Digital Lives

From The New Yorker’s archive: stories about the perils and possibilities of our increasingly digital existence. View in browser | Update your preferences Digital Lives Over the past year—a very long year—many of us have grown accustomed to an increasingly digital existence. In countless ways, the pandemic has reinforced our reliance on the technologies that link us both locally and globally. This week, we’re highlighting a selection of pieces about digital life. In “Has the Pandemic Transformed the Office Forever?,” John Seabrook explores how the coronavirus has fundamentally shifted our thinking about remote work. Anna Wiener, in “Our Ghost-Kitchen Future,” writes about how this year has transformed the food and “virtual” restaurant industries in ways we could never have anticipated. In “The Age of Instagram Face,” Jia Tolentino chronicles how social-media platforms have reshaped notions of beauty and the human body. In “How to Live Forever,” Tim Wu considers our sense of self and examines whether it’s possible to achieve virtual immortality. Finally, in a prescient piece published in 2004, Katha Pollitt describes “webstalking” her ex-boyfriend on the Internet and how each new search generated a fresh obsession. We hope that you find these pieces as illuminating as we do—and that they make life feel a little less remote this weekend. —David Remnick From The New Yorker’s Archive Annals of Architecture Has the Pandemic Transformed the Office Forever? Companies are figuring out how to balance what appears to be a lasting shift toward remote work with the value of the physical workplace. By John Seabrook | February 1, 2021 Letter from Silicon Valley Our Ghost-Kitchen Future A business model that seemed marginal before the coronavirus pandemic now looks like the future of restaurants. By Anna Wiener | June 28, 2020 Personal History Webstalker When it’s time to stop checking on your ex. By Katha Pollitt | January 19, 2004 Newsletters Sign Up for The New Yorker’s Crossword-Puzzle Newsletter Never miss another New Yorker crossword again. Decade in Review The Age of Instagram Face How social media, FaceTune, and plastic surgery created a single, cyborgian look. By Jia Tolentino | December 12, 2019 Currency How to Live Forever If the self has no meaning, its death has less significance; if the computer thinks it is you, then maybe it really is you. By Tim Wu | February 22, 2015 You're receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the New Yorker Classics newsletter. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up. Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our Privacy Policy Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.