, and severe anxiety. There was a lot of emotional intensity in the household. My dad is very kind, but his coping style was mostly to avoid conflict and keep the peace. My brother and I grew up in that environment and both became anxious adults.

My parents are genuinely loving people. We were never deprived materially and they did their best. But looking back, what was missing wasn’t love, it was emotional calm and safety.

Now as an adult I notice a strong pattern. Every time I go back to visit them I become extremely anxious. I usually visit once a year for about two weeks and spend at least a week staying at their house.
Last summer was especially bad. I was already burnt out from work before the trip and once I arrived I had near constant anxiety and panic. The long flight, jet lag, being out of my routine, and especially the emotional environment at home made everything worse. When I came back to Canada I eventually started therapy and medication.

Now we are considering visiting again in October and I’m already anxious months in advance. Part of me is also excited and misses them, I want to see my city and friends too, but another part of me is overwhelmed before anything has even happened.

What makes it more complicated is that my parents really miss me and want to spend almost all their time together when I’m there. Every meal is expected together, they wake us up in the morning, and there is very little space or privacy. They sold my car so we are dependent on them. Objectively they are being loving and excited to have us there. They have a beautiful house, cook for us, and want to make the most of the time.

But emotionally it feels overwhelming for me.
What complicates things even more is that my partner also cannot stand my mom’s behavior. He can feel her anxiety, mood swings and pressure very strongly when we are around her. My brother and his wife feel the same way.

I also feel like I don’t even want to go at all right now. The idea of the trip itself is making me anxious. Even the long flight is now something I dread and it triggers anxiety on its own. It feels like my body starts reacting before I’ve even made a decision, like I’m already stressed about the plane, the lack of control, and what comes after landing.

At the same time I feel a lot of guilt. I love them. I miss them. I know they won’t be around forever. And I feel guilty even thinking about not staying in their house the whole time or wanting space.

One idea I have is staying partly in a hotel or Airbnb so I can decompress, but I feel like this would hurt their feelings because they’ve prepared everything for us and expect us to stay with them.

So I feel stuck between wanting to see them, feeling anxious before the trip even starts, feeling overwhelmed during visits, and feeling guilty for wanting space or even not wanting to go at all.

What I’m trying to understand is whether this is a normal reaction for people with similar family dynamics, how people actually deal with it in real life, and what strategies help without damaging the relationship.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through something similar.

Does it pay better to work at Gucci or Louis Vuitton as a sales person ? (In Canada)

just wanna get some advices

Looking to find a way to watch the Mean Girl episode about her and the Killer Case - Murder on wheel episode. I keep reading that it’s on Hulu and Prime but nothing … Anybody found them please?

Or the number of people coming in not even saying hi or anything at all and just showing me a picture of like a pair of sunglasses on their phone. Humans have totally lost the ability to act properly in society, and clearly not only younger generation

Hashtag loving it

Not sure what I could do

Like do you really need to come buy a new handbag, get a watch repair or try shoes for fun today ? Can corporations or Ontario let us have life ?

Any recommendations of good and realistic movies talking about the pioneers / first European populations that came to settle in the US or Canada please?

I am just passionate about this subject and I want to learn more about it please.

Would love to find a movie that really shows how life was back then and how hard it was

Open to any style of movie

Thank you so much in advance

Location: Toronto, Canada

I am a high performing seller in luxury retail since 5 years with a minimum of $1M+ annual history put on a performance counseling notice immediately after my 90 days probation at my new job for missing one monthly goal. However, 60% of my entire team also missed their goals this month due to a major brand slump. The notice they gave me is also riddled with math errors and typos. Is this legal in Ontario?

The Situation:

I have 5 years of luxury retail experience with a consistent track record of high sales. I started this role in January and passed probation in March. April was the first month I missed my goal but I was not alone. More than half the team (60%) missed their targets because the brand is in a global slump and foot traffic has really went down.

Despite this, management issued me a formal notice: if I miss the goal twice more in six months, I am fired.

The Red Flags:

• Targeting Individuals for Systemic Issues: They are penalizing me for a performance issue that is clearly affecting the majority of the staff due to company wide sales drops and undergoing a restructuring plan that has been officially published.

• The Document is Sloppy: It contains several clerical errors, including a misspelling of my job title and unfinished digital placeholders like "click to enter date".

• The Math is Wrong: The data used to justify the failure is mathematically inconsistent. They used my achievement percentage as the "variance" gap.

Just want to specify, this expectations are only applied since the month of April and it’s the same for every employees.

My Questions:

1. Is it legal in Ontario to put someone on a performance track when the majority of the team is also failing to meet the same unattainable goals?
2. Does an error ridden document with wrong math and a misspelled title weaken their legal standing if they try to fire me later?
3. Should I point out these errors and the team wide failure before signing, or just keep a copy for my records?