"They're coming for every second of your life" –@boburnham pic.twitter.com/RhkYrDZbxR
— Clayton Cubitt (@claytoncubitt) November 2, 2022
In this clip from a 2019 panel on “Self Esteem in the Age of Social Media,” comedian Bo Burnham explains how social media companies are out to colonize “every second of your life”:
“They’re not even doing it consciously. It’s because these companies like Twitter, YouTube and Instagram and everything, they went public, they went to shareholders. So they have to grow. Their entire models are based off of growth. They cannot stay stagnant. [They have to] get more of you.”
I’ve been thinking about this clip for a day now. One reason I feel so lucky to be an independent writer with a great audience: I don’t answer to any shareholders but readers. I don’t have to grow my business if I don’t want to. I can do my thing the way I want to do it for the people who want it. And I can do it the way I want to do it.
This seems to me the greatest freedom and privilege, and I am trying not to squander it.