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Ravings From Your Local Wizard's avatar

Thank you for elaborating on another reason to rethink social media!

I'm working on a series of essays about rejecting socials and smart tech in general. The conversation on Substack, TikTok and threads is mostly variations of "socials make me feel unhealthy", "I don't like the billionaire monopolies", or "I want to live peacefully".

Sifting through posts about getting off socials has made me realize 1) a lot of these contributors are mostly concerned with losing access to their networks-- they hardly, if ever, use socials for organizing, sharing info, and building intentional community and 2) much of our addiction to socials are rooted in a culture of property ownership and toxic productivity. Given that the internet is entirely reliant upon the participation of us users, it's unfortunate that so many are having trouble imagining how socials/smart tech can build an effective resistance or a better society-- it's like we're forfeiting our agency without even realizing what we can do with it.

I do like the idea of a world that hardly uses socials because immediate community is more prevalent, but I think we're long beyond that point so now it's a matter of reclaiming its use.

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