4 ms·

Do you really find all media to be equally rewarding? So that you are not tempted to rank sources / content and draw a line in the sand, cutting away the obvio

Do you really find all media to be equally rewarding? So that you are not tempted to rank sources / content and draw a line in the sand, cutting away the obvious dross? I'm age 60, but have lived/worked in/on the net since modem bulletin boards were hot. I have no problem culling way more than 99% of what's e-published or e-shared, revisiting only a few reliable e-sources daily. If I've learned anything in my decades as a net denizen, it's that very little out there deserves my rapt attention. Why is self-isolation from the e-barrage necessary? Is the siren song of every fresh bit of e-drivel really that intoxicating? My modest suggestion: hold your e-sources to a higher standard; budget your time when jacked-in so that you're not just killing time whenever you go virtual. If we've learned anything from the politics of 2016, it's that media and social streams are nothing but noise -- a perpetual loop that repeats ad finitum and ad nauseum.

munificent 9y ago
> Is the siren song of every fresh bit of e-drivel really that intoxicating? Yes, it is. Media and the apps that provide it have had literally billions of dollars invested in learning how to manipulate our psychology and capture as much of our attention as possible. Clickbait, notifications, automated A/B testing to determine which thumbnail images maximize clicks, etc. There is a giant, incredibly well-funded machine whose turbines are running 24/7 to suck our attention into it. > My modest suggestion: hold your e-sources to a higher standard; budget your time when jacked-in so that you're not just killing time whenever you go virtual. I think maybe you missed the point of my comment. The verbs you use there -- "hold" and "budget" -- are exactly the problem. I am doing that, but performing those actions themselves has a cost. I can either be drained because the Internet/social media thing sucked away all of my attention, or drained because I spent all of my energy standing fast against the tide. Either way I'm drained.

munificent 9y ago

> Is the siren song of every fresh bit of e-drivel really that intoxicating? Yes, it is. Media and the apps that provide it have had literally billions of dollars invested in learning how to manipulate our psychology and capture as much of our attention as possible. Clickbait, notifications, automated A/B testing to determine which thumbnail images maximize clicks, etc. There is a giant, incredibly well-funded machine whose turbines are running 24/7 to suck our attention into it. > My modest suggestion: hold your e-sources to a higher standard; budget your time when jacked-in so that you're not just killing time whenever you go virtual. I think maybe you missed the point of my comment. The verbs you use there -- "hold" and "budget" -- are exactly the problem. I am doing that, but performing those actions themselves has a cost. I can either be drained because the Internet/social media thing sucked away all of my attention, or drained because I spent all of my energy standing fast against the tide. Either way I'm drained.