There are plenty of well-documented reasons to distrust Instagram — the platform where one is never not branding, never not making Facebook money, never not giving Facebook one’s data — but most unnerving are the ways in which it has led me to distrust myself. After countless adventures through the black hole, my propensity to share, perform, and... See more

- "the concrete practices of the tech industry now structure identity and individuality in ways that support its own hegemony. While it presents endless avenues for expression, it sees us as wholly reducible to market logic, where we are real to the degree that our consumption habits are rational. This vision of selfhood promotes uniformity and... See more

Some social technology makes being honest more difficult: for example, it may be harder to be honest on Instagram, if honest posts get fewer likes, or are harder to caption well.

We’ve got to the stage where a 60-second social media advert can make a young man feel more validated than an entire education system. I see that as a pretty drastic problem. When society is not providing a listening ear, an algorithm will fill the void. When I was younger, I felt seen by influencers, but not by the institutions I’m growing up in.... See more