dreaming of a better internet
sari and
dreaming of a better internet
So, despite Sullivan’s claims to the contrary, the Internet has sucked for me in the last 10 years. Not only because I was forced to create content in a way that pleases their many rules, but because I have to compete with SEO-optimized garbage fuelled by people with deep pockets and desires for deep pockets.
However, this year, I regained more joy... See more
However, this year, I regained more joy... See more
Elizabeth TaiIn Essays • Is the Internet really broken?
SEO-optimized anything needs to go away. Ads are dead. What is the new model?
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are engines of distraction and cultural rot. They stand in front of the more difficult but more rewarding aspects of life: deep work, intimate connections with friends and loved ones, focused attention for hobbies with intrinsic rewards. By training users to crave constant novelty and the immediate approval of... See more
Adam Singer • TikTok and Instagram are intellectual poison
"Irony is the song of a bird that has come to love its cage." - David Foster Wallace
Above all, people need agency. They need to feel in control. Sometimes, that means designing for subversive behavior. I mean, isn't the most fun often had when you're breaking rules? But this is enormously difficult in software, where you must design almost everythingfrom scratch. Unlike life, you don't get a common repertoire of actions for free –... See more
XH • Internet Playgrounds
The problem is no longer getting to express oneself but finding moments of solitude and silence in which one might eventually find something worth saying. – Gille Deleuze
Bluesky acts more like a particularly large Discord server--a place to socialize, bullshit, banter, and kill time--than it does like a proper Twitter replacement. For many people I think this is fine; I’m not sure how much the world needs a “Twitter replacement” anyway. But the distinction is still important. Part of what’s made Twitter so
... See moreBrian Merchant • Bluesky's Success Is a Rejection of Big Tech's Operating System
A tradeoff occurs every time you get feedback. You become slightly more mainstream, slightly more aligned with the zeitgeist. You become marginally more of an exploiter than an explorer , standing on the shoulders of the giants who conceived the paradigm you’re striving to build upon. This is very effective when you want to align your work with... See more
Leber • The Feedback Tradeoff
It might seem that the close coupling of digital innovation with the market was inevitable, but our present reality is only one possible digital world — creating others is still possible, and there is little time to waste.
Rachel Coldicutt • Sunshine Machines: Towards a Feminist Future of Digital Care
community w/o walls
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