digital media ecology

Although influencers are still closely associated with dance videos, e-commerce, and marketing, their role in shaping public opinion- especially around politics-is outsized. Influencers can harness attention, radiate trust, evoke emotion, and direct energy—all to great effect. They capitalize on atmospheric vibes and intuitions, giving people the

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the database experience frames the encounter with narratives so that we experience narratives as just so many entries in a database of information.

Narrative is a tool by which we extract (or impose, depending on your perspective) meaning from the chaotic flux of being in the world

The Faustian bargain of the digital age—free or cheap digital conveniences in exchange for our data—was only ever explained to us after it was already a done deal. And it represents an enormous and radical shift not only in how we live but also, far more importantly, in what our lives are for. We are all mine sites now, data mine sites, and despite

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Western democracies, by contrast, with our open speech and open systems, are supposed to have a commons, a marketplace of ideas that allows for cross-cutting dialogue and eventual consensus. It has been replaced by an information ecology shaped by algorithmic selection. Content and creators optimized for engagement outcompete everything else—not... See more

We chase numbers and icons because they’re always available, and the chase is often so immersive that it keeps us from seeing where it leads, which is often far away from what we actually want. This can lead to what the evolutionary psychologist Diana Fleischman calls “counterfeit fitness”: the constant, momentary “wins” that come with playing... See more

Basically, a simulacrum is a representation that no longer has an actual referent; there’s no preexisting reality it refers to, it has become the reality itself.