dreaming of a better internet

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

We need ritual technology. Technology designed for ritual use.

Why? Most of the software we use daily is designed to engagement-max. Social media feeds, loot boxes, compulsion loops, gang gang yes yes yes ice cream so good. You’re caught in a feedback loop with the algorithm, and you are the squishiest part of that loop.

Ritual technology operates on... See more

Being online more than that just feels like a threat to my creativity. A therapist I interviewed recently told me that digital overconsumption interrupts one’s capacity to dream and create; not to mention, studies of phone addiction suggest that spending too much time hunting for new online trends dulls our ability to appreciate novelty in the real... See more

The trouble with the internet, Mr. Williams says, is that it rewards extremes. Say you’re driving down the road and see a car crash. Of course you look. Everyone looks. The internet interprets behavior like this to mean everyone is asking for car crashes, so it tries to supply them.

if aliens ever land,

we'll board their ship

and discover that they have

a better internet

than we do.