It started simply enough.

I had a mini fridge.

I sold it on Marketplace.

The transaction was quick.

The item moved easily.

I was hooked.

A wetsuit.

A couple of fun advertisements.

A few more dollars.

And then?

Doom scrolling over people’s castaway treasures, opportunities and oddities.

Me?

I’m into downhill skis, guitars, bicycles and rusty hammers. (and perhaps a surfboard or two)

Recently?

I scored skis for the children! It was so exciting. I was thrilled because I found cheap second hand skis?

That’s what this doom scrolling is for? Cheap skis?

Or do the skis mean something else entirely?

Does it tug at the memory of when I was their age, when I started skiing?

Or am I just cheap and want to win at shopping.

Mostly?

I’m pretty excited to go skiing with the kids. I think it will be fun.

And every time I look at my phone, I check to see if the right skis for me have come up.

Or perhaps a guitar…

Then weird shit starts popping up.

Fifty year old tractors. Records. Clothing suggestions.

These images appeal to me.

And? It’s a trap!

Each time I click, I feel dirty. I’m essentially filling out a survey for Zuck.

These are things that I like and am drawn to, these are things I am not.

Here I go, I’m sending more data to meta so they can better milk humanity, Yay!

I catch myself scrolling, looking, hoping for something new.

Or perhaps a reminder of some long lost aspiration. A whiff of the scent of “that time”. You know, that time you: just moved to that city / started that relationship / had that realization… “That time.”

That time that took your breath away.

Notice your breath the next time you’re on marketplace, ebay, etsy or pinterest.

I don’t use the other three. Me?

I’m a ‘marketplace man’. They should put me on adverts wearing dungarees and a stetson.

That marketplace… Geeze, it started with a mini fridge. I told you guys about the wet suit in another foolsletter.

(can any of you guys remember that one? help me out and I’ll put a hyperlink in here and give you credit for being super helpful)

But that markeplace? It’s all about nostalgia.

It’s good at nostalgia.

That’s where it hooks me.

Geeze. I must be getting old…