First snow in Chicago ❄️
kyle
kyle@kyledesana.xyz
npub18x6m...a2cg
trying new things
Notes (18)
how to find more #nostr folks in #chicago ?
“Time spent on social media peaked in 2022” has been all over my feed
When you scroll, what are you looking for? Seriously, stop and think. You saw this post, why were you scrolling to begin with?
Most of us don’t even know what we’re looking for... just filling empty space with hopes of seeing something novel enough to hit “like”.
Then we forget about what we saw within 30 seconds. We’re so addicted that any hint of stillness/boredom prompts a physical reaction to grab our phone; this appears in the survey data.
There was a:
- 40% DECREASE in respondents reporting they use social media to keep up with friends
- 16% INCREASE in respondents reporting they use social media to fill spare time
This makes sense: when only a small minority of people post, how are social media platforms supposed to keep you on? They needed to create addictive, attention-hacking algorithms to keep as many eyes on their platforms as possible (eyes = advertising $)
This subtle shift - especially for younger generations - signals intentionality (as opposed to just burnout/anxiety). We’re slowing down and literally PAYING for spaces (digital and irl) that make us feel grounded, informed, and connected.
While social networks like Facebook and X are grasping at anything to gamify attention, the companies building for the future are creating infrastructure that enables sovereignty, curation, curiosity, and depth.
When platforms optimize a proxy (time-in-feed), the proxy replaces the goal (utility/welfare)
Social advertisement yield on “enshittified” feeds will tank as this new world unfolds
think of all the things you've scrolled past in the last 7 days, how many of them do you remember?
better yet, think of all the things you've scrolled past in the last 30 seconds, how many of them do you remember?
Here we go
Every technology enhances a human function until it overextends that function
Social media has hit this point
“what’s America like?”
test
was Infinite Jest the Plan B to a super intelligence Plan A?
I am a nobody who has never built anything of value
I’m in no position to hate on somebody else’s project, or judge somebody for what they’re working on
And if/when that changes, I will still be in no position to hate on somebody else’s project, or judge somebody for what they’re working on
We’re all just trying to create something cool - if you don’t like what it is, talk to them, maybe you’ll learn something new or change your perspective
Godspeed, Nostr friends
messing around and building a nostr relay radio: "tune in" to different relays to see what's being broadcasted across nostr.
tbh could work as a fun way to browse livestreams and stuff
test
US Gov. is appointing a board member to TikTok. Trump floats pulling broadcasting licenses. Senators don't think "Free Speech" is a right anymore.
Countries around the world are inching closer to state-owned and state-controlled media. We recently saw the impact of this in Nepal and Indonesia; it's not good.
When a large chunk of internet traffic is funneled into a handful of apps, the media we consume is dictated by opaque algorithms created by a few companies. If those companies are influenced by governments, our permission to participate in online spaces is jeopardized.
p(protocol-shift) = 0.35
"how do people feel about the US economy?"
WIP - needs more data
but yeah this is dope... ask any question -> quantify the world's thoughts
shipping soon
The internet yearns for Nostr
“They/leftists have no idea what’s coming”
Psyops everywhere; protect your cogsec
https://blossom.primal.net/3108f54adc31619611026ed36946738fafed6796eeec73a28b8f57d122e65cf8.mov
Websites are dying...
- The number of active websites per year has been stagnant for a decade
- The % of all websites that are active has been declining since 2008
Internet traffic and attention distribution are shifting from domains to "accounts" and "profiles"; digital identities in a way.
We've seen implications of this already with LLMs and "Generative Engine Optimization" focusing their attention on forums and places like Reddit, trying to infiltrate where people go for organic information to spread biased narratives.
This shift is impacting everything from advertisements, shopping, and 1000x other things.
What really scares me about this is we do not actually "own" our accounts and profiles like we do with domains.
TikTok, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, etc. are the ones who own your account and own your profile.
They're the ones who:
- grant you permission to participate in the network
- grant you permission to post
- grant you permission to monetize
- control what you see via opaque algorithms
- create the incentives and rules of the game we all play by
By shifting control from owned domains to rented accounts, we're risking the right to claim our digital selves while giving more power to a handful of companies.
I really don’t think it has to be this way though...
We can figure out ways to use standard web protocols (HTTP) and emerging social protocols (Nostr) to broadcast/consume social content on our own terms but still in a familiar way. All we've been missing was really good curation + social habits (one of the reasons why RSS feeds died)
If we can create customizable algorithms on top of the internet itself - tunable "For You" feeds - we wouldn’t NEED an account in the first place. The web would be interoperable and social.
Your website is your account. Your domain is your identity. You control what you see. You control what you post. All on your own terms.
Incentives are tricky (who pays for what?) but definitely solvable
