It’s funny. I keep getting back to reading pieces like this.[1] Then we talk about how this is terrible. And it is. But apparently we’re all powerless to stop it. Because we’re gonna be complaining about the same thing next year. Why? Because it’s something that people do “freely”. (Like smoking cigarettes (except where are the nicotine patches?).) Do something about it? Well why don’t you take a three month leave from your job and do a digital detox? Anyone can do that. But wait, that’s too drastic. Just a weekend-long meditation retreat. But then you’re back to the scroll grind.

Is there an opt-out button? Not symmetrically. You have all the options in the world if you want to scroll. But if you don’t want to scroll? Maybe Scrollers Anonymous? Become a semi-monk?

Because we don’t really take this seriously as a community. We’re all individuals who are supposed to get our shit together. And learn that individually. Well, we can learn things from each others’ tiktoks and blog posts about getting over digital addiction or whatever it is that is our malaise. But that’s as far as that goes.

But I’ll be here next year. Just scrolling. Falling for the same things again and again.

[1] Not that I read this one.