Via tmn, we are introduced to the rising scaffolding in part underpinning the architecture of choice in off-the-scale experiences by default—and not just the dopamine of accelerated gratification—and how if a 
nice stroll spoilt by accompanying it with the yammer of a podcast, for example, it is not only the product of immersive and unrelenting technology as a vehicle to deliver constant entertainment and distraction and a means to avoid interaction with one’s immediate environment, but rather a decision informed by our minds and evolved reward-system, absent real dangers or discomforts that turn towards the cheaper easier and higher ranking pleasures. Whereas a quiet walk in nature might rate a reliable 10/10, it cannot hope to compete with a exponentially higher experience of listening to whatever one care to or doomscrolling, and it’s not an unexacting feat to claw oneself away from, coming down from giddy heights and back to the solid but small and ordinary, especially when a genuine social experience demands the responsibility and focus that might be marks against it. Cushioning ourselves from those attendant discomforts, moreover, helps us delude ourselves into thinking that our connected activities are a way of making and maintaining social connections when their real function is quite the opposite, it seems.
one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus the US supreme court on self-incrimination
two years ago: ET (1982), more on Magnus Hirschfeld plus Nordhein vor dem Rhรถn
three years ago: your daily demon: Botis, more links to enjoy, a Surrealist exhibition plus the Geometry of Circles
four years ago: a papal decree, slow adoption of US constitutional amendments, more links worth the revisit, Nordic flags, Juneteenth, the Los Angeles Free Press plus more Bardcore
five years ago: even more links to enjoy plus beyond the pale
