Machines need not have agency over us; we can choose how to engage with them. By conserving our cognitive energy and setting meaningful goals, it supports us to act with intention, and we reclaim control. As the research shows, the effort may be high, but so are the rewards.

Our current technological landscape, however, does the opposite. Feeds engineered to hijack attention and keep us scrolling, leaving a trail of anxiety and atomization in their wake. Digital platforms that increasingly mediate our access to transportation, work, food, dating, commerce, entertainment—while routinely draining the depth and warmth... See more

Having convinced a lot of us that we don’t want to go out and have unmediated contact with other people, Silicon Valley is now telling us we do not want to do our own thinking, creating or communicating with other humans.