A sane social network would rebuild context and locality.
Evidence
When I try to imagine a sane social network it is a space of appearance: a hybrid of mediated and in-person encounters, of hours-long walks with a friend, of phone conversations, of closed group chats, of town halls. It would allow true conviviality—the dinners and gatherings and celebrations that give us the emotional sustenance we need, and where we show up for each other in person and say, “I am here fighting for this with you.” It would make use of non-corporate, decentralized networking technology, both to include those for whom in-person interaction is difficult and to create nodes of support in different cities when staying in one place is increasingly an economic privilege. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 605
Categorization
Category: Inspiration and Speculation
- QUESTION: The privilege critique gets direct textual footing here — Odell herself names staying in one place ‘an economic privilege.’
- SEED: Angle for the defense essay: the speculative ‘sane social network’ is Odell’s clearest not-withdrawal statement — attention redirected toward design.
Related
- A sane social network would mix physical presence and decentralized tech (similarity 0.91)
- A sane network would center local place as the incubator of politics (similarity 0.83)