Topic · 6 Essays

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.

Essays in this topic

Editorial black and white photograph of a half-collapsed house of cards built from smartphones on a cracked concrete surface, with one phone glowing deep red and a thin wisp of smoke rising

Part 2 · Deconstruction· 15 min read

"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.

Editorial black-and-white photo with a single red accent: a hand cutting a long filmstrip into small pieces that fall like confetti, a smartphone with a glowing red play button lying nearby

Media Critique · Clipping· 13 min read

"Clipping" on Social Media is Making Us Stupid: The Final Boss of Our Attention Span

Clipping sounds harmless — but it is the new hatchet of the attention economy. Conversations become bites, thoughts become hooks, complexity becomes confetti. Why short videos are dismantling our ability to think, and what to do about it.

Editorial black-and-white photograph with a red accent: an open paperback book and a face-down smartphone with a glowing red notification light on a wooden table, next to a small ceramic bowl of white sugar cubes with one bright red cube

Culture · Critique· 14 min read

Quitting Social Media is the New Sugar-Free

Sugar-free was laughed at first, then it became a lifestyle. Sober followed the same arc. Now the next pleasure is up for the same conversation: social media. Why quitting will become the next big cultural trend — and why offline is quietly turning into the new luxury.

Editorial black-and-white photograph with a red accent: a creased press release on a wooden desk, a face-down smartphone beside it with a glowing red notification LED, a magnifying glass over the page

Culture · Critique· 12 min read

The New Digital Proof of Existence: Why Having No Social Media Suddenly Makes You Suspicious

I tried to publish a press release about quitting social media. The press distribution service refused to verify me — because I had no social media accounts to show. A small, very real story about a world that can no longer place people outside of platform logic.

Editorial photograph: a teenager's phone face-down on a school desk next to a closed notebook, with afternoon sunlight cutting across — symbolising the cultural shift around children and social media in Australia

Culture · Critique· 13 min read

So Australia's Social Media Ban "Failed"? No. Australia Is at Least Trying to Protect Children.

Headlines say it failed. They miss the point. Australia is the first country to actually draw a line — a minimum age of 16 on social media — and yes, the first attempt is leaky. So what. Three steps forward, two steps back is still one step forward. Why the mockery is cheap, and why the wildest answer might be: leave the feed completely.

Editorial black-and-white photograph with a red accent: a smartphone on a dark desk, the Instagram icon on screen overlaid with a glowing red cross, a hesitating hand above

Social Media Critique· 10 min read

Want to Delete Instagram? Good Luck. Why Getting Out Is Suspiciously Complicated

Creating Instagram: three clicks. Deleting it: an odyssey with a 30-day relapse zone and an open back door. Why the exit is buried — and how to really get out for good.

From essay to protocol

These essays are the entry point. The complete exit protocol — five hours, five steps, six months — lives in the book.

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