failings of the modern internet

Information expands to fill the space available, and in our 24/7 culture and modern media environment, the space available is infinite. This means there are now more news stories than there is actual news. W. David Marx calls this the Parkinson’s Law of Media.

Every adult senses that their attention is slipping, that their thinking is flattening, that their world is flooded with noise, no neutrality, and that no institution really exists to protect them. Your brain is for sale, my guy - as your attention goes, so does your cognition, so does your sense of depth and certainty.

Confidence, optimism, and... See more

Algorithms anticipate what we want before we even know we want it. ALGORITHMS anticipate. We don’t

When some of us hear the word community we think of Instagram. We think of Reddit. Or abstract concepts like the LGBT community or mental health communities, nothing real or solid. Which is why whenever someone says something like online communities are a lifeline for young people! I feel like screaming because it’s just so bleak. What have we... See more

The omnipresent do-anything button of AI is certainly tempting. And companies including OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft are encouraging such behavior while hoping to prove out their investment in AI tools.

An AI post on LinkedIn is bringing that same microwaved dinner to a potluck. You should be embarrassed in either case! Not by your lack of skill or practice in putting together words, but your lack of respect for not even trying.

What is so insulting to me about those AI-written messages is that they take less time and consideration to produce than they do to consume. You are, by the nature of sharing these automated words, signaling to me that you care less about my time and attention than you do your own. Of course you’re free to believe that as much as you like—in your... See more

We are now in the era of the AI-born LinkedIn expert. Their mastery is dropping a story into ChatGPT and asking for a perky LinkedIn post summarizing it. (LinkedIn even has its own AI writing assistant that encourages people to “Rewrite with AI” to serve up this slop.) They snatch the thoughts and research of others, reconstitute it, and present it... See more

Since platforms reward those whose content gets saved, creators forgo shame, regularly rounding off content with a “Save this for later!”. But what do we get in return? A digital junk drawer that can weigh us down in the same capacity as physical clutter. There are other architectural features of the digital experience that contribute to this, such... See more