digital media ecology
It’s the social system technology is embedded in that matters
digital media ecology
Algorithmic media companies exploit the difference between our attentional instincts and aspirations. In so doing, they make it harder for us to become who we might wish to be.
nytimes.com
When facts are already known but are worrisome, factual reporting is no longer needed, and it must turn into evaluative commenting.
Within this media environment, the audience generally wants the media to validate or invalidate what it already knows and to scare readers with what they are already scared by. The media must confirm that the scare is... See more
Within this media environment, the audience generally wants the media to validate or invalidate what it already knows and to scare readers with what they are already scared by. The media must confirm that the scare is... See more
Andrey Mir • Post-truth: too good to be true
“Social media is dead” is now the official tech ideology because “social media” successfully served its purpose as an alibi for the complete digitization of experience, promulgating the idea that everything is information, everything can be quantified, and that human beings can enjoy themselves in a system that doesn’t register anything qualitative... See more
Contentment
You might also be aware that all this is delivered by means of “persuasive design”—an umbrella term for an armory of psychological techniques borrowed directly from the designers of casino slot machines, for the express purpose of encouraging compulsive behavior. One example among hundreds is the ubiquitous drag-down-to-refresh gesture, which keeps... See more
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
There is consensus and cohesion within the crowds, but often not across them. Every crowd proclaimed itself the public, while it is merely a public.
Invisible Rulers
... See moreEven as recently as the 1990s, most people interacted with only their relatives, co-workers, and friends each day, plus maybe their local news anchor on TV. Now, though, those same Paleolithic brains are being bombarded with the thoughts of hundreds of strangers every hour. Modern communication in all its forms has put us in contact with more minds
the principles of efficiency and speed and optimization and profitability, recurring themes here of late, increasingly dictate how we act and interact in many if not most of the social spaces we inhabit. Thoughtless automaticity, which demoralizes all parties, becomes our default mode
L. M. Sacasas • Render Unto the Machine
... See moreBespoke realities are made for—and by—the individual. The collision of the propaganda machine and the rumor mill gave rise to a choose-your-own-adventure epistemology: some news outlet somewhere has written the story you want to believe; some influencer is touting the diet you want to live by or demonizing the group you also hate. Other people,
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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