Ernie Smith Tedium Jun 2026

In an era of digital media characterized by rapid-fire news cycles, viral clickbait, and algorithmic churn, has built a career by looking in the opposite direction. Since 2015, his newsletter and digital publication, Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet , has served as a sanctuary for the obscure, the forgotten, and the intentionally "boring".

Tedium is the antidote to shallow content — a lovingly crafted digital museum for the mundane, built one footnote at a time. If you enjoy 99% Invisible or The Atlas Obscura , you’ll feel right at home. ernie smith tedium

From the type of milk he buys (2% with a fat content of 2.08% to be exact) to the exact route he takes (including a detailed description of the traffic light he encounters), Ernie's story is a never-ending exercise in monotony. In an era of digital media characterized by

If you’ve never read Tedium , try these three representative pieces: If you enjoy 99% Invisible or The Atlas

By embracing the mundane, Ernie's tale allows us to laugh at the absurdity of everyday life. It's a clever subversion of our expectations, as we're typically conditioned to seek out excitement and entertainment.