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Taking a Year Off

2018-11-06 · letter vlog · John · 3:42 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual

John says his own internet isn't working: social internet companies have hacked his unusually susceptible attention to monetize it, his attempts to cut back have failed, so after the Project for Awesome he will take a year off Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter while staying on YouTube.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — His internet isn't working; a break to go vote; 20 hours a week of scrolling

  • ★★★ John says his internet isn't working: not unreliable wireless, but he dislikes how he uses the internet, or rather how it uses him. — 00:00:00
  • ★ John breaks off to go vote, and gets a sticker. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John spends something like 20 hours a week on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter, mostly scrolling and skimming, and his attention has become extremely fractured. (hedged) — 00:00:00 · Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter

00:00:29 — Why the social internet fails him: hacked attention, his susceptibility, platform incentives toward shock

  • ★★ John dislikes how passively ingesting information online makes him feel, yet he can't stop doing it. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John recalls Hank saying on Twitter that he loves Coca-Cola but wishes it didn't exist; that is how John feels about Twitter. — 00:00:29 · Hank Green, Twitter
  • ★★★ John believes his attention is all he has and is very uncomfortable that social internet companies have hacked his brain to capture and monetize it. — 00:00:29 · attention economy
  • ★★★ John doesn't call the platforms bad; his brain is unusually susceptible to being hacked, not least because a mental health disorder predisposes him to repetitive checking and circular thought. (hedged) — 00:00:58 · mental disorder
  • ★★ John thinks many people use these platforms productively and fulfillingly, and that they connect people and give more people a voice in public discourse. (hedged) — 00:00:58 · Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter
  • ★★ John says he doesn't have a terrible relationship with other platforms: on YouTube he is fairly intentional and takes part in the community in ways that make him happy. — 00:00:58 · YouTube
  • ★★ John's first problem: he lacks the willpower to resist the allure of Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter. — 00:01:27 · Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter
  • ★★★ John's second problem: the companies running the social internet are incentivized not to give him accurate or helpful information but information that holds his attention on their platform while he ingests advertising. — 00:01:27 · attention economy
  • ★★ What holds John's attention best shocks, appalls or fascinates him: during a horrifying story he keeps refreshing and skims speculation and hot takes that fill without nourishing. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ The companies are happy, having monetized many hours of his attention, but John doesn't think the world, or his life, is better for it. (hedged) — 00:01:56 · attention economy

00:02:26 — Failed attempts so far and the plan: a year off four platforms from the end of P4A, YouTube unchanged

  • ★★ John says he started his podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed in an attempt to pay more sustained and careful attention. — 00:02:26 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)
  • ★★ John posts much less than he used to but still spends huge swaths of time on those platforms; all his attempts at an information diet or dumbing down his phone have failed. — 00:02:26

  • ★★★ John will take a year off: he will block Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter from his browsers and truly dumb down his phone so he cannot access them. — 00:02:26 · Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter

    “So I'm gonna take a year off.”

  • ★★ During the year John will get his news from newspapers and won't have anyone post on his behalf; he wants to see how it feels not to be in those places. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:55

  • ★★★ The year off starts next month (December 2018) when the Project for Awesome ends; on YouTube things stay much the same, with a Vlogbrothers video every week. — 00:02:55 · Project for Awesome, YouTube, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John is hosting more Crash Course next year (2019). — 00:02:55 · Crash Course
  • ★★ John hopes that with less fractured attention he will be more present in the places that matter most to him. (hedged) — 00:02:55

00:03:24 — The community, a request for tips, and sign-off

  • ★★ John feels fortunate that this community remains a lovely, fulfilling place for him to hang out, and hopes viewers feel the same. — 00:03:24 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John asks viewers who have tried a version of this, or have tips for him, to tell him. — 00:03:24

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: attention economy · Facebook · Instagram · Reddit · Twitter

Also: Projects: Crash Course · Project for Awesome · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)

Organizations: YouTube

Concepts: media literacy · mental disorder · smartphone

Events: 2018 United States elections

Products: Coca-Cola

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