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Pocket’s Best of 2022: Culture & Entertainment

The year’s best writing on TV and music, internet life, and our shapeshifting social order.

Pocket Editors

Read when you’ve got time to spare.

Investigating our, like, relationship with “like,” deconstructing sober culture and modern-day singledom, and say it with us now: The Vibe Shift.

The Undoing of Joss Whedon

The Buffy creator, once an icon of Hollywood feminism, is now an outcast accused of misogyny. How did he get here?

Is Old Music Killing New Music?

Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking.

NOTE: This piece originally appeared here in Ted Gioia’s newsletter, Honest Broker.

Confessions of a Perpetually Single Woman

My entire adult life, I’ve wrestled with the too-often-asked question posed by men in my bed and kind old ladies alike: Why are you alone?

A Vibe Shift Is Coming

Will any of us survive it?

The End of Alcohol

Glamorous influencers are blending science and superstition to help people “change their relationship to drinking.” Did I miss out by getting sober the old-fashioned way?

Why Do People, Like, Say, ‘Like’ So Much?

Saying the word ‘like’ has long been seen as a sign of laziness and stupidity. But its use is actually richly nuanced, goes back to Shakespearean times, and is an indicator of, like, intelligence.

How Tucker Carlson Stoked White Fear to Conquer Cable

A string of setbacks made the pundit flee television, the Republican establishment and even his home. He re-emerged with what may be the most racist, and successful, show in the history of cable news.

Colors: Where Did They Go? An Investigation.

Why do so many TV shows and movies look like they were filmed in a gray wasteland?

The Economics of Spotify

Spotify’s recent Joe Rogan controversy has also deepened a rift between the platform and artists over pay.

The Rise of the Internet’s Creative Middle Class

Fourteen years ago, Kevin Kelly famously proposed that an artist could make a living online with a thousand true fans. Has time proved him correct?

Pocket’s Top Articles of 2022

Explore the stories that defined the year, and the ones we’ll still be talking about in 2023. Plus, discover the best long reads, great advice, and low-lift life hacks that Pocket readers loved this year.