24 July

In the deepest anthropological sense, what social media has done is strip away multi-dimensional social networks, that evolved over generations, and replaced them with flat networks of visibility. It replaced belonging and trust, with the fight for visibility. Once we were known, remembered and trusted. Now we are seen, measured, monetised and forgotten. Strong emotion, particularly rage, gets attention. Thus the increasing anger of our communities, who now live on these platforms, as their old social networks collapse. We fight now to even be seen or heard, on platforms whose actual design is to strip away that belonging and trust, at the same time.