My Internet: Brynn Wallner
The Dimepiece founder might lean into Linkedin this year and get rich.
Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.
Most weeks, we quiz a “very online” person for their essential guide to what’s good on the internet.
Today we welcome Brynn Wallner, the founder of Dimepiece, a “femme forward resource launched in 2020 for anyone who might be into watches, from newcomers to seasoned collectors.” She has also written about watches for Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, and The Financial Times. Brynn is not seeking an alternative to Twitter, but every now and then she’ll use “create mode” on Instagram stories to say something like “Saltburn … I want my money back.” —Nick
EMBEDDED: What’s a recent meme or post that made you laugh?
BRYNN WALLNER: My friend Chris Chang (aka @negnance) has the most demented algorithm and always sends me the goods… Through him, I discovered @b3n1s (lol) and have watched this video, like, a hundred times. It reminds me of something I would have watched on eBaum’s World when I was 13 and leaves me with a stupid smiley look on my face.
EMBEDDED: What shows up on your TikTok For You page?
BRYNN WALLNER: I don’t do TikTok. Social media makes me feel sick as is and TikTok takes it over the edge.
EMBEDDED: Do you still tweet? Why?
BRYNN WALLNER: I’ll log on to “X” once a month to tweet something promotional to up my engagement, i.e. “Check out this video I did with Cartier” etc.
EMBEDDED: Have you found any good alternatives to Twitter?
BRYNN WALLNER: No, and I’m not seeking one. But every now and then I’ll use the “create mode” on Instagram stories to say something like “Saltburn… I want my money back.”
EMBEDDED: What do you use Instagram for?
BRYNN WALLNER: I use it primarily for work, managing the Dimepiece Instagram account. I use it socially, too, but this also feels like work because DMs pile up like unread emails. I like to post on stories but am the worst at getting back to responses. And if you see me on your story “view” list, that means you’re very special.
EMBEDDED: What types of videos do you watch on YouTube?
BRYNN WALLNER: I’m into this channel called “Country Life Vlog” which features videos of this older couple in Azerbaijan making insane quantities of food from scratch on their bucolic property. The videos have no music or talking—just sounds of nature and the cooking, as their dogs and cats and chickens scurry around—and are on the longer side (15-20 minutes). They’re very soothing (but I avoid the ones where they cook meat). This is the video that kicked it off for me.
EMBEDDED: Where do you tend to get your news?
BRYNN WALLNER: Print editions of The New Yorker (which I really still love) and New York magazine (which I find myself hate-reading), both of which I subscribe to. I also listen to the daily podcasts via the “failing” New York Times and The Economist.
EMBEDDED: How do you keep up with the online discourse? How important is it to you to do this?
BRYNN WALLNER: I used to keep up, but now it feels irrelevant to me (or maybe it is I, myself, who feels comfortable with the idea of being irrelevant). If something is truly important, I trust that it will find its way to me. That being said, I keep up with the online discourse within the watch community because it’s essential to my job.
EMBEDDED: Where do you usually discover or learn about online trends?
BRYNN WALLNER: Through friends who diligently and frustratingly keep me in the loop. Harry Hill, I’m looking at you.
EMBEDDED: How do you find recommendations for what to watch, read, and listen to?
BRYNN WALLNER: Word of mouth, usually. I’ve found myself slacking on keeping up with the hot TV shows because they’re not as fun without the element of the online discourse. I didn’t finish Succession this year, and I don’t think I ever will. When it comes to new movies, I just see what the indie movie theaters in New York have playing or watch anything starring Jacob Elordi.
Every now and then I’ll pick up on a recommendation from the internet and let that lead me down the rabbit hole. I discovered The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown via an interview with John Early on the podcast “Celebrity Book Club with Steven and Lily.” Reading Tina Brown led me to the late ‘70s/early ‘80s Claus von Bülow murder trials which led me to the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune (Jeremy Irons is so hot), adapted from the Alan Dershowitz book, which is on my list.
Tina Brown also led me to Tom Wolfe (embarrassingly late in life), which led me to The Bonfire of the Vanities and to his 1976 essay on “The Me Generation” which helps put into perspective the fact that our generation isn’t that drastically more awful and selfish than those that came before us.
EMBEDDED: What’s something that you have observed about the online behavior of Gen Z, Millennials, and/or Boomers?
BRYNN WALLNER: Gen Zs are addicted to marketing, always honing and perfecting their “personal brand” beneath the facade of enjoying/creating more raw and unfiltered content. Millennials are all about the money, using social media overtly and subtly to promote their work and, ultimately, further their careers out of survival. Boomers are the ones who actually use social media for leisure, blissfully consuming things like dog videos or informational click bait for fun.
EMBEDDED: If you could create your own social media platform, what would it be like?
BRYNN WALLNER: I couldn’t create a social media platform in good faith. I’d rather write a book.
EMBEDDED: What are your favorite Substack or other independent newsletters?
BRYNN WALLNER: The only newsletter I read is Opulent Tips (“the internet’s first invitation-only Natural Style-Email Newsletter, answering all your burning questions about shopping, style...and life”) by Rachel Seville Tashjian Wise. If newsletters came in print, I’d read some of them but I hate looking at my screen!
EMBEDDED: What’s one positive media trend? What’s one negative trend?
BRYNN WALLNER: My head hurts thinking about an answer to this question.
EMBEDDED: Are you into any podcasts right now? How and when do you usually listen?
BRYNN WALLNER: I listen to The Daily (NY Times) and The Intelligence (The Economist), swapping between the two almost every week day, always skipping the episodes diving deep into American politics. I sometimes tap into Celebrity Book Club with Steven and Lily when I need a break from that, but, for whatever reason, I find it hard listening to podcasts that aren’t “serious.”
EMBEDDED: Have you had posts go viral? What is that experience like?
BRYNN WALLNER: The first time I ever went viral was in college. It was my senior year in spring 2012, and instead of studying for finals, I made a blog posting what were essentially memes poking fun at the culture there. I’d walk past people in the library and everyone had it up on their laptops. Nobody knew it was me until word got out and I felt like a mini celebrity. I also remember feeling like the frat guys finally understood I had a brain.
And then I was going Twitter-viral like once a week during the pandemic, saying literally nothing that turned into something because everyone was bored at home. I do miss the guilt-free early pandemic Twitter days when it was genuinely used to connect with people.
EMBEDDED: Who’s the coolest person who follows you?
BRYNN WALLNER: Jay Luchs, the commercial real estate king of Los Angeles. I love his perspective on LA.
EMBEDDED: Who’s someone more people should follow?
BRYNN WALLNER: My dear friend Chris Chang aka @negnance. He takes great photos and his stories are wonderfully “curated.” And I also love his perspective on LA, a city that I constantly yearn for.
EMBEDDED: Which big celebrity has your favorite internet presence, and why?
BRYNN WALLNER: Lana del Rey. I’ve been a die-hard fan ever since she uploaded her self-made videos for “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans” in 2011. Her life is art, and I love observing how she commits to (and cycles through) different slices of American culture. Currently, she’s living the simple, suburban, domestic life—finding splendor in things like rolling Southern thunderstorms while on tour—which is where I’m at spiritually.
EMBEDDED: Have you ever been heavily into Snapchat? Do you miss it?
BRYNN WALLNER: No and no.
EMBEDDED: When was the last time you browsed Pinterest? What for?
BRYNN WALLNER: I can’t remember!
EMBEDDED: Do you have a take on Tumblr?
BRYNN WALLNER: I used to have a music blog hosted on Tumblr but was never “into Tumblr,” which I feel kind of sad about. I think there was genuine creativity and culture there, and I missed out on it.
EMBEDDED: Are you in any groups on Reddit, Discord, Slack, or Facebook? What’s the most useful or entertaining one?
BRYNN WALLNER: No.
EMBEDDED: How has using LinkedIn benefitted you, if at all?
BRYNN WALLNER: It has never benefited me because I don’t give it anything. If I actually used it and actively uploaded my career news through there, I believe that it would lead to opportunity. Maybe I’ll lean into Linkedin this year and get rich…
EMBEDDED: Do you use Slack or another chat tool for work? What’s the best thing about Slacking with your co-workers? What’s the worst thing?
BRYNN WALLNER: I’m my own boss and my only employee, so no. I used it briefly at former corporate jobs and still get triggered by the little clicking message sound.
EMBEDDED: Do you typically start searches on Google, Reddit, TikTok, or another source? Have you tried AI-powered search on Bing or elsewhere?
BRYNN WALLNER: Always Google, but I’ve learned to severely mistrust the provided answers in the “People always ask” section, even though they’re so convenient. Finding “good” information on Google often requires the work of cross-referencing multiple sources, and even then, it’s all up in the air.
EMBEDDED: What most excites you about AI chatbots and text and art generators? What most concerns you?
BRYNN WALLNER: What’s most concerning about AI is that it sources information without thorough fact-checking.
But I’m excited for AI’s creative potential, augmenting the real work of real people. My boyfriend just released a short book using incredible images generated with the help of AI. It’s called Chihuahueño: 1830-1860, chronicling a fictional history of chihuahuas in Mexico.
EMBEDDED: Are you currently playing any console, computer, or phone games?
BRYNN WALLNER: No.
EMBEDDED: Do any of your group chats have a name that you’re willing to share? What’s something that recently inspired debate in the chat?
BRYNN WALLNER: I’m not big into group chats; I really think that’s masculine behavior, like how dudes go bar hopping in entourages of, like, six. I’m more of a one-on-one girl, and the largest my active group chats will get are three people including myself, and they have names like “Men in Media (MIM)” or “Timothee4life.”
EMBEDDED: What’s your go-to emoji, and what does it mean to you?
BRYNN WALLNER: The crying emoji, which expresses immense joy or an unbridled reaction to cuteness. Like if you send me a photo of your dog or your pregnant belly or an announcement of how well your love life is going, it’s always… 😭😭😭
EMBEDDED: Do you text people voice notes? If not, how do you feel about getting them?
BRYNN WALLNER: I don’t mind receiving them because it means I can multitask while listening. I always respond with typed text, though.
EMBEDDED: What’s a playlist, song, album, or style of music you’ve listened to a lot lately?
BRYNN WALLNER: Always always always LANA DEL REY! I’m a stan!
And then… I’m not even sure where I discovered her page, but I follow لیلا رحیمی (Leila Rahimi) on Spotify. I’ve googled her and she’s really hot, but, more importantly, her music taste is elite, featuring everything from Persian psychedelic rock to John Denver to rap to the best of ‘80s new wave. I started with her “holywood” playlist a while ago, but they’re all great and suited for different moods.
EMBEDDED: Do you pay for a music streaming service, and if so, which one? When was the last time you bought a music download or vinyl record, CD, or tape?
BRYNN WALLNER: Spotify premium. And I just bought a cassette tape copy of Lana del Rey’s poetry book Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass accompanied by instrumental music from her frequent collaborator and (frequently hated-on… why???) Jack Antonoff. The rampant, mindless hate of Jack Antonoff actually is a good example of why I don’t particularly like social media. I’m not even a crazy Jack Antonoff fan, I just happen to love his work with Lana (and Folklore is the only Taylor Swift album I’ve ever gotten into). Whatever he’s doing works for me! So… what if I just enjoyed music without seeing what non-expert, know-it-all critics have to blab about?
EMBEDDED: If you could only keep one streaming service for TV and/or movies, which would it be, and why? In general, do you prefer to get ads or pay more for ad-free tiers?
BRYNN WALLNER: HBO aka “Max” because it has Sex and the City, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Sopranos—all of which I cycle through constantly as an alternative to keeping up with whatever the hot show is now. I pay for most ad-free streaming services because I love burning money.
EMBEDDED: What’s your favorite non-social media app?
BRYNN WALLNER: Duo-Lingo (ad-free, obviously). I’m 300+ days into learning French to help my career in the watch world, which is dominated by the French-speaking Swiss. It has already paid off because even the gesture of making an effort to understand the language (and the curiosity required to do so) goes a long way.
EMBEDDED: What’s the most basic internet thing that you love?
BRYNN WALLNER: Memes!!!
EMBEDDED: Is there any content you want but can’t seem to find anywhere online?
BRYNN WALLNER: I wish I could revisit my old MySpace page and Xanga journal entries from high school and peer back into my innocent, young mind.
EMBEDDED: Do you regularly use eBay, Depop, or other shopping platforms? What’s a recent thing you’ve bought or sold?
BRYNN WALLNER: I get most of my clothes on The Real Real, and I sell there too (out of convenience, not for profit cus I be making nothing). I was into Depop during the pandemic, but it’s a lot of work and I got sick of bartering with Gen Zs.
EMBEDDED: Have you recently read an article, book, or social media post about the internet that you’ve found particularly insightful?
BRYNN WALLNER: I still think about Dean Kissick’s last column for Spike Magazine, The Downward Spiral: The Loveliest Trick of the Devil (December 2022). I’m hardly smart enough to truly absorb the whole essay, but what I got from it is that it’s okay to strive for beauty and happiness in this world in which much of culture is dominated by the idea that we’re doomed and everything sucks.
It also includes this statement, quoted from a Tweet: “I had a French professor who once said if you just did something like going to the supermarket and experienced it fully without the goggles of habit and catégories you would go crazy with pure sense and joy.” As someone who just spent 20 minutes in the beauty aisle smelling shampoos (for fun, not to buy) at a Ralph’s supermarket in suburban Southern California, this really resonates with me.
EMBEDDED: What’s the last thing that brought you joy online?
BRYNN WALLNER: The audio recording of Lana del Rey’s poem “Sportcruiser,” which tells of her taking flying and sailing lessons in order to find personal direction after a breakup. It ends with a realization that she had it all along, she just needed to explore deeper inside.
All of this circumnavigating the earth,
Was to get back to my life
Six trips to the moon for my poetry to arise
I’m not a captain,
I’m not a pilot
I write!
I write.
Thanks Brynn! Read Dimepiece.
