digital life—digital cultures
We are adrift–a culture of consumers accustomed to buying objects and building collections as the sole means of documenting our cultures–deprived of the infrastructure to do so. But our individual inability to collect and store is one I’ll lament the least.
Yes, we’re drifting, but maybe we can choose to float towards a more collective stewardship... See more
Yes, we’re drifting, but maybe we can choose to float towards a more collective stewardship... See more
Michelle Santiago Cortés • Crimes Against Search | Dirt
personal agency vs enshittification
The smartphone turns us into fragmented actors in a perpetual now.
You’re in a War You Can’t See: McLuhan, Media, and the Machinery of Perception
Logging off
It’s easy to forget that we used to find music, movies, photography, and books entirely offline. You’re more likely to discover something truly serendipitous and surprising flipping through vintage magazines at your local public library than endlessly scrolling an Instagram feed that’s already tailored to your taste. Stroll through an... See more
It’s easy to forget that we used to find music, movies, photography, and books entirely offline. You’re more likely to discover something truly serendipitous and surprising flipping through vintage magazines at your local public library than endlessly scrolling an Instagram feed that’s already tailored to your taste. Stroll through an... See more
Escape the algorithm | Dirt
And on the internet in 2025, true transgression means making something algorithms can’t promote.
Tumblr users did something unhinged again
Everyone’s posting about 2016, with a heavy dose of nostalgia.
In 2016, Instagram switched their default feed from purely reverse chronological feed to algorithmically-sorted. In retrospect, this marks the beginning of a shift towards a passive, spoon-fed internet.
Product design matters — people are hungry for digital tools that actually allow them... See more
In 2016, Instagram switched their default feed from purely reverse chronological feed to algorithmically-sorted. In retrospect, this marks the beginning of a shift towards a passive, spoon-fed internet.
Product design matters — people are hungry for digital tools that actually allow them... See more
New_ Public (@wearenewpublic)
Keepsakes—like luxury watches or rare books—are already finding their place in the second-hand market, attracting collectors and enthusiasts of contemporary relics. In the future, digital keepsakes could also acquire invaluable worth. Imagine, for example, a Friend pendant worn by a major celebrity or a groundbreaking scientist. This small object,... See more
Laurent François • The promises of digital keepsakes
Dec 03, 2024
“Authenticity”, I think, looks like the power to opt in or out, perform or not, when you want to—in other words: freedom. So when it comes to the Internet, if switching off entirely isn’t possible any more, then surely the words of MGMT can be useful: “control yourself, take only what you need from it.”
The New Nostalgia
It’s not that anyone is forcing us to humiliate ourselves; it’s that we’ve come to equate being known with being exposed.