This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Read about the sneaky tactics behind bad customer service, a bizarre PTSD therapy that “seemed too good to be true,” why the dictionary might be obsolete, and more.Why Can’t Americans Sleep?Insomnia has become a public-health emergency.By Jennifer SeniorIs This the End of the Dictionary?Obsolete (adj.): no longer in use or no longer usefulRead the article.By Stefan FatsisThe Teen-Disengagement CrisisBy middle school, many kids’ interest in learning falls off a cliff. The ripple effects could last for years.By Jenny Anderson and Rebecca WinthropThat Dropped Call With Customer Service? It Was on Purpose.Endless wait times and excessive procedural fuss—it’s all part of a tactic called “sludge.”By Chris ColinA PTSD Therapy ‘Seemed Too Good to Be True’What if overcoming trauma can be painless?By Yasmin TayagTrump’s Real Secretary of StateHow the president’s friend and golfing partner Steve Witkoff got one of the hardest jobs on the planetBy Isaac Stanley-BeckerStrawberries in WinterMost Americans do not want civil war. Anyone who is declaring it should stop.By Adrienne LaFranceThe Week Ahead107 Days, a political memoir by Kamala Harris about her 2024 presidential campaign (out Tuesday)One Battle After Another, a comedic action film starring Leonardo DiCaprio about a group of ex-revolutionaries who reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own (out Friday in theaters)House of Guinness, a series that follows the aftermath of the brewery patriarch Sir Benjamin Guinness’s death (out Thursday on Netflix)EssaySinna Nasseri for The AtlanticInside the Very Expensive, Extremely Overwhelming, Engineered Fun of Theme ParksBy Bianca BoskerIn recent years, Americans have drifted away from many of their once-beloved sources of pleasure: drinking, throwing parties, having sex, making friends. Yet they keep coming back to theme parks …Even so, park operators have had to work hard to engineer fun at a time when people have become more fickle about what qualifies. “When Disneyland opened, it was the most exciting technological thing you could see,” Phil Hettema, who spent more than a decade working on Universal’s parks, told me. “Now there’s nothing I can see anywhere in the world that I can’t see on my iPhone.”To meet this challenge, rides are bumping against the limits of physics and the human body to deliver experiences that are more death-defying than ever before.Read the full article.More in CultureDavid Sims: Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension is an escalation in every way.It’s fun to be a board-game sociopath.Robert Redford was as real as it gets.The invention of Judd ApatowYou’re probably wearing too much deodorant.Dear James: What to do with my post-DOGE life?Nate Bargatze had one joke.Catch Up on The AtlanticThe Constitution protects Jimmy Kimmel’s mistake.The last Americans really paying taxesIsaac Stanley-Becker: What Charlie Kirk told me about his legacyThe running mate Kamala Harris didn’t dare choosePhoto AlbumChilean flamingos in Puerto Natales, Chile (Caro Aravena Costa / 2025 Audubon Photography Awards)Take a look at the winners and honorable mentions from the Audubon Society’s 16th annual competition, featuring amazing images of bird life from around the world.Play our daily crossword.Explore all of our newsletters.When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.