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I Got a New Disease and I Kinda Liked It.

2026-01-02 · letter vlog · Hank · 7:38 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Personal life, Health, Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Hank tells John that a bout of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, whose only lasting effect was to make him take pleasant morning walks, made him wonder whether he would pay to be nudged into healthy habits; since no drug can do that for hyperpalatable online content, he argues for tools such as Focus Friend and We're Here and for social support, wanting his 2026 to be more lived and less scrolled.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank wakes with the room spinning; BPPV confirmed, probably triggered by his cat pulling the curtain rod onto his head

  • ★★★ A few weeks ago Hank woke in the night with the room spinning; he hated it, partly because he knows it has happened to John and that John hates it. — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★ Hank jokes that he still thinks of John as the sickly brother and of himself as the healthy one. (playful) — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★ Having talked with John about his experience, Hank knew it was probably not a stroke; lying still did not help, and sitting up stopped the spinning but left him off balance, woozy and nauseous. — 00:00:20
  • ★★★ From what John had told him and some reading, Hank concluded he had had an episode of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, which his doctor confirmed. — 00:00:50
  • ★★ Hank explains BPPV is usually caused by a crystal from the inner ear shaking loose into the tubes that sense which way is up, signalling movement when you are not moving. — 00:00:50
  • ★★ Hank says the vertigo was probably triggered by his cat jumping onto the shower curtain and pulling the rod down on his head the night before; turning over in bed set it off. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:50

00:01:19 — Lingering morning vertigo cured by short walks: a benign disease that was good for him

  • ★★ For a week or so afterwards Hank had mild vertigo on getting up; a short morning walk outside made him feel better almost instantly and for the rest of the day. — 00:01:19
  • ★★★ What freaked Hank out: the disease was otherwise benign and good for him, only forcing him into a nice morning walk, which is healthy and pleasant and sets him up for a good day. — 00:01:48

00:02:17 — Would he pay to be made a little miserable into a good habit? GLP-1 drugs as a real example

  • ★ Hank would otherwise never take the walk, wanting to stay in bed until the last moment, especially with his phone, 'the universe rectangle', on his bedside table. (playful) — 00:02:17
  • ★★ Hank says these appetite drugs work not by removing hunger but by changing what triggers reward pathways and slowing stomach emptying, so people want junk food less and feel sick eating too much too fast. — 00:02:47
  • ★★ Hank says modern food science hacked food to be too palatable and modern medicine has now hacked the body to make it less appealing: a powerful, somewhat miraculous medicine. — 00:02:47

00:03:16 — New Year's resolutions: long-form media and work, a life defined by humanity more than programs

  • ★★ Hank says yes, he would pay for a medicine that made him want a morning walk and made him a little sick if he skipped it, with no other side effects. — 00:03:16
  • ★★★ Uploading the day after New Year's, Hank names his resolutions: consume long-form rather than very short media, focus on long-form work, and have a life defined more by humanity than by computer programs. — 00:03:16

00:03:52 — Focus Friend's psychology and big year; We're Here newsletter's year

  • ★★ Hank says there is no drug for that, but there are tools he uses, and it has been a big enough theme in his life that he has helped create such tools, which have been very successful. — 00:03:52
  • ★★★ Hank calls Focus Friend a kind of drug: he, like many people, finds it easier to help others than himself, so staying off his phone becomes about not bothering a fake bean cat with a name and a house. — 00:03:52 · Focus Friend
  • ★★★ Hank says he did not work out Focus Friend's psychology, it just seemed like it would work; it had a bonkers launch and year: top app in the App Store, Apple's social impact award and Google's app of the year. — 00:04:21 · Focus Friend, Google
  • ★★ People tell Hank in public they use Focus Friend for everything from time with their kids to studying for the bar exam to watching a movie without their phone; he is really proud of it. — 00:04:50 · Focus Friend
  • ★★ Hank thinks one reason Focus Friend won app of the year is that it has no ads, no data tracking and is free. — 00:04:50 · Focus Friend
  • ★★ Hank says the same holds for the We're Here newsletter, a human-curated slice of the internet, which had a banger year with very high open rates and fans complimenting him in public. — 00:04:50

00:05:19 — Hyperpalatable information hurts us; tools and social support to take agency back; a more lived, less scrolled 2026

  • ★★★ Science found a way to push back against messy food pathways, but Hank does not think we will find one for content platforms that optimized the world for hyperpalatable information. — 00:05:19 · attention economy
  • ★★★ Hank says he no longer doubts that this world of hyperpalatable information is hurting us individually and as a society. — 00:05:19 · attention economy

  • ★★★ Hank says algorithms are amazing at showing us what we want and terrible at showing us what we want to want. — 00:05:48 · recommender system

    “they are terrible at showing us what we want to want”

  • ★★ Hank says we need things that calm these signals, enough that he is putting a lot of time, energy and money into such tools because he cannot control it on his own. — 00:05:48

  • ★★ Hank is working on a big, exciting project in this space that will take a lot of time; it is probably not for viewers, but it will be good and is badly needed. (hedged) — 00:05:48
  • ★★ Hank wants to do the healthy things he likes more and wants his son to be able to as well; that neither can makes him frustrated and scared. — 00:06:18
  • ★★ Hank is not confident the ship can be steered, but is confident he does not have to be on the ship all the time: he can make different decisions. — 00:06:18
  • ★★★ We cannot create a disease that makes you nauseated after too long on your phone (Hank would if he could), so we will build structures of social support and tools to make the choices we want, and use them. — 00:06:47
  • ★★ Hank hopes the next decade will be about people taking some of their agency back; he almost has to believe it, even if he does not think it is true. (hedged) — 00:07:16

  • ★★★ Whatever society does, Hank can choose what it is about for him: he needs his 2026 to be more lived and less scrolled. — 00:07:16

    “I need my 2026 to be more lived and less scrolled”

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says the vertigo is almost entirely gone, with little reminders, especially right after getting up in the morning. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo · Focus Friend · Vertigo

Also: Projects: We're Here newsletter

Organizations: Apple · Google

Concepts: attention economy · GLP-1 receptor agonist · hyperpalatable food · New Year's resolution · recommender system · smartphone

Events: New Year's Day

Products: App Store

Also centred on Vertigo: On Balance

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