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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!.

Topic Clusters

Three Tracks Through the Subject

8 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.

Open topic →5 Essays

Digital 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 →4 Essays

Addiction & 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!.

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All EssaysPage 2 of 2

Editorial black and white photograph of a smartphone submerged inside a clear glass jar of water on a stone surface, soft directional window light, like a specimen in a laboratory

Field Guide · Detox· 12 min read

Digital Detox vs Detoxing from Social Media: The Honest Difference

Two phrases, one wellness product and one real question. Why most digital detoxes don't stick, what an honest detox from social media actually looks like, and how to tell whether you need a cleanse or a cut.

Editorial black and white photograph of a smartphone lying face-down on a sunlit park bench next to an open paperback book and a pair of running shoes, soft morning light through trees

Field Guide · Detox· 11 min read

Social Media Break: How to Take One (or Quit for Good)

Three searches, one honest answer: a social media break, taking a break from social media, quitting social media. A practical staircase from a 72-hour pause to a permanent exit — and how to know which one you actually need.

Editorial black and white photograph of a smartphone lying face-down on an empty wooden desk next to an open analog notebook and a fountain pen, soft morning light

Part 3 · Transformation· 13 min read

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.

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 photograph of a broken smartphone and a cigarette on concrete, with a thin red wisp of smoke rising from the cracked screen

Part 1 · Diagnosis· 14 min read

Social Media is the New Smoking — And Science Increasingly Agrees

Addiction by design, addiction with intent, addiction with consequences. The parallels between social media and Big Tobacco are no longer a metaphor — they are documented. A look at the neurology, the business model, and the moment the dealers themselves began to doubt.

The Whole Argument

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 →