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Once other people start telling you what they like via Like buttons, you inevitably start hewing to their idea of what’s good. And since “people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests,” the stuff you publish will start looking a lot like th... See more

Public “likes,” reactions, or retweets of others’ are “published works” of ours, too. They’re just other atoms in our public library of content. All of this content, intertwined with our identity, is viewable by an audience. And others’ perceptions of this content is considered, ultimately influencing us. The more we publish, the more opportunities

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As is now well known, social media platforms have been deliberately calibrated — using likes, retweets, and other reward mechanisms — to hijack our desire for attention and approval.