It’s the End of the Year as We Know It (and I Feel Tired)

This is my annual check-in: what worked, what didn’t, what I got right (or very wrong), and what I think is coming next for media, tech, and the people still trying to create things online. Read to the end for a note about The Writing Cooperative.

Oh, hi there. It's been a few weeks, do you remember me? I've been a little MIA because life got busy, as life is prone to do.

The company I work for bought another company and I've been doing the work of making two companies into one. It's a lot of fun, but my to-do list is about seventeen miles long and there are only so many plates I can spin at once.‌¹

My typical evening routine these days, which once included pontificating on the world at large, is currently in full "brain turn off" mode. I'm in season seven of Gilmore Girls and I haven't unloaded the dishwasher in two weeks.

Anyway, despite the busyness of life, 2025 was a good year. It was mostly about simplification — owning more of my work, relying less on platforms, and being more opinionated about the tradeoffs, even when that meant fewer subscribers or less algorithmic reach.

• I wrote and published the second edition of Write Now.
• I rebranded my site with a cool new paragraph symbol. I’ll continue tweaking this until it feels complete.
• I stopped worrying about AI by opening my website’s subscription wall and giving up using Grammarly — strangely, many of you commented that my writing got better as a result.
• I, once again, denounced Substack which seemed to really hit a nerve with some folks. Meh.
• I gave up 21 paying subscribers to kill Patreon and dropped my subscription rates.
• I let the seeds of rebellion fuel my outlook on the world.
• I figured out a way to move all of my movie and tv show micro reviews here to the website.² Here’s a few of my favorites this year:
  • TV Shows: Andor, Chief of War, and The Studio
  • Movies: Sinners, The Wild Robot, and Dogma
  • Books: Atmosphere, The Silo Series, and The Galactic Cold War Series
  • Theater Productions: John Proctor is the Villain, Just In Time, and The Outsiders
  • Video Game: Expedition 33

Ranking My 2025 Predictions

Ok, before we can get into my 2026 predictions, let’s see how I did with my 2025 predictions:

Um, yeah…

So, I got this one right even though I really hoped that I would not. There are too many examples to link to, but earlier this month the FCC declared itself “no longer independent” which is probably great for the country.³

This idea came from Meta’s $10B project to control undersea fiber optic cable networks. It turns out, that was just the beginning as platforms and tech companies rapidly expanded their data center builds across the globe (and potentially into space).

This didn’t really happen, but Musk did manage to do plenty of damage anyway: he killed global food aid, probably stole everyone’s identity, and somehow sold X to xAI for a lot of money. So, there’s that.

This all proved true with a plate of waffles. It’s ok if this doesn’t make any sense.

I think Meta gave up on the fediverse as a concept, but then again, who knows? I deleted the app after I stopped promoting my book, and I’m clearly not the only one.

This is purely subjective, but I know it’s correct. Though, I really didn’t see Eugen Rochko, Mastodon’s creator, stepping down.

I wish this were the case and I'm selfishly calling it partially true. Sora was super popular for five minutes, but truly useful boring AI hasn't really arrived. It's getting better, but it's still not here.

My 2026 Predictions

Ok, let’s get on with the idea of what’s going to happen in 2026:

Meta’s all-in approach to AI will probably continue filling its platforms with slop. At some point, its aging user base probably won’t be able to tell the difference (if they even care). This will produce an exhausting wave of think-pieces on the death of entertainment or being replaced by robots from me and others who write online. You’ve been warned.

Skydance bought Paramount and is trying to purchase Warner Brothers even though Netflix is already the winning bidder. Oh, and Trump’s friends are buying TikTok.

When ownership, infrastructure, and distribution collapse into the same few hands, editorial independence becomes optional and often temporary.

While this is good for the current administration and people who want to control thought, it’s pretty bad for independent media and anyone not published by multi-billion dollar corporations. Add to it all the AI slop flooding the internet and quality and objective human opinions will be much more difficult to find.

I blame this on currently reading The Deluge and just watching One Battle After Another, but it seems like the pieces are aligning and the tension is higher than it was on January 6, 2021. I’m not predicting another January 6, but I am predicting sustained instability that feels more normalized and harder to resolve.

But what do I really know? I guess we'll find out a year from now.

Oh, one more thing. Let’s talk about The Writing Cooperative.

I mentioned at the top of this piece that I’m tired and that exhaustion extends to the publication — I’m tired of rejecting more than 80% of submissions because they’re lifeless AI generated slopsicles.⁴ So, I’m taking a little break.

Requests to be a new contributor are closed until “sometime in January 2026.” I don’t know what that means yet and the date might get extended. We’ll see. This isn’t just about volume — it’s about preserving a publication that still values human voice and editorial intent. I need time to figure out exactly how to do that in our current climate.

Existing contributors can submit articles the normal way but new folks are currently cut out. Sorry. Stay tuned to future updates. I’ll share what that future looks like for everyone once it’s clearer.

Ok, that’s enough for 2025. See you on the flip side.

Footnotes

1. Fun fact, I once got pulled onto stage during a magic show and did, in fact, keep a half dozen plates spinning in the air without breaking anything. ↩︎
2. I’ll probably write more on how this works in the coming weeks — I’m pretty proud of it. ↩︎
3. This is sarcasm. ↩︎
4. Yes, I just made this word up — maybe it’ll catch on. ↩︎