Vibe Shiftlessness

I did an exhaustive search of every opinion column published by major U.S. newspapers since the recent election, and I found that the phrase “vibe shift” appears 4,322 times. That number is a complete fabrication — I did no such search — but I would argue that it gets the vibe right.

Vibes are a kind of weather that emerges from the immaterial flow of information in our digital world.

Out of the chaos of messages some viral wind emerges. It blows in one direction until its force dissipates and other winds begin to blow in other directions. The source of the wind remains obscure. It’s a vibe.