One night, stupidly late (1am is stupidly late as a person in their 30s), I was scrolling TikTok, not being able to sleep (maybe causation over correlation). Looking for everything and nothing. And a video came up: some guy I have never met and will never meet, talking to no one in particular but everyone all at once, saying the kind of comforting, validating thing you'd want someone to say to you in that very moment, but didn't realise. He seemed to directly address an emotional wound I'd been carrying, and I felt welcome relief. He didn't know me. He wasn't selling anything (I don't think). He just... said the words. The exact words. Some algorithm lobbed a stranger's voice halfway around the planet into my bedroom at 1am. That's it. The observation (I'd call it an insight but let's not go too far) that some things can only be said by a stranger. A friend telling you it'll be alright is doing a job; you can hear the (loving) duty in it. A stranger has no agenda, no history with you, nothing whatsoever to gain. Nothing gets past your defences like someone who had no reason to bother, except that they did.

afterthebeep.fm

An answerphone for kind messages from strangers

An answerphone for kind messages from strangers