Meg Kissack

Digital Garden, Digital Sanctuary and Salon...

We’ve normalized algorithmic mediation of our relationships to the point where it feels natural to have a feed “curate” who we hear from. But there’s nothing natural about an advertising platform deciding which of your friends you get to see.

Social media promised us connection. What it delivered was optimization—for engagement, for ad inventory, for keeping us scrolling just a little bit longer. And somewhere in that translation, we lost something critical: the ability to maintain meaningful presence and connection in a way that respects both creative process and human attention.

Without housework, child-rearing, and care work, the labor force would break down. Waged workers wouldn’t be as productive. Young workers wouldn’t replace retiring workers.

This is reproductive labor. “Reproductive labor is all the work needed to sustain a productive workforce for generations,” writes Angela Garbes in her book, Essential Labor .... See more