Heads Up
At first, I stopped posting to Instagram and Facebook because both the effort and reward felt, at best, unnecessary—and at worst, cheap and vain. When after nine months of digital silence the bookstore didn’t collapse in on itself, I figured I could abandon the inbox and step away without further comment.
Which I did, with the exception of a pre-election post that did feel necessary at the time—and, despite the outcome, that I still stand by.
But the ever-increasing body of evidence against so-called connective technologies has convinced me beyond a doubt that social media does us more harm than good.
It’s impossible to ignore that since the rise of ad-based media tech, we have collectively become more depressed, anxious, angry, narcissistic, and lonely.
I’ve always tried to use this platform to broadcast good out into the world, but I now believe that anything shared here (even with the best intentions) contributes to the overall dark pattern that systematically robs us of our most vital, non-renewable resource: attention.
And it does this by design, for the profit of others, at a cost immeasurable to its users.
So, until there’s a platform that actually creates sustainably healthy habits and improves our overall quality of life, I will be (to borrow a phrase) extremely offline.
But Joan Didion said “we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not” — so I’ll leave this as a reference and reminder of how we got here. Who knows, maybe some good change will bring us back.
In the meantime: heads up, be kind, and read books.
Supporting material:
The Center for Humane Technology
