What's worth waking up to on the internet?
February 27, 2025 10:07 AM Subscribe
My brain requires an extended warmup period to break through sleep inertia, and until recently, looking at the day's news headlines was part of my process. I'm now finding that toxic to my mental health, so looking for alternatives. Small bites of information/content, new every morning, not stressful and hopefully inspiring a bit of curiosity, a motivating "I wonder what it will be today." Any suggestions?
I would love to wake up without my phone and/or doing something physical, but my nervous system is 100% not on board with that. Brain doesn't transition well out of sleep and autonomic system can't get it together to sit or stand upright except very slowly. So the smartphone is my lifeline for rejoining the world each morning (well, also meds, but they take some time to kick in).
I need something to fill a couple minutes of time and engage some mental processing, but not too much. A single quote or image of the day is too little, but more than a paragraph of text is too much (which is why MF itself isn't it). Podcasts aren't great for me because of auditory processing issues, but I could see a "curated song of the day" potentially working, if a good site/service along those lines exists. I've quit the major social media sites, and learned long before that that they're no good for me first thing in the morning.
What comes to mind as worth waking up to online? Do you have an AM internet routine that improves rather than worsens your day? I know some people are passionate about staying off the internet first thing in the morning, but for those of us who aren't.
I would love to wake up without my phone and/or doing something physical, but my nervous system is 100% not on board with that. Brain doesn't transition well out of sleep and autonomic system can't get it together to sit or stand upright except very slowly. So the smartphone is my lifeline for rejoining the world each morning (well, also meds, but they take some time to kick in).
I need something to fill a couple minutes of time and engage some mental processing, but not too much. A single quote or image of the day is too little, but more than a paragraph of text is too much (which is why MF itself isn't it). Podcasts aren't great for me because of auditory processing issues, but I could see a "curated song of the day" potentially working, if a good site/service along those lines exists. I've quit the major social media sites, and learned long before that that they're no good for me first thing in the morning.
What comes to mind as worth waking up to online? Do you have an AM internet routine that improves rather than worsens your day? I know some people are passionate about staying off the internet first thing in the morning, but for those of us who aren't.
If you want a non NYT source for puzzles, I do a few dailies on Puzzmo and MeFi's Own Gisnep.
I also scroll through Instagram a bit to catch up on friend's stories and the dog and doodle accounts I follow. I keep away from the short form video content because that's where you go to rot.
And then finally I'll catch up on some recent activity in Metafilter, only Ask or MeTa and don't look at any political threads.
posted by phunniemee at 10:17 AM on February 27 [4 favorites]
I also scroll through Instagram a bit to catch up on friend's stories and the dog and doodle accounts I follow. I keep away from the short form video content because that's where you go to rot.
And then finally I'll catch up on some recent activity in Metafilter, only Ask or MeTa and don't look at any political threads.
posted by phunniemee at 10:17 AM on February 27 [4 favorites]
The radio or a playlist could be good. Wordle and other phone games are great, too, especially because I have a wordle buddy and we share our scores everyday.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:18 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
posted by bluedaisy at 10:18 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]
I have a little bluetooth thermal printer that I have connected to a webpage I made using start.me to collect some widgets like a news headline or two, weather, todays xkcd comic, a DnD tip, things like that. No coding needed. And then I print it to a lil strip of paper in the morning and have tiny a personal newspaper.
posted by Iteki at 10:31 AM on February 27 [31 favorites]
posted by Iteki at 10:31 AM on February 27 [31 favorites]
What about some kind of light therapy that you could activate with remote control (or phone app) from bed? Thinking broadly--could be opening a window shade, one of those boxes that projects patterns and colors on the wall and ceiling, red light or SAD therapy...
I also like Seth Godin's daily emails that you can sign up for on his website.
posted by aincandenza at 10:32 AM on February 27 [2 favorites]
I also like Seth Godin's daily emails that you can sign up for on his website.
posted by aincandenza at 10:32 AM on February 27 [2 favorites]
Videos of this cowboy hatted kitty are my mental palate cleanser in the mornings
posted by Kitteh at 10:33 AM on February 27
posted by Kitteh at 10:33 AM on February 27
I read two webcomics each morning for a similar purpose. One has a well-behaved daily comment section if I really want a finite fix of social media-type scrolling.
posted by teremala at 10:39 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]
posted by teremala at 10:39 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]
I also need a wake up period in the morning.
Text is kind of what I lean toward wanting, and similar to you, it needs to be suitable to where my brain is at ... groggy and not fully there yet. Is there maybe a specific subreddit you could bookmark where it is the right type of content? That way you're not exposed to headlines/the news in general and you can pick something that is right in your sweet spot? I'm thinking something more link or interest focused.
One thing I have been doing lately is Helly Kitty Island Adventure daily gifting or daily quests. I can pop into the game and there's something new, My Melody greets me every morning, I give everyone their coffees or baked goods, and it's zero pressure. I don't do any big story quests. This may be totally outside of your interests but I thought I would throw it out there.
posted by fennario at 10:42 AM on February 27
Text is kind of what I lean toward wanting, and similar to you, it needs to be suitable to where my brain is at ... groggy and not fully there yet. Is there maybe a specific subreddit you could bookmark where it is the right type of content? That way you're not exposed to headlines/the news in general and you can pick something that is right in your sweet spot? I'm thinking something more link or interest focused.
One thing I have been doing lately is Helly Kitty Island Adventure daily gifting or daily quests. I can pop into the game and there's something new, My Melody greets me every morning, I give everyone their coffees or baked goods, and it's zero pressure. I don't do any big story quests. This may be totally outside of your interests but I thought I would throw it out there.
posted by fennario at 10:42 AM on February 27
Yeah, I think the NYT is still raking in the Bucks almost entirely because such a huge number of people wake up to Wordle.
posted by potrzebie at 10:45 AM on February 27 [4 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 10:45 AM on February 27 [4 favorites]
another MeFite (cannot remember who, to give them credit) turned me onto the BBC radio series of podcasts In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg
I've linked to a listing of episodes, above. Easily one of the best recommendations I've received in recent memory, good for a wide range of topics and minimal distracting stuff (theme music, over-emoting host/guests).
posted by ginger.beef at 10:51 AM on February 27 [5 favorites]
I've linked to a listing of episodes, above. Easily one of the best recommendations I've received in recent memory, good for a wide range of topics and minimal distracting stuff (theme music, over-emoting host/guests).
posted by ginger.beef at 10:51 AM on February 27 [5 favorites]
I got a wearable device at the start of the year that tells me a lot of quantitative data about my sleep. How long it was, how much time was spent awake, how many breaths per minute I took, my resting heart rate, my skin temperature, oxygen saturation, and whatever "heart rate variability" means. I have not found any practical use for this data yet but I study it avidly each morning on my phone all the same.
posted by rollick at 11:20 AM on February 27 [2 favorites]
posted by rollick at 11:20 AM on February 27 [2 favorites]
Do you have hobby things you interact with online?
I am a wargamer, and play games, PBEM, over Vassal. I am an old.
So I wake up about every morning at 6:45 am or so. Let the dogs out, get them to come back in, and head to my email. My primary opponent is also an old, and is two hours ahead of me, so there is usually a file waiting that I need to reply to.
Then I hit Mefi,a and the news. Gives me a bit of a break from all this...
posted by Windopaene at 11:26 AM on February 27
I am a wargamer, and play games, PBEM, over Vassal. I am an old.
So I wake up about every morning at 6:45 am or so. Let the dogs out, get them to come back in, and head to my email. My primary opponent is also an old, and is two hours ahead of me, so there is usually a file waiting that I need to reply to.
Then I hit Mefi,a and the news. Gives me a bit of a break from all this...
posted by Windopaene at 11:26 AM on February 27
I generally do history and science stuff, but on the more popular/non academic sites, Smithsonian Magazine, for example, and IFLScience, The News section of Archaeology Magazine.
My husband recommends Interesting Engineering (which is a lot more than Engineering).
posted by gudrun at 11:31 AM on February 27
My husband recommends Interesting Engineering (which is a lot more than Engineering).
posted by gudrun at 11:31 AM on February 27
On preview, I mean I check the headlines at those sites, and then go back and read stuff later on in the day when my brain actually works (so not a morning person).
posted by gudrun at 11:33 AM on February 27
posted by gudrun at 11:33 AM on February 27
I find Wikipedia's front page very useful for this. I also follow a few blogs like Your Local Epidemiologist and enjoy Science Daily for news. Just read their headlines, and follow up by reading the content later in the day if they were interesting enough to bring you back.
It is also worth looking for art and entertainment blogs or news that you would enjoy. There are plenty of bloggers, for example, that will post two or three examples of Asian Art, or Manga pretty much every day, or Music bloggers who will post the music that is thrilling them lately. I won't recommend any of them, because this is highly taste specific. If you are into baseball recommending a manga blogger is going to be a major miss. I suggest searching for blogs or sites that go with your own personal interests.
This site, Victorians, Vile Victorians, is an example of the type of blogger who is dedicated enough to provide you with a steady supply of content. (Disclaimer: a few years ago something I suggested was taken by the author and put on that site.) I don't imagine you are into Victorian memorabilia, but my point is there is a site for everything, and when the blogger is deeply into the subject, intelligent and well informed, the site can be good enough to get someone not into the subject at all interested enough to follow them.
Last year I started a project where every day I posted a vintage photograph that went well with that day's Maxim that I got from a little book that was given to my grandfather in 1906. It was a fairly simple task to decipher what the maxim meant and then look for something to illustrate it. It wasn't completely passive, but it was harmless, entertaining, good for my brain and amused some of my contacts. You might enjoy setting yourself a similar challenge or following the site of people who have set themselves a daily drawing challenge. I recommend Daily Bunny by Will Quinn.
I have found Happy News Daily sites a waste of my time, as a lot of the time the feel good stories they featured were out of date, and either silly personal interest stories, or feel good corporate press releases that didn't make me feel good at all. "Nike donates athletic shoes to underprivileged urban kids!" or "Exxon plants trees!" "Teenager wins egg eating contest!" Sites like that are trying too hard to get followers, at the expense of actually providing worthwhile content.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:29 PM on February 27 [3 favorites]
It is also worth looking for art and entertainment blogs or news that you would enjoy. There are plenty of bloggers, for example, that will post two or three examples of Asian Art, or Manga pretty much every day, or Music bloggers who will post the music that is thrilling them lately. I won't recommend any of them, because this is highly taste specific. If you are into baseball recommending a manga blogger is going to be a major miss. I suggest searching for blogs or sites that go with your own personal interests.
This site, Victorians, Vile Victorians, is an example of the type of blogger who is dedicated enough to provide you with a steady supply of content. (Disclaimer: a few years ago something I suggested was taken by the author and put on that site.) I don't imagine you are into Victorian memorabilia, but my point is there is a site for everything, and when the blogger is deeply into the subject, intelligent and well informed, the site can be good enough to get someone not into the subject at all interested enough to follow them.
Last year I started a project where every day I posted a vintage photograph that went well with that day's Maxim that I got from a little book that was given to my grandfather in 1906. It was a fairly simple task to decipher what the maxim meant and then look for something to illustrate it. It wasn't completely passive, but it was harmless, entertaining, good for my brain and amused some of my contacts. You might enjoy setting yourself a similar challenge or following the site of people who have set themselves a daily drawing challenge. I recommend Daily Bunny by Will Quinn.
I have found Happy News Daily sites a waste of my time, as a lot of the time the feel good stories they featured were out of date, and either silly personal interest stories, or feel good corporate press releases that didn't make me feel good at all. "Nike donates athletic shoes to underprivileged urban kids!" or "Exxon plants trees!" "Teenager wins egg eating contest!" Sites like that are trying too hard to get followers, at the expense of actually providing worthwhile content.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:29 PM on February 27 [3 favorites]
I wake up to Ask A Manager, a work advice blog.
posted by Vatnesine at 12:45 PM on February 27 [4 favorites]
posted by Vatnesine at 12:45 PM on February 27 [4 favorites]
Alexa can do a "morning routine" if you happen to have an Echo Show device. It'll give you news briefing, weather and so on.
If you customized Google, it will do an AI daily briefing which is AI generated hosts talk about 3 news items that you had expressed interest in previously.
posted by kschang at 2:19 PM on February 27
If you customized Google, it will do an AI daily briefing which is AI generated hosts talk about 3 news items that you had expressed interest in previously.
posted by kschang at 2:19 PM on February 27
During baseball season, I scan the box scores from the day before. To me, it is very soothing. No matter what is going on in the world, baseball is played. (Of course 9/11 was an exception.) I also look at some random sports stories.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:22 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]
posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:22 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]
I recently deleted most of my social media accounts on which I used to rely on for this purpose. I have replaced them with Wikitok, featured earlier this month on the Blue.
posted by hhc5 at 2:23 PM on February 27
posted by hhc5 at 2:23 PM on February 27
page-a-day paper calendars are on sale at a discount at local bookstores
posted by HearHere at 2:33 PM on February 27
posted by HearHere at 2:33 PM on February 27
The Far Side has a "daily dose". And at the bottom of the page 2 themed "collections" for when you need a little more.
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 3:04 PM on February 27
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 3:04 PM on February 27
Duolingo? It’s very bite-sized and full of cheerful cartoon characters. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but I find it quite light and cheery. If you’re not into languages, it also has courses in music and maths.
posted by penguin pie at 3:26 PM on February 27
posted by penguin pie at 3:26 PM on February 27
So, I've had a kettle/jug on a power switch timer (goes when alarm goes off) on a table next to my bed, and fill a mug with instant coffee or hot chocolate mix. Add a splash of cold water. Sitting and drinking it in bed seems to help wake me up.
posted by Elysum at 3:38 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]
posted by Elysum at 3:38 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]
Curated song of the day — have you cut Spotify? The weekly discover playlist used to be a great source of new music back when I protected my algorithm. (Only works if you never, ever let anyone touch your Spotify or indulge anyone else’s guilty pleasures).
posted by cotton dress sock at 4:07 PM on February 27
posted by cotton dress sock at 4:07 PM on February 27
Chess?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:52 PM on February 27
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:52 PM on February 27
A little bit of candy crush? My Duolingo Spanish is an easy enough level that I don’t mind doing one 2-minute lesson when I wake up
posted by raccoon409 at 6:27 PM on February 27
posted by raccoon409 at 6:27 PM on February 27
I've been really into Worldle for the last few months -- guessing the country just from the silhouette. It's like the other bite-size morning games everyone loves, but you actually learn stuff over time, especially if you do the bonus rounds.
posted by eirias at 7:49 PM on February 27
posted by eirias at 7:49 PM on February 27
Honestly, I’m back using Tumblr for this.
For some reason, the form factor is more comfortable for me than bluesky and I never picked up mastodon.
I follow blogs that identify bugs, post pictures of the wild pigeons they feed, document morning walks in Pennsylvania, and make lots of interesting art. I follow some gimmick accounts, some nostalgia accounts, some that post stuff about fandoms I kinda like (I’m a fan of the source work, but don’t consider myself a fandom person).
I haven’t formed any social ties there, but in a good way. It helps keep tumblr as an app I check on in the mornings and don’t care about following up with throughout the day. I have a wild mix of content in a variety of formats.
Tumblr has its own particular vibe and culture, and while it has its share of terfs, conservatives, and other unsavory sorts, by sticking to primarily art, science, and irony, I pretty much only hear about those issues when people I follow reblog stuff about it.
posted by itesser at 8:30 PM on February 27 [6 favorites]
For some reason, the form factor is more comfortable for me than bluesky and I never picked up mastodon.
I follow blogs that identify bugs, post pictures of the wild pigeons they feed, document morning walks in Pennsylvania, and make lots of interesting art. I follow some gimmick accounts, some nostalgia accounts, some that post stuff about fandoms I kinda like (I’m a fan of the source work, but don’t consider myself a fandom person).
I haven’t formed any social ties there, but in a good way. It helps keep tumblr as an app I check on in the mornings and don’t care about following up with throughout the day. I have a wild mix of content in a variety of formats.
Tumblr has its own particular vibe and culture, and while it has its share of terfs, conservatives, and other unsavory sorts, by sticking to primarily art, science, and irony, I pretty much only hear about those issues when people I follow reblog stuff about it.
posted by itesser at 8:30 PM on February 27 [6 favorites]
Mod note: Added to the sidebar and Best Of blog, thank you for posting!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 2:56 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 2:56 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]
News headlines from a totally different part of the world, if you can find them in English?
Watching the 10pm news is part of my daily routine, but during the bleakest parts of the Covid lockdowns I just couldn't watch night after night of live broadcasts from ICUs around the country.
Instead I started listening to the radio news from the BBC's African service. In a way it was a slightly ludicrous news report - how do you sum up the news of an entire continent for an English speaking audience, many of whom (me included) don't understand any of the myriad local nuances and politics? So it ended up being mostly about elections or very broad brush major political events. But over time I got used to following particular threads of news and it became interesting - and reminded me that there was a world beyond my horizons.
Sadly that report was axed in some round of BBC cost-cutting, but I'm sure there are headlines in English online for quite a few different corners of the planet, perhaps pick somewhere you're intrigued by and start following their news instead? And maybe look for locally-based English language news sources rather than eg. the BBC, which will inevitably have links to US news peppered about the place. A lot of international cities have English language news services.
It scratches the itch of wanting news updates; is interesting and educational; and puts the US experience in some perspective - reminds you that there are places where all this doesn't matter, or where politics has long been a shitshow but folk get up and live their daily lives nonetheless.
posted by penguin pie at 5:49 AM on February 28
Watching the 10pm news is part of my daily routine, but during the bleakest parts of the Covid lockdowns I just couldn't watch night after night of live broadcasts from ICUs around the country.
Instead I started listening to the radio news from the BBC's African service. In a way it was a slightly ludicrous news report - how do you sum up the news of an entire continent for an English speaking audience, many of whom (me included) don't understand any of the myriad local nuances and politics? So it ended up being mostly about elections or very broad brush major political events. But over time I got used to following particular threads of news and it became interesting - and reminded me that there was a world beyond my horizons.
Sadly that report was axed in some round of BBC cost-cutting, but I'm sure there are headlines in English online for quite a few different corners of the planet, perhaps pick somewhere you're intrigued by and start following their news instead? And maybe look for locally-based English language news sources rather than eg. the BBC, which will inevitably have links to US news peppered about the place. A lot of international cities have English language news services.
It scratches the itch of wanting news updates; is interesting and educational; and puts the US experience in some perspective - reminds you that there are places where all this doesn't matter, or where politics has long been a shitshow but folk get up and live their daily lives nonetheless.
posted by penguin pie at 5:49 AM on February 28
You could always do worse than starting your day with We Rate Dogs.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:44 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:44 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
You might like the "Today I learned" or "Interesting as fuck" subreddits. You can click through to the articles and comments if you want, but mostly I don't. I also check a couple of interest-related subreddits, but never ever ever the front page or the News subreddit.
Also, TYWKIWDBI is still out there.
posted by bluesky78987 at 7:22 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
Also, TYWKIWDBI is still out there.
posted by bluesky78987 at 7:22 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
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posted by capricorn at 10:08 AM on February 27 [12 favorites]