Couldn't agree more. Your point on "optimizing for sign-ups and subscriptions" is particularly astute. It concisely highlights the fundamental challenge in content visibilty.
Very good post, Alison. I’ve watching the insanity of LinkedIn algorithms unfold as they’re taken over by AI bots responding to comments made by AI bots to posts that have been artificially propped up by paid services that facilitate all this for a fee. All in order to get your content to the front of the line. I value little on LinkedIn. And I’ve long since given up on Facebook as anything other than a long drawn out commercial for stuff of zero value to me.
I could go on.
I will share something I’ve recently started practicing in an effort to significantly reduce my screen time. It comes from two books: Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach and Do Hard Things by Steve Magness. First, I pause every time I want to pick up my phone or iPad or MacBook for any other reason other than work. I will literally take 7 intentional breaths - which is enough space to help me make a better more intentional choice in that moment. And I’ve also significantly reduced the amount of time I fill in space with air-pod filtered noise. When I run, I run to my breath. When I work out, I do so without music. When I’m in the car, I don’t cram in a podcast (thinking I’ve gotta optimize the 20 minutes it takes to drive my kid to school). It’s amazing what comes up when you confront and don’t avoid boredom.
I love your approach - thank you for bringing Tara Brach into the conversation. I think it's the way. I have an app called ScreenZen that makes me wait 8 seconds after opening a social app before I get to use it which helps me do hard things. I appreciate the reminder that it isn't always easy as all that - we have to lean into it. And totally agree about silence.
One more qualitative data point for you :) I am having a very tough year & in spring I realized I had to dial back all my scrolling. My new schedule is: phone goes away when I go to the bedroom, I can look at it for about 15 minutes when I wake up just because that initial wake up scroll is really hard to beat (like a morning cigarette) & then it goes away again until my work day starts.
Effectively I am breaking the rules writing here but I feel like this is ok.
The things I do to replace scrolling are: read and I have started journaling in a paper book again.
I haven’t quit meta yet because it has so many ties to my real communities, but the other ones were pretty easy to ignore.
I still get a lot of value from Reddit because I belong to subreddits based on my hobbies. But the shift in my physical & mental well-being since starting this has been incredible. And I am still incredibly dependent on & engaged with my little Skinner box. It’s wild, it’s gonna take a lot of collective effort to repair this damage.
That is something to hear the big impact on you physically as well as mentally! I like the 15-minute scroll like a morning cigarette.... It's so individual in terms of platform and use, isn't it t it? And yet we all share the need for repair. Tiktok is my drug of choice lol.
Couldn't agree more. Your point on "optimizing for sign-ups and subscriptions" is particularly astute. It concisely highlights the fundamental challenge in content visibilty.
Definitely. I love that we have had glimpses of a world without gatekeeping but the cost is high. Thanks for being here.
Very good post, Alison. I’ve watching the insanity of LinkedIn algorithms unfold as they’re taken over by AI bots responding to comments made by AI bots to posts that have been artificially propped up by paid services that facilitate all this for a fee. All in order to get your content to the front of the line. I value little on LinkedIn. And I’ve long since given up on Facebook as anything other than a long drawn out commercial for stuff of zero value to me.
I could go on.
I will share something I’ve recently started practicing in an effort to significantly reduce my screen time. It comes from two books: Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach and Do Hard Things by Steve Magness. First, I pause every time I want to pick up my phone or iPad or MacBook for any other reason other than work. I will literally take 7 intentional breaths - which is enough space to help me make a better more intentional choice in that moment. And I’ve also significantly reduced the amount of time I fill in space with air-pod filtered noise. When I run, I run to my breath. When I work out, I do so without music. When I’m in the car, I don’t cram in a podcast (thinking I’ve gotta optimize the 20 minutes it takes to drive my kid to school). It’s amazing what comes up when you confront and don’t avoid boredom.
Isn't LinkedIn wild?
I love your approach - thank you for bringing Tara Brach into the conversation. I think it's the way. I have an app called ScreenZen that makes me wait 8 seconds after opening a social app before I get to use it which helps me do hard things. I appreciate the reminder that it isn't always easy as all that - we have to lean into it. And totally agree about silence.
One more qualitative data point for you :) I am having a very tough year & in spring I realized I had to dial back all my scrolling. My new schedule is: phone goes away when I go to the bedroom, I can look at it for about 15 minutes when I wake up just because that initial wake up scroll is really hard to beat (like a morning cigarette) & then it goes away again until my work day starts.
Effectively I am breaking the rules writing here but I feel like this is ok.
The things I do to replace scrolling are: read and I have started journaling in a paper book again.
I haven’t quit meta yet because it has so many ties to my real communities, but the other ones were pretty easy to ignore.
I still get a lot of value from Reddit because I belong to subreddits based on my hobbies. But the shift in my physical & mental well-being since starting this has been incredible. And I am still incredibly dependent on & engaged with my little Skinner box. It’s wild, it’s gonna take a lot of collective effort to repair this damage.
That is something to hear the big impact on you physically as well as mentally! I like the 15-minute scroll like a morning cigarette.... It's so individual in terms of platform and use, isn't it t it? And yet we all share the need for repair. Tiktok is my drug of choice lol.
One thing you have missed.
Anthropology.
Facebook was once good. Now it is bad.
Substack was once good but today it is loosing its innocence.
Blue sky is becoming good due to not many subscribers.
The common theme?
Herd mentality. Anthropology.
Change is good. change is vital. It allows us to learn from our mistakes.
That is why twitter became bad and converting it to X did not give back its innocence.