Step away from the scroll

And find content that means something to you…

I spend very little time on social media. I check in with Facebook and Instagram once a day or so to see if I've been tagged in someone's else's post. I post links to each week's newsletter, and occasionally post a photo of an event. I don't scroll the feeds.

Scrolling through social media is like eating a bag of potato chips. I keep putting my hand in the bag and putting chips in my mouth because that combination of fat and salt and crunch is engineered to be deliciously addictive. Before I know it, the bag is empty. I'm no longer hungry (assuming I was when I began), but I have not consumed any actual nourishment.

Photo by Mustafa Bashari on Unsplash

Like that bag of chips, social media is engineered to keep us eating. There's a reason it's called "consuming content". The algorithms that produce social media feeds are finely tuned to keep us from clicking away. After all, our attention is the product sold by the social media platforms. The more of our attention they can sell to advertisers, the more money they make.

I recently read a book called Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture, by Kyle Chayka.

Chayka, a staff writer at The New Yorker, explores the ways global cultures have been homogenized through the impact of social media and recommendation algorithms, such as those found on YouTube and Amazon. Instant engagement cues the algorithms to promote a piece of content, which drives more engagement. Business owners and content creators adapt to the demands of the algorithm, since their success may be determined by how many "likes" they get in the first few minutes after posting. Everything ends up looking similar.

Like water flowing into a pot, the creative impulse changes to fit the shape of the containers we have for it, and the most common containers now are the feeds of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube and TikTok.
—from Filterworld by Kyle Chayka.

To keep you engaged, the algorithms keep track of everything that catches your attention, then keep feeding you more of the same. From the restaurant listings on Google Maps to the rental listings on Air B&B, algorithmic recommendations determine what you see, and therefore, what you choose. Masquerading as personalization or curation, algorithms simply show you whatever they think will keep you from clicking away. Deep dives are discouraged, and you'll rarely see anything which surprises you or challenges you.

I must tell you, Filterworld was not a quick or "fun" read. Partly, this is because I think the book is longer than it needed to be (six pages on the algorithm-driven popularity of Japanese City-Pop music? Really?) The book feels dense, with long paragraphs, long chapters, and few visual breaks. Chayka is a Millennial, a full generation younger than I am. Many of his cultural references didn't resonate with me. Despite these challenges, I believe this is an important book. I came away with a greater understanding of how algorithms operate and how pervasive their influence is, along with a firmer resolve to resist that influence.

…we must become our own curators once more and take responsibility for what we're consuming. Regaining that control isn't so hard. You make a personal choice and begin to intentionally seek out your own cultural rabbit hole, which leads you in new directions, to yet more independent decisions. They compound over time into a sense of taste, and ultimately into a sense of self.
—from Filterworld by Kyle Chayka.

I came to this book through Ezra Klein’s interview with Kyle Chayka. You can listen here.

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One of the reasons I use Substack as the platform for this newsletter is that we don't need to be dependent on algorithmic feeds. If you enjoy reading what I write, you choose to subscribe. If you share A Good Yarn with people you know, then our community grows. I would much rather come to someone's attention through your personal recommendation than depend on social media to promote me in the feeds.

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Knitting Update

I finished a sleeve for the cardigan-that's-taking-forever, and I'm not happy with the way it's fitting into the armhole (cue sad trombone). I know where I went wrong (failure to account for non-standard row gauge to stitch gauge ratio), and I'll rip out the sleeve cap and reworking that shaping over the coming weekend. I am annoyed with myself, but undaunted.

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Some things that caught my eye

• From The New Yorker, a critical look at Gustave Klimt to coincide with a new exhibition of his work at the Neue Galerie. The Neue Galerie is a little jewel box of a museum in New York's Upper East Side. They hold a large collection of Klimt's work. I first saw Klimt's paintings of trees and landscapes when I visited the Neue many years ago. Before that visit, all I knew of his work was the gold-spangled pictures like The Kiss and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. I now have a print of one of his forest paintings hanging in my living room.

• And if the gold used in Klimt's paintings draws you in, you can find out how it is made. The New York Times takes you into the workshop of the last traditional gold leaf artisan in Venice.

Continue the conversation—how do you use social media? Has your relationship with social media changed in recent years? Tell me about it in the comments.

As always, thank you for inviting me into your inbox. I love sharing my thoughts with you each week!