The Atlantic decides to state the obvious by observing that technology has ushered in a Golden Age for introverts. We introverts have been aware of this fact for some time, but we didn’t feel compelled to call attention to our growing influence and power. I mean, we’re not the kind of people who like to brag (seriously, it sends us into panic attacks), but even we didn’t imagine how successful we would be. After all, in what rational world would a self-conscious geek like me be able to claim he has 200+ friends without cash exchanging hands? Yet Facebook doesn’t lie.

I’m going to spend the weekend recovering from my first 5-day workweek in over a month. If you’re looking for a quick diversion and have the Chrome browser installed on your computer, check out the interactive video for OK Go’s new song “All Is Not Lost”. If the video is any indication of future trends, web content will either get much more interesting or much more annoying. The song itself is worth a listen as well.

Count me among those who isn’t making unhinged threats to cancel his Netflix subscription in the wake of the company’s recent announcement of price increases for its streaming/DVD bundles. While I’m a little irked at another price increases so soon after a previous increase last winter, I understand Netflix’s motivation. Licensing streaming content from the studios requires mountains of cash and having customers pay $8.99 for streaming and DVDs via mail isn’t going to cut it. Netflix’s streaming selection is still thin, but that isn’t going to improve without additional revenue. I’ll still pay less than $30 per month after the price hike and I still consider that a bargain considering the convenient entertainment it provides me.

Netflix will probably have a rich streaming catalog before long and the whole DVD-by-mail model will begin to seem archaic. In the meantime, I don’t object to funding their ongoing efforts to keep me glued to the TV.

I’ve been to many concerts, but never one quite so full of technical wizardry and skilled showmanship as Saturday’s U2 concert. Despite a driving rainstorm that lasted for most of the two hours that the band was on stage, they treated the audience to a thrilling performance that highlighted their consummate professionalism and musical cohesiveness. Songs that are 20 years older or more–like “Mysterious Ways”, “Pride”, and “I Will Follow”–sounded fresh and vital. The Edge’s falsetto accompaniment on “The Fly” and “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” was almost indistinguishable from the original recorded tracks. Bono was Bono: swaggering and dramatic and pompous. But it’s hard to roll your eyes and maintain one’s postmodern sense of irony when he’s leading 60,000 people in a sing-along of “Where the Streets Have No Name”. All you can do is smile and join in.

The band kept most of its focus on its older catalog (a wise move, considering the forgettableness of their last couple albums). I was pleased that they included “Zooropa”, one of my favorites from their early flirtation with electronica. I wasn’t sure what to make of the enormous claw-like structure that formed the stage, but the giant video screen was a nice touch. Seeing their oversized selves perform in the rain was like watching a music video directed by someone who stopped watching MTV in 1989. And I mean that as a compliment.

I’ve seen U2 in concert three times now (always in Minneapolis) and I expect I’ll probably see them again. They showed no signs of growing tired of the touring life. But it will be difficult for them to top the sheer spectacle of this performance.

When I returned to work today, many of my colleagues mentioned how they tuned out the news while they were unemployed. “Reading the news just made me angry,” said many of them. I can sympathize with that sentiment. There’s not much good news to be had at the moment, what with all the talk about debt default, climate weirding, and oppressive regimes overseas. Avoiding the news seems like a sensible prescription for better mental health and a happier disposition.

But I’m not one of those people who can tune out. If I don’t scan my newsfeeds at least a couple times a day, a general sense of unease settles over me. It’s probably a mild case of OCD exacerbated by Twitter and the like. If I could physically manipulate my iPhone during commutes and waits in checkout lines, my compulsion would be even more apparent. All this time spent absorbing the world’s dysfunctional behavior probably isn’t doing anything to improve my own catalog of neuroses, but it does give me some small and amorphous sense of control. That desire for control is probably what drives most information junkies. We know we’re all powerless against the tidal forces shaping world events, but we secretly hope that whatever scraps of information we glean from our constant scanning can somehow be fitted into the edifices of our own lives. It makes no sense, I know, but that won’t stop me opening Google Reader as soon as I’m done with this post.