digital media ecology
The immersive, turbulent, mediatized flow.
It’s the social system technology is embedded in that matters.
digital media ecology
A resistance fighter understands that technology must never be accepted as part of the natural order of things, that every technology—from an IQ test to an automobile to a television set to a computer—is a product of a particular economic and political context and carries with it a program, an agenda, and a philosophy that may or may not be
... See moreNeil Postman • Technopoly
Fragmented attention serves platforms better than focused attention because fragmented users scroll more, click more, engage more, and stay online longer. Platforms discovered that shorter bursts of content keep people engaged more effectively than longer, deeper content. They built systems that reward and train fragmented attention.
This created a... See more
This created a... See more
What Scrolling Did to Reading
Today, novelty is overrated.
Does that mean novelty is always bad? No. Does that mean that novelty isn’t also at times a creative re-working of existing ideas in a new context? Also no. But today we are saturated with it, and it’s always worth examining whether the current saturation is actually serving us or whether we are simply being pushed... See more
Does that mean novelty is always bad? No. Does that mean that novelty isn’t also at times a creative re-working of existing ideas in a new context? Also no. But today we are saturated with it, and it’s always worth examining whether the current saturation is actually serving us or whether we are simply being pushed... See more
Adam Robbert • The Lost Art of Memory
The antidote to this compulsive, numbing overload will be found in deliberative friction, design patterns that introduce pause and reflection into digital interaction, or platforms and algorithms that create space for intention.
The Last Days Of Social Media | NOEMA
The deeper I went, the more I noticed this phenomenon all around me: individuals not guided by legible principles or beliefs, but acting as members of groups playing yin to the other’s yang—well versus weak; awake versus sheep; righteous versus depraved. Binaries where thinking once lived.
Naomi Klein • Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
us versus them tribalism
As Reason was in the Age of Enlightenment which we are now definitively exiting, vibes are self-authorizing—viral. Whether you believe or not is precisely beside the point: vibes are belief, relieving you of the burden of believing in anything yourself.
John Ganz • Vibes Cartel
The section on “the medium is the message” can, perhaps, be clarified by pointing out that any technology gradually creates a totally new human environment.
Marshall McLuhan • Understanding Media
the ease of exchanging digital speech has shifted the focus of mass communication from reflections to reflexes, from substance to attitude. Social media demand that everyone relate to others, to their ideas, to their troubles and achievements—indeed, to their very existence.