The Uncanny Experience of Year-End Roundups
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Why are “year in review” roundups so pleasing to users?
First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:
- The real reason for marriage polarization
- Harvard has a Veritas problem.
- A sex scandal. A conservative power network. And Moms for Liberty.
The Mundanities of a Private Life
Every December, sites and services that spend the year hoovering up personal information spit out a summary of users’ activity. Call it the year-end quantification-industrial complex. The trend isn’t new: As early as sent personalized emails about people’s year in restaurant bookings; quantified gaming; Vanguard sent customers a “Year in Review” summarizing highlights from their retirement plan. (As the last Millennial Snapchat user around, I was personally delighted to receive my annual recap on the app, consisting mostly of pictures I’d sent my mom.)
