# Smol Bean  ## Metadata - Author: [[Phoebe Maltz Bovy]] - Full Title: Smol Bean - Category: #articles - Summary: insert summary - My notes: - Summary: The author discusses changes on the Bluesky platform, noting a recent influx of diverse users and a shift away from its previous echo chamber atmosphere. They express concern about the labeling of certain views as intolerant and reflect on the platform's evolving mood, moving from serious political discussions to a more light-hearted tone. The term "smol bean" describes a self-serious attitude that can arise in online interactions, highlighting the challenges of navigating differing opinions on social media. - URL: https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/p/smol-bean - Source File: web-only ## LLM Chats ## NotebookLM ## LLM Audio ## Highlights > What is smol bean? When this topic came up, the first thing I told my editor was that I was trying to find a way to convey *smol bean* to a newspaper audience. It’s a certain stance, a way of presenting oneself as the tender, gentle, too-delicate-for-this-world party in interactions. The other people are the meanies. So if you’re bullying someone online, it isn’t bullying because it’s *you* who’s doing it and you are the smol bean. They are a fascist. Didn’t you see they liked a post by someone who liked a post by that other person who we all know is Bad? > Smol beans are humorless and self-serious. They have no conception of themselves as ever possibly being in the wrong on anything. > The atmosphere *when I first used Bluesky post-election* felt, more than anything, smol bean. The “refugee” thing, but not only. It’s getting better (again, for people who aren’t me), but that was how it seemed. And the smol beans are coming for me. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jht71nyafwq8f8k8narq6p01))