Reading a book about the shift from the old production capitalism where you got products like Wheaties to vehicles, see the USA in your Chevrolet sang Dinah Shore, to behavior experiences provided by social networks. To bring us that car or cereal a company had to buy the raw products and then hire labor to put it together. In the social network world we the consumer provide the networks free of charge the raw materials that they turn around and sell for zillions of dollars. Then they take those zillions and build more AI and data accumulation centers that chew up land water & electricity in order to suck everything about our private lives down into salable commodities that advertisers love.
With every aspect of one’s life morphed into the database the owners of social media know more about you than you know yourself. Every time you fire up your iphone the algorithms feed you what they know you love to hear. Notice those little accompanying ad displays that correspond with what you’ve bought in the past and remind you to buy some more.
Living your life inside these phones is just as addictive as getting hooked on drugs. In the process while your face is on that screen real life is passing by at your elbow and not even noticed.
