Real social media has not been tried. Social media creates tremendous network-building opportunities that hardly anybody realizes, and hardly anybody is doing anything about. People’s intuitions are still calibrated for old media. (why I tweet like a maniac, thread)
Instead, meditation apps most often lead users to “reinterpret their experiences as mindful, even when digital platforms ironically lure them into practices that are distracted and compulsive,” writes anthropologist Rebecca Jablonsky.
Bottom line: Network proximity is now on par with physical geography, and basic geopolitical assumptions about citizenship, migration, power projection, and the use of force need to be rethought for the digital world.