Elise Shaffer

On June 23, 2018, Geoff Thew, creator of YouTube channel Mother’s Basement published a video analyzing the problematic social commentary of David Cage’s Detroit: Become Human. Thew details all the consequences of the decisions made for the game, calling Cage out for creating a racial allegory and then trying to deny what he made after it was clear the message of the game was offensive. Watching the second season of Carole and Tuesday, I couldn’t stop thinking about his video.

I sat at my computer on September 16th, staring at the email I’d spent the last week composing. I read over it again as so many feelings washed over me. I was anxious, but excited. My hand hovered over the send button. This was an email I couldn’t take back. I reread the email one final time, took a deep breath, closed my eyes and hit “send.” It was done.

I wake up every morning to an inbox that is almost unmanageable. It’s overrun with LinkedIn notifications and marketing emails. Email has become a stressful slog that I find myself procrastinating. Prior to the announcement that Basecamp was working on an e-mail service, I had spent a few months trying every email client in the App Store. But, I ultimately kept defaulting back to iOS Mail and macOS mail. So, I was open to trying a new service.

I’ll warn you up front the reason I’ve switched is superficial and unsatisfying.

By all accounts I’ve had an incredibly successful career. I came from a poor family and built a career in one of the highest paying professions in the country. I am incredibly lucky.