The Digital
Tobacco Files
A growing archive of essays on the attention economy, digital addiction and the radical exit — companion reading to the book Quit the Feed.
Three Tracks Through the Subject
Social Media Critique
This is where we collect the arguments against a business model that long ago stopped being communication and became the attention economy. Essays on the mechanics of the feed, on dark patterns, on the economic pressures behind infinite scroll — and on the reasonable-sounding stories with which we sell ourselves the addiction. Companion reading to the book Quit the Feed by Henriette Hochstein-Frädrich.
Open topic →1 EssayDigital Detox & Withdrawal
A real exit is not a self-optimization weekend — it is a protocol. This section collects structured guides for a social media withdrawal, the typical phases of the first weeks, the most common pitfalls, and concrete tools to avoid falling back into old reflexes. The full protocol appears in the book Quit the Feed.
Open topic →1 EssayAddiction & Psychology
Social media is not a tool. It is a precisely calibrated reward system. This section is about the neurology behind the feed: dopamine loops, variable rewards, behavioral addiction — and the documented parallels to classical addictive substances like tobacco. The central thesis of these essays is also the foundation of the book Quit the Feed.
Open topic →All Essays
Social Media is the New Smoking — And Science Increasingly Agrees
The parallels to Big Tobacco are no longer a metaphor. A look at the neurology, the billion-dollar business model, and the moment the dealers themselves began to doubt.
"I Need It for My Business" — and 14 Other Lies We Tell Ourselves
Every social media addict has a story. It sounds reasonable, even strategic. It is, in almost every case, a fairy tale we tell ourselves to avoid quitting.
The Great Withdrawal: 5 Hours, 5 Steps — A Protocol for Leaving
Not a digital detox. Not a weekend offline. A structured exit modeled on a proven recovery principle: understand, unlearn, transform. Here is the first hour.
The essays are the preview.
The book is the protocol.
Quit the Feed gathers the arguments sketched here into a complete exit protocol — from the first hour to the first six months without a feed.
Read the Book →