Resisting without disengaging
The media can free itself from the forces that arouse its self-destructive impulses. Some of the tools are already in our hands—antitrust laws to break up tech monopolies. Other tools would change the structure of the game—for example, regulations to classify digital platforms as publishers, with the resulting responsibilities and liabilities. Tech
... See moreGeorge Packer • Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
On one level, disengagement can be understood as an effort to slip apparatuses of control wherever we encounter them. Think of this as a strike for worker empowerment. The bigger question, though, is whether we can ever really escape the toil and trouble for good. It often seems as if we are doomed to sustain the systems and structures that suspend... See more
David J Siegel • Modern Life Subjects Us to All-Consuming Demands. That’s Why We Should Reflect on What It Means to Step Away From It All
Following that lead, I will suggest something else in place of the language of retreat or exile. It is a simple disjuncture that I’ll call “standing apart.”
Jenny Odell • How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
If you value the relationships you formed on Facebook or Twitter, you are likely worried about the future of those relationships. Those platforms are in the hands of arrogant, insulated billionaires who have promised to transform them into something that would be unrecognizable to you, and that’s the best case scenario.