Seth Werkheiser

@sethwxyz

I write the Social Media Escape Club newsletter. I love helping creative people escape algorithms. I also enjoy running, taking photos, and my cat Blue.

socialmediaescapeclub.substack.com

Threads is still a loss leader for Meta financially, though it can certainly afford to fund it indefinitely. Internally, I’m told execs are thinking about turning on ads in Threads sometime next year, though the exact plan is still up in the air.
from Threads hits 175 million users after a year by Alex Heath
The enshittification happens like clock work.
Creator platforms algorithmically incentivize us to create at the pace Wall Street and the market demand. This is why we’re pushed to create more and more. Not because our audiences are asking for it. Not because the world needs more of what we have to say. Because we as artists, the platforms, and their investors desire, to varying degrees, growth... See more
from The artist and the inner retreat
But the informational value of the web has been nearly destroyed. Fake News isn’t even the biggest problem. It’s the digital ecosystem’s insistence on stifling curiosity by prioritizing ANSWERS over questions.

Most impactfully, the web has been systematically re-engineered to hinder discovery in order to drive people as quickly as possible to comme... See more
from Questions and Cancers by Joe Maceda
To change the stigma around needing to be constantly available and avoid phone addiction as a whole, Sheeran made the decision to get rid of his phone and only use an iPad. His primary method of communication is now email, with the singer explaining that he only checks it around once per week
from Ed Sheeran reveals he hasn’t owned a cell phone since 2015
2020-12-30

Screenshotting as one of the essential underrated tools of the digital age - the equivalent of inventing cameras for the physical world, so we can take “pictures” of everything happening around us in the digital realm, and share + discuss it
from Nadia Eghbal by nadia.xyz
So with all the caveats —we’re goofs, you shouldn’t trust companies, no one knows what the future holds, I am a literally insane person— I don’t expect this video work to “change Substack” in any deep way.
from Note by Mills, 𝔄𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔒𝔟𝔩𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔞 on Substack
A little over a year ago, I appointed myself Washington Park’s artist-in-residence. I’m not sure the people who run the park ever knew I was their artist in residence, but it didn’t matter. A self-appointed artist in residence doesn’t require anyone’s approval: that’s the singular benefit of doing it this way.
from The Self-Appointed Artists Residency | Amy Stewart
I often think of the Noah Smith quote: “Fifteen years ago, the internet was an escape from the real world. Now, the real world is an escape from the internet.”
from Clicks & Clout: How We Seek Status In the Digital Age
My latest column at The New Yorker is about the revenge of homepages: Why we're turning toward individual websites as the platform era of the internet continues to disintegrate.

I started working on this piece because I've found myself going to homepages more often. It's a way to get a controlled, curated look at what a publication offers, and a ch... See more

from Threads hits 175 million users after a year by Alex Heath

from The artist and the inner retreat

from Questions and Cancers by Joe Maceda

from Ed Sheeran reveals he hasn’t owned a cell phone since 2015

from Nadia Eghbal by nadia.xyz

from Note by Mills, 𝔄𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔒𝔟𝔩𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔞 on Substack

from The Self-Appointed Artists Residency | Amy Stewart

from Clicks & Clout: How We Seek Status In the Digital Age