Sometimes, online, a phrase appears at the very outside edge of your consciousness, then begins to burrow its way inwards in the manner of some horrifying, probably fatal parasite until it’s everywhere and you can’t remember life before it. This has happened in recent weeks with the expression “lock in”.

First, I started seeing people in gym clothes on TikTok attributing their looks (python in a pop sock for the women; slab of meaty bronzed flesh worthy of Barbecue Showdown for the men) to being “locked in”, a synonym for “focused” or “disciplined” (or, some might argue, “tediously self-obsessed”).

I tried to........

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