One of my favorite magazine features over the years was the item Sports Illustrated called, “This Week’s Sign That the Apocalypse Is Upon Us.” It was just a sentence or two recounting a crazy fact or happening that left you smiling or shaking your head—or both.

Things like this from 1999: “Houghton Mifflin’s recently released history textbook for fifth-graders, ‘Build Our Nation,’ covers the Depression and the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt in 33 lines, while devoting two pages to Cal Ripken Jr.”

So, in the spirit of wonderment, here are a few recent “Signs” to consider.

Sign #1 – In 2020, the average American spent more than 1,300 hours on social media, according to Uswitch. Facebook, where Americans spent 58 minutes per day led the way, while Instagram was the second most-used platform. Among Gen-Z, Instagram was most popular, taking up almost 53 minutes of their time on average each day.

Sign #2 – YouTube crossed the 2 million mark for “creators” in the YouTube Partner Program, which helps creators monetize their content. The number of YouTube channels generating revenue of six figures or more rose more than 35 percent year-over-year.

Sign #3 – How does Michael Jordan connect with soccer star Lionel Messi? Well, in 2018 the French soccer club PSG partnered with the Jordan Brand, the Nike unit that makes the Air Jordan line. When Messi moved to PSG this summer, the team reportedly sold $140 million of his No. 30 jerseys and apparel worldwide. Jordan gets a 5 percent slice of the brand’s sales, thus earning him about $7 million on the Messi jerseys.

That’s more than Jordan made in a single season during most of his NBA career.

mtosh@jobson.com