Always good advice: Make your own entertainment; create your own art; and use Twitter sparingly and only to help spread joy or wisdom: https://twitter.com/moviewise 🤗
As one of the characters, Cypher, says in "The Matrix" (1999):
"I think that the Matrix can be more real than this world." So don't unplug, just reshape your reality. Remember, there is no spoon (movie scene):
All rather convincing. I managed to convince myself I needed Twitter to stay across everything that was going on in the world. All very significant. I told myself it was beneficial as a resource for my teaching. Hard to treat it objectively, however. Scrolling is addictive, period.
Lovely, thank you. I recently wrote a little blog post called "Envy machines" on this very same topic, *and* I've been seeing more and more users of the blue bird start to pull up B.F. Skinner's name and question what we're doing. Signs of life!
That’s great to hear, Andrew. I remember first learning about the diabolical Skinner in my first year of psychology classes. Instant revulsion.
And yet years later I became a blue bird user. I suspect that in many instances that we instinctively suss things out reasonably well in our late teens and then only subsequently doubt them because we think: surely life must be more complicated than that.
And it isn’t.
But anyway, as you say there are increasing ‘signs of life’.
Now, I think comparisons to the Matrix are often facile but if I can have something of a Morpheus-like role and convince some people to unplug from Twitter I will feel like my time in the Silicon Valley Skinner Box has ultimately counted for something.
I share your loathing for the term 'content', as well as any references to oneself as a 'content creator'. It can all be categorized as either Art or Advertising in my book.
Excellent article as always, and great advice also. I've sent these to my friends in the hopes of breaking them free of the gamified pull of social media, and it seems to be resonating.
Hope the new approach to Twitter has already started paying dividends in your day-to-day enjoyment of life.
I really appreciate you passing these articles on. Word of mouth is the best form of advertisement. Perhaps it’s the only form that’s truly honest.
The new twitter approach is working well so far thanks (I’m posting maybe 5 screenshot walls of text per week) and it is leading to a slow but steady stream of newsletter readers. As this increases I will back further and further away from the blue bird.
This seems the only sane approach that both compensates me for the time already put in without conversely having to stay fully plugged in to the matrix.
With this email I now hope that I no longer need to discuss the topic of social media. Time will tell.
Always good advice: Make your own entertainment; create your own art; and use Twitter sparingly and only to help spread joy or wisdom: https://twitter.com/moviewise 🤗
As one of the characters, Cypher, says in "The Matrix" (1999):
"I think that the Matrix can be more real than this world." So don't unplug, just reshape your reality. Remember, there is no spoon (movie scene):
https://moviewise.substack.com/p/fifteen-great-movies-each-written
Hi Thomas,
May I use this article as a resource for my Senior English class?
Absolutely, Caleb. Go right ahead.
Oh and here's me not-tweeting not-content - https://www.choirofone.com/
Good stuff. Keep at it.
All rather convincing. I managed to convince myself I needed Twitter to stay across everything that was going on in the world. All very significant. I told myself it was beneficial as a resource for my teaching. Hard to treat it objectively, however. Scrolling is addictive, period.
Couldn’t agree more. How much time we waste under the guise of being ‘productive’
Lovely, thank you. I recently wrote a little blog post called "Envy machines" on this very same topic, *and* I've been seeing more and more users of the blue bird start to pull up B.F. Skinner's name and question what we're doing. Signs of life!
That’s great to hear, Andrew. I remember first learning about the diabolical Skinner in my first year of psychology classes. Instant revulsion.
And yet years later I became a blue bird user. I suspect that in many instances that we instinctively suss things out reasonably well in our late teens and then only subsequently doubt them because we think: surely life must be more complicated than that.
And it isn’t.
But anyway, as you say there are increasing ‘signs of life’.
Now, I think comparisons to the Matrix are often facile but if I can have something of a Morpheus-like role and convince some people to unplug from Twitter I will feel like my time in the Silicon Valley Skinner Box has ultimately counted for something.
Thanks for getting in touch, Andrew.
Tom.
I share your loathing for the term 'content', as well as any references to oneself as a 'content creator'. It can all be categorized as either Art or Advertising in my book.
Excellent article as always, and great advice also. I've sent these to my friends in the hopes of breaking them free of the gamified pull of social media, and it seems to be resonating.
Hope the new approach to Twitter has already started paying dividends in your day-to-day enjoyment of life.
I really appreciate you passing these articles on. Word of mouth is the best form of advertisement. Perhaps it’s the only form that’s truly honest.
The new twitter approach is working well so far thanks (I’m posting maybe 5 screenshot walls of text per week) and it is leading to a slow but steady stream of newsletter readers. As this increases I will back further and further away from the blue bird.
This seems the only sane approach that both compensates me for the time already put in without conversely having to stay fully plugged in to the matrix.
With this email I now hope that I no longer need to discuss the topic of social media. Time will tell.
Thank you as always Conor.
See you on Sunday.
Tom.