I’ve just read James Williams’ Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy (thanks to @Sharmin for recommending it here) and I want to urge forum members to read it. It is a profound book - one of the most important I have read in my journey to understand what is happening at the intersection of technology, psychology, social norms, political movements and culture.
4 Likes
I agree. Very good on the larger implications of the attention economy. He seems to discount the brain remodeling effects, however, as described in The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.
I haven’t read Nicholas Carr’s book and will do so now - thanks for that point and for letting me know about the book.
Thanks @khkey, this book is a gem.
Totaly scrary and disappointing : I used to love Internet. Not sure now…
Tnaks again!
I’m glad you read it! What struck me most, and this is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot myself, is finding a new language to describe our relationship with tech. It’s something that’s not discussed much, but is very important for framing and also change. There is something potentially transformative in the style, and Stand Out of Our Light potentially sets an example in terms of how.
For example, I’ve created a project called Digital Cooldown. I’ve very specifically used the word ‘cooldown’ instead of ‘detox’, since detoxing itself assumes something inherently poisonous about the internet (and when dealing with something as complex as social media, the internet, smartphones, which are embedded in our infrastructure and social support networks, making this association seems potentially dangerous?). This is my small little word revolution 
Many more to come…Anyone have any other word revolutions? (although this is potentially best discussed in another thread)
1 Like