Lurkers; Infinite choice; After liberalism
Issue #359
💡Think
Hey everyone, it’s been a while!
I was asked this week what my thoughts were on the social media landscape, given I spend so much time in or around it.
Honestly? It’s a bit of a disaster. Twitter has gone the way of “buy my stuff!” / everything is an advert, LinkedIn is apparently where we all post selfies and write inspirational quotes, and Instagram is somewhere you can lose 3 hours per day endlessly flicking the screen, no problem.
In none of these networks do I feel that we have a “social” aspect, which defeats the point. What we are in now is a dollar squeezing, where metrics promote addiction, and where our need-this-buy-this is fed to infinity. If you haven’t read the book Hooked, we’re practically living it.
Some positive though! I have noticed a deep desire for people to meet more in person, which is a surprise given how comfortable we got in our comfies, but is a very welcome sign for how this social gap can be plugged.
Have a great week 👋
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ We’re all lurkers now
This article may slap you round the face. It discusses how everyone is online, but no one is contributing. We’re all in the shadows! They summarise way better than I could the introduction to this newsletter, highlighting that we’re all turning “outward”, growing silent, and sitting in digital rooms alone.
❷ The sterile world of infinite choice
This article discusses a “yearning for limited options”, in a world where we can get everything we want in an instant. If you either missed it, or forgot about the world before instant access everything, well this will be refreshing. I wanted to quote so much of this article, as it rang very true with how I’m feeling at the moment. Here’s one more great quote: “algorithms do the work for cheap, but when they reflect our taste back at us.”
❸ What comes after liberalism
A bit of philosophy and politics to finish this week. This jumps into discussing how we now live in a hyper liberal world, where we’re assaulted by the politics of our own identity.
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Bonus round
An interactive scrollable article uncovering loneliness in the US. The visual style is fantastic
🎧 Listen
The MLM-to-coaching pipeline
Linking back to my opener, I mentioned how everything is for sale. This podcast looks at that phenomenon under the microscope. It’s a bit more “story” than I’d normally share, and looks at one person’s exposure to marketing pyramid schemes, but I enjoyed it regardless. The content relates incredibly well to the problem we have in tech at the moment where everybody is making a damn course.
Listen to this podcast (45 mins)
Spotify – Apple
Have a great week,
@disco_lu