Are "Algorithms" Making Us Boring?

As with the Generic Coffee Shops, the thought of ubiquitous Instagram shots of Iceland vacations in the 2010s likely generates a nod of recognition--perhaps even a wry chuckle--in members of the social class to which Chayka and I and (I presume) most Read Max readers belong. But “going to Iceland and taking Instagram photos” is, like “working on yo... See more

But sometimes, uncharitably, I imagine that what’s at the bottom of the consumption of this kind of writing is a desire not to overcome one’s apparent helplessness in the face of “the algorithm” but to affirm it--a compulsion to wallow in one’s perceived estrangement from the motions of culture and commerce and politics in the 21st century, to have... See more