The Buzz: Don’t mind us; we’re just sitting here silently, influencing
Published 1:30 am Friday, January 2, 2026
By Jon Bauer / Herald Opinion Editor
The New York Times reports that displays of boredom are going viral on social media, with young people sharing videos of themselves doing absolutely nothing, some lasting up to 15 minutes in length.
One video — and we are not making this up, because it is not in italics — shows a 20-year-old seated on a couch, hugging a pillow, with a laptop facing away from him, its screen showing viewers a running clock. The video time-lapses six minutes of torpidity down to 36 seconds, because who has to watch 360 seconds of sloth?
We’re not mad at this; just sitting silently while we contemplate joining the influencer nation in making money out of videos of ourselves playing solitaire.
In other news that could benefit from a few fits of lethargy:
Check with KISS on their availability for a Kennedy Center residency: Cancellation of performances continue to mount at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, including a “Jazzy New Year’s Eve” performance by The Cookers as well as a dance performance set for April, following the addition of Trump’s name to the 54-year-old arts institution that was dedicated to JFK’s memory. In retaliation, the arts center says it will sue another jazz artist for $1 million after his group pulled out of a scheduled Christmas Eve performance, also protesting the name change.
Credit President Trump with delivering on his promise to turn the center into a moneymaker. What he can’t make in ticket sales for performances, he can try to make up for with performative lawsuits.
We’re going to need a bigger lawsuit: Preliminary data from Neilsen ratings showed low viewership for the Trump-hosted “Kennedy Center Honors,” at which the president presented medallions to the likes of Sylvester Stallone, KISS and George Strait. The CBS broadcast drew its smallest audience ever, with an average of 2.65 million viewers, a 35 percent decrease from the 2024 broadcast’s previous record low of 4.1 million viewers.
But to be fair, it was up against some heavy competition that night including the Frisco Bowl between the UNLV Rebels and Ohio Bobcats on ESPN, the Season 1 finale of “Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House” on HGTV and “Baylen Out Loud” on TLC.
Don’t threaten us with a good time: In promoting his hosting of the Kennedy Center Honors prior to the airing of the taped event on CBS, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “At the request of the Board, and just about everybody else in America, I am hosting the event,” he wrote. “Tell me what you think of my ‘Master of Ceremony’ abilities. If really good, would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make ‘hosting’ a full time job?”
Mr. President, we provide this response in a form familiar to you so you won’t miss it: WE’D WATCH A 24-HOUR, SEVEN-DAY-A-WEEK “FOX AND FRIENDS MARATHON” WITH YOU INTRODUCING SEGMENTS AND DANCING EACH HOUR TO THE DISCO VERSION OF THE VILLAGE PEOPLE’S “Y.M.C.A.” IF IT GOT YOU OUT OF THE OVAL OFFICE FOR GOOD. PLEASE. OH, PLEASE. OH, PLEASE. AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
Master of his domains: A quick-thinking satirist and television writer, who has worked on the animated Comedy Central show, “South Park,” back in August bought the rights to the internet domain names TrumpKennedyCenter.org and TrumpKennedyCenter.com, betting then that President Trump might indeed rebrand the performing arts center. Toby Morton has created satirical websites for the internet destinations that use Trump’s style to mock Trump and others. “I’ve been doing this kind of work for years now, building sites that mirror and expose political power by using its own language against it,” he said.
See kids, with just a little more energy than it takes to shoot video of yourself hugging a pillow while seated on your couch, you, too, can irritate the president and make money doing it.
Email Jon Bauer at jon.bauer@heraldnet.com
