Anti-Social Age
Notes on Derek Thompson's Essay for The Atlantic
Anti-Social Age
If Carr is right, modern technology’s always-open window to the outside world makes recharging much harder, leaving many people chronically depleted, a walking battery that is always stuck in the red zone. In a healthy world, people who spend lots of time alone would feel that ancient biological cue: I’m alone and sad; I should make some plans .... See more
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
This is the money quote
In 2023, 74 percent of all restaurant traffic came from “off premises” customers—that is, from takeout and delivery
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Most restaurants know are take out operations.
Epley sees the exponential growth of AI companions as a real possibility. “You can set them up to never criticize you, never cheat on you, never have a bad day and insult you, and to always be interested in you.” Unlike the most patient spouses, they could tell us that we’re always right. Unlike the world’s best friend, they could instantly respond... See more
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Frictionless everything is another manifestation of the tyranny of convenience.
Convenience becomes more appealing as the bigger stuff in life (career, health, etc) become harder. That’s why it is an inverted function…the more difficult the big things are, the more appealing convenience and frictionless in everything else becomes.
In the 1960s, Irwin Altman, a psychologist at the Naval Medical Research Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland, co-developed a friendship formula characterized by increasing intimacy.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Like a murder in Clue, the death of social connections in America had any number of suspects. But in the end, I believe the likeliest culprit is obvious. It was Mr. Farnsworth, in the living room, with the tube.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Great sentence
Home-based, phone-based culture has arguably solidified our closest and most distant connections, the inner ring of family and best friends (bound by blood and intimacy) and the outer ring of tribe (linked by shared affinities). But it’s wreaking havoc on the middle ring of “familiar but not intimate” relationships with the people who live around... See more
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
In entertainment, as in dining, modernity has transformed a ritual of togetherness into an experience of homebound reclusion and even solitude.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Restaurants go the way of Hollywood
Some of this screen time is social, after a fashion. But sharing videos or texting friends is a pale imitation of face-to-face interaction
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
I think this argument/line of reasoning is not really explored well. Why is it obvious that it pales?
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to poor neighborhoods in big cities, and the community leaders tell me the real crisis for poor teenagers is that there’s just not much for them to do anymore, and nowhere to go,” Klinenberg told me. “I’d like to see the government build social infrastructure for teenagers with the creativity and... See more