The Tyranny of Numbers - By Thomas J Bevan - The Commonplace

The contemporary idea that more is better, that follow counts are a good indicator of popularity, that basing the world almost solely around economies and GDP is reasonable would have appealed to him. He lay the groundwork for them. 

Which leads on to my next point. See, not only do numbers not capture what matters (love, happiness, awe, spirituality, creativity are by definition unquantifiable beyond mere surface appearances) they are also extremely open to manipulation.

I wonder: how much of contemporary anxiety and depression (in the sub -clinical ‘I feel sad all the time’ sense) is a result of perpetual unpaid metric management during what is allegedly our free time?