2023 Year in Review
It's been a good one
Hi! I’m Jacqueline Nesi, a clinical psychologist, professor at Brown University, and mom of two young kids. Here at Techno Sapiens, I share the latest research on psychology, technology, and parenting, plus practical tips for living and parenting in the digital age. Subscribe to join 20,000 readers, and if you like what you’re reading, please share Techno Sapiens with a friend.
It’s that time of year again! Everywhere you look, from TikTok to Spotify to right here at Techno Sapiens, we’re rounding up the most memorable moments of 2023.
TikTok, for example, has released Year on TikTok 2023, highlighting the year’s most popular videos, songs, and creators. Before we get into our Techno Sapiens highlights, let’s take a quick look at TikTok’s top five U.S. trends of 2023 (with brief explainers):
Girl Dinner: Women showcase “dinners” they’ve put together that mostly involve random combinations of snacks on a plate. 2.4 billion views.
Wes Anderson: People film mundane daily activities in the style of Wes Anderson.
Red, green, and beige flags: People identify bad (red), good (green), and weird-but-not-dealbreakers (beige) qualities in their dating partners.
“Where’s my dad?”: Repurposing the audio from a children’s community theater performance of Finding Nemo (?), people identify overwhelming “where’s my dad?” moments (e.g., sitting down to do your taxes).
Thank you to my man: People thank family or friends, either earnestly or sarcastically.
Spotify has also released its yearly Wrapped results, providing each of us data on our individual listening habits for the year.
I don’t know about you, but the combination of puzzling over TikTok trends and learning that The Wiggles are my top Spotify artist for the second year running has me feeling a bit out-of-touch.
So please, join me in retreating to our familiar little corner of the Internet here at Techno Sapiens with our very own 2023 Year in Review. All are welcome here, even if you’re still not 100% sure what a “girl dinner” is (and especially if you know all the words to “Hot Potato”).
Techno Sapiens 2023 Milestones
It was a big year for us, sapiens.
Our community crossed 20,000 readers (!), which is both incredibly exciting and very intimidating. I am navigating this by trying never to think about it.
We were a 2023 Substack Featured Publication! I even got to do this fun interview with
and made an appearance on their Instagram.The Guardian ranked Techno Sapiens as one of their top 33 Substack newsletters, alongside some incredible company, like
and .We launched paid subscriptions, and some very generous sapiens helped me take a first step toward making this whole endeavor financially sustainable (thank you!)
We got to know each other better and, in the end, reached a strong consensus on preferring, hypothetically, to fight 100 duck-sized horses versus one horse-sized duck.
Top Posts of 2023
And now, without further ado, here are the most popular Techno Sapiens posts of the year.
New study: A better way to kill time
Should your kid watch Bluey?
7 ways ChatGPT can save you time
Are screen time limits backfiring?
A mindful approach to your phone
See you next year
We’ve got lots of exciting things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them with you. But for now, I’m taking a moment to reflect on this past year and how much I appreciate all of you. Thanks for welcoming me into your inbox every week, techno sapiens. See you in 2024!
A quick survey
What did you think of this week’s Techno Sapiens? Your feedback helps me make this better. Thanks!
Thank you for a great year! My kids now love Bluey thanks to this newsletter. It actually brings all four of us a lot of joy when we sit down as a family to watch it. I have also quoted your take on that giant Jenga study more than once while out with various friends. My partner now leaves his phone on a separate floor of our house before bedtime (I'm not there yet). In sum: tangible positive impacts of your newsletter on our lives. Thanks so much!!