In this age of Infinite Browsing Mode, we should pick a damn movie and watch it all the way through — before we fall asleep.
Pete Davis
Harvard University Commencement 2018, 2018
Video starts at 6:57 — the moment this quote was spoken
The Story Behind This Quote
Davis's closing line brings the speech full circle to where it began — the Netflix metaphor of scrolling through options endlessly until you're too tired to choose and just fall asleep. After building through the philosophy of liquid modernity, the examples of committed heroes like Fred Rogers and Dorothy Day, and the litany of neglected duties, he calls for a counterculture of commitment consisting of "solid people" in an age of liquidity. The final image is both funny and urgent: stop browsing, pick something, and see it through. It became one of the most-shared commencement speech lines of 2018.