Digital technology gets too much credit and too much blame.
People do what they’re inclined to do, and they use whatever technology is available.
Current examples:
1. A Biden admin lawsuit against RealPage rent collusion software was weakened by the Trump admin. It won’t make much difference. Landlords ALWAYS collude to keep rent high. They do it with meetings or phone calls or software, whichever is easier. I’ve seen it in several cities for 50 years. Software is easier than phone calls. If the software loses its colluding capacity, landlords will resume phone calls.
2. News services like Reuters are “switching” to vertical video, especially Instagram Reels. This is terrible! Must protest and resist!
Ever hear of newsREELS? News services like Reuters used to make horizontal video for viewing in theaters. Now they make vertical video for viewing at home. The physical end is easier, no need to develop and distribute film. The writing and editing and fakery haven’t changed.
3. (I’ve hammered this point repeatedly.) STOP moaning about the end of literacy. Young people are reading and writing VASTLY more than ever before, and they’re starting earlier. It doesn’t matter if they’re reading a small rectangle instead of a thousand-page volume of boring shit. It doesn’t matter if they’re writing with their thumbs on the same small rectangle instead of a quill pen on parchment.
Literacy means competency in reading and writing. Nothing more. Literacy does NOT mean expertise in deconstructing Melville or Joyce.
Polistra's Mill 