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# Screenshots of Quiet Desperation
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/screenshots-of-quiet-desperation/
- Published: 2012-04-06T18:10:43.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:36:45.000Z
- Description: LOS ANGELES — Henry David Thoreau said it best, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Little did he realize he was predicting the advent of social media. Screenshots of Despair, a new tumblelog, taps into these moments of despair.
- Author: AX Mina
- Tags: Opinion, Social Media, Tumblr, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

LOS ANGELES — Henry David Thoreau said it best, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Little did he realize he was predicting the advent of social media. [Screenshots of Despair](http://screenshotsofdespair.tumblr.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a new tumblelog, taps into these moments of despair. Their [stated goal](http://screenshotsofdespair.tumblr.com/about?ref=hyperallergic.com) is simple:

> “This is a tumblr cataloguing online messages that evoke feelings of despair.”

It’s filled with gems [like](http://screenshotsofdespair.tumblr.com/post/20063413216/via-chmmr?ref=hyperallergic.com):

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/04/despair1.png)

And [this one](http://screenshotsofdespair.tumblr.com/post/20113426937/via-daniel-bower?ref=hyperallergic.com), straight out of a bureaucratic state:

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/04/despair2.png)

The early posts strike me as the funniest, as the author adds his own commentary. Taken from their context, these screenshots are dark, disturbing and desperate. They are the dredges of cyberspace inflicting their negativity on all of us, each day, slowly weighing us down. And they’re funny too.

When reviewing my posts recently for Hyperallergic, I logged into WordPress and saw that one post didn’t have any tags. I was left with this message:

![Wordpress tags: none](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/04/none.png)

I hung my head in my hands, had a few drinks to console myself and … added a few more tags.

*h/t* [*Design Observer*](http://observersroom.designobserver.com/robwalker/post/screenshots-of-despair/33228/?ref=hyperallergic.com)