Published 2026-03-02
tag(s): #yell-at-cloud #link-post
Via Andreas excellent weekly linkdump
series, I read this post:
"The Slow Death
of the Power User".
The post is good, although a bit depressing. I don't agree with all of the points it
makes, but I recommended it.
I am of the idea that it is better to focus the doom in one topic at a time.
The linked post starts with Power Users, but then goes on a parade of all the things wrong in
tech.
And the author isn't wrong, but when you go over that many negative things in one go, by the
time you reach the end the post, you end up feeling like giving up on...well, everything.
Going back to the main topic. A few days ago we had a conversation in a group chat for
podcast[1] about whether Twitter is a good way to "stay in the loop".
Of course, I argued that not really, but didn't quite articulate why in a convincing way. I
think this paragraph from fireborn's post sums it up really well:
The algorithm situation is the one that most directly affects daily life and receives the least serious scrutiny. Every major platform uses recommendation systems that are, in the most literal sense, making decisions about what information you encounter. What news exists in your world. Which of your friends' thoughts reach you. Which ideas get surfaced and which get buried. These systems are explicitly not neutral - they're optimized for engagement, which empirically correlates with outrage, anxiety, conflict, and tribal reinforcement, because those emotional states produce the behavioral signals the engagement metrics reward. The platforms are making your information diet worse on purpose, because worse converts to engagement, and engagement converts to revenue.
Nothing more to add. Do your best to get off the algorithms.
I know it isn't easy, that FOMO is strong, but it is really worth it.