Really love the phrase “algorithm-friendly anti-algorithm content.” The online world seems to have convinced itself that everything desirable is attainable by a few unique lifehacks that you Must Click Here to learn. Phone use, fitness, personal finance... the algorithm loves a system or a series of tricks.
But all the best advice is simple and boring and unwanted and the only thing that worked for me was getting rid of that damn phone
In the same vein as DFW’s irony quote, I think a lot of these “algorithm-friendly, anti-algorithm content” essays are sort of get rich quick schemes to escape what Mark Fisher once called reflexive impotence. But as you said, these quick tips are mostly immaterial and don’t actually remedy the impulse to read more of them. Pop culture especially has the impulse to both express and further entrench its own disillusionment, but I loved Mel’s video essay because they denaturalize this disillusionment by re-centering the agency of a material artistic perspective over an immaterial algorithmic one.
There’s a great afterword in MF’s ’Ghosts of My Life’, written by Simon Reynolds that talks of finding new ways to balance the “pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will, the need for realism and the imperative to dream a new reality”. I feel the tension of that balancing act in all of your writing, Eliza! And every time you interrogate this tension, whether by reading or writing about it, you help to “denaturalize the pessimism” (in MF’s words) of the modern world. I think there’s a lot of potential for new possibilities in this tension…I kind of think it’s the whole point.
Yeah I just think that the antphone pieces are fundamentally correct, the critics of the antiphone pieces know that they're fundamentally correct, but they find that they can't minimize or even reduce their phone use in their own lives and that makes them uncomfortable, so they have to come up with this whole boutique ideology around finding ways to hate the antiphone pieces in order to reduce the psychic discomfort
As someone who never used a smartphone often (I just compute while on the computer) I actually don't mind the anti-phone pieces. Please do more to get my normie friends to put down their devices and hang out. It doesn't have to be insufferable can do this in any # of ways. But yes certainly people do write this stuff as clickbait and for attention too, for sure.
i would super recommend DFW's essay "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction", he goes into depth about his idea of irony as a corrosive force in discourse about entertainment media. it's almost prophetic about the kind of half-serious tone a lot of Phone Bad essays take
I've long been fascinated by the irony of "algorithm-friendly, anti-algorithm content", especially as it appears on Substack. To me, the hypocrisy is less glaring. It's clear that most young people are seeking some kind of reprieve or escape from the algorithms that define us, but can't truly envision a path forward without them, hence the posting on Substack (which has gained a reputation of being a Better form of social media but thats a whole other can of worms).
The core question I, and so many others, seem to be grappling with is one of balance: how to incorporate the benefits of technology that allows us to be more connected with one another's ideas than ever before into a life that holds value beyond interacting with a screen. We can't afford to disavow algorithms entirely, especially when creative careers now require an online presence.
Another banger thought-provoking essay -- a better world IS possible!
like you, I read a lot of anti-smartphone pieces without actually quitting my smartphone. then I read one more, by someone my age, with a similar career, with a similar level of adolescent internet brainrot -- who had managed to live without a smartphone for multiple years. that piece convinced me I could do it. and I did! it's been six months, and, at the risk of sounding like the hypothetical poster you are sending up here, my life has changed for the better.
imho, taking the time to explain how to resist the digital status quo is a good thing. how do you live without a smartphone when so many companies, governmental institutions, and individuals assume you have one? when i gave mine up, i really benefited from posts/newsletters/articles that answered that question.
Reading a piece like this makes me wanna reply with my own thoughts and I think that connection matters even if it isn’t some Connective Ideal , it matters and I think the world, or my world, is better for it.
Gonna sit with this and maybe write some stuff maybe
Necessary preface before this comment - I’m an internet culture writer & worked in tech for the first decade of my adult life. Specifically with & around & on social media platforms and smartphones.
I have been struggling with what you describe in this essay so much — I end up falling into this almost reactionary pro-Internet posture. This finally clarified these feelings for me after years of contradicting myself & kneejerk responses. Great piece.
Such a great piece. Really happy I logged on to read this out of everything on substack today. I have been inundated with “how to get offline” pieces and left with the same feelings towards them. You articulated them perfectly and built upon them infrastructure I hadn’t even considered.
Over my bowl of yoghurt this morning I told my boyfriend of my recent decision: to leave my phone at home for our interstate holiday. Your piece has found me at quite a time - because it has caused me to think about what we actually want when we decide to get rid of our phones. What do I actually want?
I think the answer is connection. Maybe? Maybe.
But now, reading all these comments and plagued by the reality of it all - is the world even built for that anymore? If we all agree on Phone Bad, what now?
What I want is to put phone down on my holiday and go have a chat to a stranger at the coffee shop. I think I want small talk about the weather. But I’m not going to go strike up a conversation when someone has airpods in.
Thank you for this piece. Thank you for your writing which I always enjoy.
Just want you to know I spent the first 3/4 of this essay picturing Grammy award winning - fifth wife’s the charm- David Foster (Yolanda’s ex from rhobh).
You are on to something with the mirror neuron fantasy! I/we consume so much how-to content on such a wide variety of topics and so often do not DO anything
Really love the phrase “algorithm-friendly anti-algorithm content.” The online world seems to have convinced itself that everything desirable is attainable by a few unique lifehacks that you Must Click Here to learn. Phone use, fitness, personal finance... the algorithm loves a system or a series of tricks.
But all the best advice is simple and boring and unwanted and the only thing that worked for me was getting rid of that damn phone
😮💨
In the same vein as DFW’s irony quote, I think a lot of these “algorithm-friendly, anti-algorithm content” essays are sort of get rich quick schemes to escape what Mark Fisher once called reflexive impotence. But as you said, these quick tips are mostly immaterial and don’t actually remedy the impulse to read more of them. Pop culture especially has the impulse to both express and further entrench its own disillusionment, but I loved Mel’s video essay because they denaturalize this disillusionment by re-centering the agency of a material artistic perspective over an immaterial algorithmic one.
There’s a great afterword in MF’s ’Ghosts of My Life’, written by Simon Reynolds that talks of finding new ways to balance the “pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will, the need for realism and the imperative to dream a new reality”. I feel the tension of that balancing act in all of your writing, Eliza! And every time you interrogate this tension, whether by reading or writing about it, you help to “denaturalize the pessimism” (in MF’s words) of the modern world. I think there’s a lot of potential for new possibilities in this tension…I kind of think it’s the whole point.
Yeah I just think that the antphone pieces are fundamentally correct, the critics of the antiphone pieces know that they're fundamentally correct, but they find that they can't minimize or even reduce their phone use in their own lives and that makes them uncomfortable, so they have to come up with this whole boutique ideology around finding ways to hate the antiphone pieces in order to reduce the psychic discomfort
As someone who never used a smartphone often (I just compute while on the computer) I actually don't mind the anti-phone pieces. Please do more to get my normie friends to put down their devices and hang out. It doesn't have to be insufferable can do this in any # of ways. But yes certainly people do write this stuff as clickbait and for attention too, for sure.
i would super recommend DFW's essay "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction", he goes into depth about his idea of irony as a corrosive force in discourse about entertainment media. it's almost prophetic about the kind of half-serious tone a lot of Phone Bad essays take
I've long been fascinated by the irony of "algorithm-friendly, anti-algorithm content", especially as it appears on Substack. To me, the hypocrisy is less glaring. It's clear that most young people are seeking some kind of reprieve or escape from the algorithms that define us, but can't truly envision a path forward without them, hence the posting on Substack (which has gained a reputation of being a Better form of social media but thats a whole other can of worms).
The core question I, and so many others, seem to be grappling with is one of balance: how to incorporate the benefits of technology that allows us to be more connected with one another's ideas than ever before into a life that holds value beyond interacting with a screen. We can't afford to disavow algorithms entirely, especially when creative careers now require an online presence.
Another banger thought-provoking essay -- a better world IS possible!
like you, I read a lot of anti-smartphone pieces without actually quitting my smartphone. then I read one more, by someone my age, with a similar career, with a similar level of adolescent internet brainrot -- who had managed to live without a smartphone for multiple years. that piece convinced me I could do it. and I did! it's been six months, and, at the risk of sounding like the hypothetical poster you are sending up here, my life has changed for the better.
imho, taking the time to explain how to resist the digital status quo is a good thing. how do you live without a smartphone when so many companies, governmental institutions, and individuals assume you have one? when i gave mine up, i really benefited from posts/newsletters/articles that answered that question.
Reading a piece like this makes me wanna reply with my own thoughts and I think that connection matters even if it isn’t some Connective Ideal , it matters and I think the world, or my world, is better for it.
Gonna sit with this and maybe write some stuff maybe
Necessary preface before this comment - I’m an internet culture writer & worked in tech for the first decade of my adult life. Specifically with & around & on social media platforms and smartphones.
I have been struggling with what you describe in this essay so much — I end up falling into this almost reactionary pro-Internet posture. This finally clarified these feelings for me after years of contradicting myself & kneejerk responses. Great piece.
+1 on a reactionary pro-internet response lol, I get almost defensive like “don’t you make fun of that thing it’s family!!”
If you haven’t already seen it, I think you’d enjoy these two videos by the brothers green!
https://youtu.be/0veampRSw7w
https://youtu.be/9euKCrTyMEc
+
Such a great piece. Really happy I logged on to read this out of everything on substack today. I have been inundated with “how to get offline” pieces and left with the same feelings towards them. You articulated them perfectly and built upon them infrastructure I hadn’t even considered.
Over my bowl of yoghurt this morning I told my boyfriend of my recent decision: to leave my phone at home for our interstate holiday. Your piece has found me at quite a time - because it has caused me to think about what we actually want when we decide to get rid of our phones. What do I actually want?
I think the answer is connection. Maybe? Maybe.
But now, reading all these comments and plagued by the reality of it all - is the world even built for that anymore? If we all agree on Phone Bad, what now?
What I want is to put phone down on my holiday and go have a chat to a stranger at the coffee shop. I think I want small talk about the weather. But I’m not going to go strike up a conversation when someone has airpods in.
Thank you for this piece. Thank you for your writing which I always enjoy.
Felt my mirror neurons fire a lot during this Eliza, just like while I was reading DFW
"beneath the annoyance is a sadness"... I so often feel this way
if only my brain would latch on to the anti-phone rhetoric instead of the act of liking and then continuing to watch tiktok for hours.
Just want you to know I spent the first 3/4 of this essay picturing Grammy award winning - fifth wife’s the charm- David Foster (Yolanda’s ex from rhobh).
You are on to something with the mirror neuron fantasy! I/we consume so much how-to content on such a wide variety of topics and so often do not DO anything
as a result.