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Yes, there are nice things about social media (which includes Substack). Yes, there are kind and helpful and funny and good interactions that can be had there/here. But for me, the question of whether or not to get involved with social media is not a question of whether or not I might get some benefit from it. Of course I will at least feel like I do while I’m doing it—it’s designed that way.
The deeper question I ask myself is:
Am I willing to be manipulated, degraded, distracted, and abused by the platform itself, and am I okay with knowing that by participating I am adding to and supporting the collective degradation/destruction of our society’s attention, focus, and dignity?
I have been off of all social media (except Substack obv) for about two months now. Not that long, really. But already — just as was true of quitting drinking, though it took MUCH LONGER to gain the same perspective on it — one of the greatest realizations is that I no longer think in the language of the thing that was crushing my spirit. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of doing things that degrade us is not only doing the thing itself, but also how doing the thing changes the way we think about ourselves and the world.
Things that matter to our hearts and souls as human beings, things like presence, purpose, love, honesty, integrity, creativity, free will, and beauty, are all chipped away at by algorithms that favor ‘engagement’ (a word which, in this context, translates more accurately to deliberately fostering obsession, addiction, anxiety, fear, anger, paranoia, greed, and self-sabotage). In order to ‘engage’ we must first submit to mind games, behavior modification, mood manipulation, hierarchies, ranking, popularity contests, interruptions, stats, likes, snubs, mass marketing, labeling, filters, lies, self-consciousness, judgments, branding, time sucks, endless opinions/comments, etc. It’s the gamification of life according to big tech’s inhumane rules, which makes it not what life is supposed to be at all. At least not a creative, joyful, secure, curious, and free one.
I think as creative artists and people in recovery, it’s a mistake to assess our engagement with social media as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ based on disjointed, individual interactions we might have on there on any given day. We need to remember that the overall picture for us is that, above all else, we need to be in full control of our own minds, thoughts, nervous systems, self-regulation, values, discipline, and beliefs. It is essential to stay true to ourselves. The goal of all social media is at odds with this core requirement. The goal of social media is to ruin our connection to ourselves by hyper-feeding us the outside world’s noise, so that we keep coming back to the platform to make ourselves feel better. Oh—and to buy shit. Same/same.
Facebook literally added the ‘like’ button because it made our ‘connections’ mimic the addictive quality of slot machines. Unpredictable rewards + quick and easy repeatable behaviors are how they get us to keep pulling the lever; not for more pleasure, but to end the pain of not getting what we want each time. We are considered no more intelligent or precious than pigeons forced into a box and made to perform the actions the lab techs want.
It’s behavior modification of a sadistic kind. Not for our enrichment but for their bottom line. All social media, including Substack, needs more eyeballs for more of the time. Here on Substack, they make money by convincing us creatives that we want to have more and more subscribers. Substack wouldn’t have added Notes and DMs and all the ranking and check marks and numbers otherwise. It’s not the platforms trying to make us happy— it’s the platforms making money by hacking into our time and attention to our own lives elsewhere. That’s all it ever is. It’s the world’s most elaborate marketing machine (attention economy / surveillance capitalism).
The way to evaluate the benefits and detriments of social media is not in terms of whether or not the people on it are ‘so nice’ (because for the most part people are nice! both on and off social media!), but rather in terms of what the platform does to (secretly and deliberately) manipulate our emotions and moods, wreck our attention and focus, and loosen our grip on reality. Not only as individuals but collectively, we are being made to feel uncertain and unstable in our most vulnerable internal places. This creates fear. Fear creates a breeding ground for addiction. En masse.
In my view, we in recovery cannot afford to let anything outside of us mess with our heads. It’s good and necessary to be vigilant about this. We have worked too hard for our freedom from being controlled by a thing that destroyed our presence of mind. Did we have some fun times drinking? Yes, of course. Is it worth fucking with alcohol again after we finally got free to try to get those times back? No way, not for me.
Yes it’s great to see my loved ones in their posts. But at what cost to my overall ability to be truly present and appreciative when I’m actually in their presence in real life?
Rejecting these platforms is about removing chaos, manipulation, and distraction from my mind, heart, spirit, and experience. It has nothing to do with whether or not I want to see my loved ones, or share, or care, or inspire others, or be inspired. Of course I do. But it’s so much more beautiful and fulfilling to experience love and inspiration in ways that are free of Big Tech’s ulterior motives. Time spent chatting together over coffee; looking each other in the eyes. Listening. Slowing down. Nature walks. Reading library books. Art projects. Visits to museums, beaches, parks, lakes, and art galleries. Painting whatever I want on my own. Being alone with my thoughts.
No likes. No comments. No interruptions. No pokes or prods or polls. No bullshit.
If all this sounds dramatic, or it’s too much to take on the big picture because fuck, we are just trying to get through another day and sometimes scrolling just seems to help in the moment, I hear you. I get it.
Here’s a gentler, less fraught, less existential-crisis-kind-of-way of thinking about whether to keep or ditch social media (even if it’s just for a while). I donated four large bags of clothes to a shelter last week. I let go of not just what no longer fit me, or I didn’t like because the color was ‘off’ or whatever little thing that caused me to not want to wear it ever for many, many years. I also got rid of a good amount of stuff that fit fine and I liked, but I just don’t have the space in my closet to store it comfortably anymore. I want a less cluttered life. And because I don’t want a life with extra stuff jammed in where it doesn’t need to be, it’s worth clearing out some things that I like a little bit, to make sure what I love most is a hell of a lot easier to see.
P.S. Here are a few (5) great books I have read recently on this subject more broadly: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari; Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter; The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff; Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier; and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.