This week I’m on vacation in London, so today’s post is going to be a bit different. Perhaps a bit more philosophical and meandering than usual. But there have been some things floating around my head about the relationship between culture and technology that have clarified a bit for me during this trip, and I want to get them written down even if they’re not yet fully crystalized.
I think this is important. My understanding is that research indicates a good life is ultimately about relationships. To the extent that social media/distraction/addiction apps make us depressed, I don’t think it’s ahedonia in the same way opioids work. Apps can’t strip your brain of pleasure receptors. But like television in Bowling Alone, apps make us miserable to the extent they substitute for meaningful relationships. It’s the time.
Pretty much every major media revolution has caused a good deal of dislocation and trauma. The printing press supercharged pogroms and witch hunts and led to 150 years of wild religious warfare all over Europe. Canadian psychologists ran a natural experiment on the last towns without or with limited access to television in the country and found that the introduction of television reduced community engagement and even cognitive performance in children and adults. "Connection as unmitigated good" was the naive belief that drove everything from Usenet to Facebook - well, it turns out that in Myanmar Facebook connected a lot of people to other people who wanted to kill them.
As an aging millennial who Facebooked all the way through college with his peers, it seems like most of us have lost interest in social media. Pretty much the only thing we use Facebook for is to post about a major life event to work the knowledge through the grapevine, and Instagram is a photography board. TikTok is truly scary - just dystopian, brain jamming propaganda out of a Paul Verhoeven movie - but I don't know where it's going to go.
As the internet gradually becomes overrun with algorithmic slop I hope people return to curated blog rolls, personal websites, and things like that, but I'm not hopeful.
I think Peggy agrees with you on the sacredness angle. The popsicle poster that "reminds the client of something" seems intentionally reminiscent of religious imagery, with the circle of the popsicle logo forming a halo around the mom's head. I love that show so much...
I think this is important. My understanding is that research indicates a good life is ultimately about relationships. To the extent that social media/distraction/addiction apps make us depressed, I don’t think it’s ahedonia in the same way opioids work. Apps can’t strip your brain of pleasure receptors. But like television in Bowling Alone, apps make us miserable to the extent they substitute for meaningful relationships. It’s the time.
This is a beautiful piece, Jeremiah.
Pretty much every major media revolution has caused a good deal of dislocation and trauma. The printing press supercharged pogroms and witch hunts and led to 150 years of wild religious warfare all over Europe. Canadian psychologists ran a natural experiment on the last towns without or with limited access to television in the country and found that the introduction of television reduced community engagement and even cognitive performance in children and adults. "Connection as unmitigated good" was the naive belief that drove everything from Usenet to Facebook - well, it turns out that in Myanmar Facebook connected a lot of people to other people who wanted to kill them.
As an aging millennial who Facebooked all the way through college with his peers, it seems like most of us have lost interest in social media. Pretty much the only thing we use Facebook for is to post about a major life event to work the knowledge through the grapevine, and Instagram is a photography board. TikTok is truly scary - just dystopian, brain jamming propaganda out of a Paul Verhoeven movie - but I don't know where it's going to go.
As the internet gradually becomes overrun with algorithmic slop I hope people return to curated blog rolls, personal websites, and things like that, but I'm not hopeful.
I think Peggy agrees with you on the sacredness angle. The popsicle poster that "reminds the client of something" seems intentionally reminiscent of religious imagery, with the circle of the popsicle logo forming a halo around the mom's head. I love that show so much...