Eric Barker's Blog

Ever try to get anything done these days and realize that no one seems to pay attention to emails anymore?

You send a message. No answer. You send a follow-up. No answer. And then your mind slowly starts to unravel…

Did I type the email address wrong? Nope. Is my internet connection down? Nope. Is this “The Sixth Sense” and I’m Bruce Willis? Nope.

But on another level, you totally understand because sometimes you dread checking email too. We live in the wreckage of the attention economy. You o...

We all have times when we become disillusioned. When we feel unmoored. It can be a midlife crisis, a personal tragedy, or it might appear for no reason at all. What do you do then?

At the extreme. When you hit existential rock-bottom and life just doesn’t make sense? Who can help us here?

Well, I can think of a guy…

Albert Camus (pronounced exactly as it is not spelled) looked like he stepped out of a black-and-white noir film and into a philosophy seminar. He was a dark-roast existentialist; ...

How many technological developments that happened over fifty years ago would be impressive to today’s teenagers? Not many.

Well, can we please talk about how insane the Apollo 11 mission was? Seriously, this was the 1960s. A time when everyone’s idea of cutting-edge technology was a television that weighed as much as a small car and a rotary phone that doubled as an upper-body workout. Seatbelts were a fun suggestion and you could still smoke in hospitals. The height of American ambition was f...

I don’t need to tell you that you shouldn’t send $500 to someone claiming to be a stranded astronaut trying to get back to Earth.

Or that if some guy calling himself the “Royal Commander of the International Refunds Bureau” asks for your PayPal login, you shouldn’t give it to him.

If a stranger texts saying, “Hello, dearest, you seem trustworthy and strong” you know that’s not how people talk. That’s how villains in telenovelas address their enemies before stealing their husbands.

You’re smart...

Trying to connect with people can feel like trying to put a USB stick into a port: there’s a 90% chance you’ll get it wrong three times, even though there are only two possible ways it can go in.

But relationships matter. Like, life-and-death matter. As I wrote about in my second book: the size and quality of your relationships either equals or exceeds almost all the other factors in determining your mortality.

So, yes, to live longer, you must endure all the joys of small talk, awkward hugs, ...

The problem with emotions is not that we have them, but that they’re allowed to operate unsupervised.

You’d think we’d have figured out by now how to not be held hostage by a rogue’s gallery of feelings that behave like the cast of a badly written soap opera trapped inside your skull. Emotions are like a chaotic group chat and you’re just trying to mute it without accidentally blocking your own capacity for joy.

But here’s the really annoying thing: emotions aren’t just intrusive thoughts pret...

Parenting small children can be a Sisyphean grind, except Sisyphus is half your size, naked, and screaming for you to carry the boulder up the hill for him.

Getting little kids to do even the simplest of things can be near impossible.

You think you’d have the advantage, right? You’re the adult. You’ve got years of experience, a bigger vocabulary, and actual logic. But no. You’re not just battling their stubbornness; you’re dealing with the chaotic energy of someone who finds it hilarious to sc...

Most of us enter the workforce like wide-eyed toddlers clutching a sippy cup of optimism, ready to “make a difference.” Then, one day, we notice that Becky in accounting is suspiciously good at turning other people’s ideas into her own ideas. And Brad in marketing keeps getting promoted even though he hasn’t responded to an email since 2014.

You try to focus on the work, but you realize that “the work” is just the background noise of this whole operatic farce. And then, slowly, the horrible re...

The sheer volume of pseudoscientific drivel available on the subject of “getting in shape” is so dense, it could collapse in on itself and form a black hole of misinformation.

We are living in a hellish fitness funhouse where every corner is lined with smug, glistening torsos barking contradictory advice. It’s like every gym bro and spiritual moon-juice peddler formed a consortium dedicated to ensuring no two people on Earth can agree on the basic act of moving one’s body. The only consensus s...

Travel is wonderful. It promises enlightenment, new experiences, and the smug satisfaction of saying, “Well, when I was in Portugal…”

But traveling these days feels a bit like being punched in the wallet. Modern airlines use a combination of arcane rituals, machine learning, and revenge to set prices. There’s a fee for everything short of blinking. Seat reservation? Extra. Cabin baggage? Extra. Want to sit next to the person you love? Better love them from row 32.

You suddenly realize that you...