Welcome to Modern Anxiety

A much needed improvement on old fashioned anxiety.

What is Modern Anxiety?

Well I’ll tell you what! You’ve probably got it…Modern Anxiety that is. It’s nearly inescapable these days—that whacked out feeling you get from the incomprehensible shit-storm that we call “culture” in this year of our (meme) lord, 2021.

I’m Jack Kelly, by the way—a writer in Los Angeles—and thank you! For if you’re reading this, then you chose to be here in spite of the seemingly infinite forms of entertainment that vie for our attention around the clock.

That fight for our attention—that constant gnawing at our peace and quiet that seems to permeate through everything—is partially why I’ve created this publication. I believe we aren’t equipped, at a logical or emotional or spiritual level, to handle the immense amount of information we so regularly receive. And I believe many of us know, consciously or subconsciously, that something is off kilter—that if we keep our foot on the gas like this, our engine is going to blow, and we might be left in the desert without cell service or triple A.

Most of the time that feeling drives me mad, and my only recourse is to shrivel up into fetal position, in the hope that playing dead will make Modern Anxiety go away. But some of the time I gain the courage to fight back, take it head on, tackle it, analyze it, mock it, diminish it, exalt it, fault it, or flaunt it.

I hope to unearth this-hard-to-put-your-finger-on-feeling in whatever facets of life I find it in—I don’t believe it’s localized to one thing, like politics, for instance—so you’ll see me discuss all kinds of subjects from the Movie Industry to Grand Theft Auto to NFTs to Psychiatric Medication to Pornography to the soul sucking mind scourge we call Instagram, and beyond.

The discoveries or opinions or insinuations I make may range from dreadfully grim to gorgeously optimistic, but I hope beyond anything that you and I can face them together, and ultimately come away with a little less clutter in the mind, if nothing else.

Down the line I hope this turns into a real community, where conversations are had and hope is built through camaraderie—in the meantime I’m thankful to write and be read!

Hey Jack, what’s a Substack?

Substack is a newish platform for independent writing. In essence it’s an easy way to make a modern blog or newsletter. It allows writers to be paid for their work, without the oversight or influence of traditional media outlets.

This Substack is free. When you subscribe, your simply being added to my email list. When I post something new, it gets sent directly to your inbox. You can also come back to the website to check out all the articles at once. Subscribe below!