So, I recently got into thinking about how mental loops represent the ends of the mind, where thoughts loop back on themselves.

And I have been thinking about what deserves my energy, too.

Today, I went ahead and undid each block and filter for quite a few accounts on quite a few websites (with the exception of two disgusting people, because they can rot in hell for all I care), because I realized that this is basically treading water: to put in the work to see or not see other people’s posts on websites kind of feels like a neverending hassle, in hindsight.

You see, I’m a person, and since you are a person too, I think we have a lot of things in common, chief of which is that we are limited in very specific ways: as persons, we need sleep, water, calories, vitamins, essential amino‑acids, and none of these things are negotiable. Then come joy, beauty, good people around us. Also, not negotiable. We deserve to feel good.

But if we just stay at the level of calories, imagine using your limited amount of calories on something which doesn’t benefit you. Now, you might be right in saying that you do that a lot, that we all do that a lot, so I will concede that you are right: we do use calories to do things that do not benefit us.

But imagine the following, if you are already in this mindset of disgruntledness: that on top of these things you don’t enjoy doing, you would have to do also other things which don’t benefit you, but which really cut into your brain’s available sugar for the day.

Imagine you need to see and read stuff you neither want to see and read. And then imagine that you are being told that, well, if you don’t want to see and read what does not interest you, you need to put in the HOURS to filter, block, curate and fine‑tune what someone else has decided you get to see. Don’t blame us, they say, you must do better instead.

And now imagine how many delicious apples, refreshing drinks of water, whole assortments of healthy nuts and leafy greens that would take, over and over again. To achieve what exactly?

I’ll tell you: to make whatever these people claim to have been tailored for you and your interests your sole interaction with the medium you are using, and making you look forever for the flaw, the one thing you have missed in your filtering curating dilligence, and add that to the list you keep adding things to every single day.

I say, no wonder nobody talks anymore. I say, no wonder nobody wants to interact anymore, when there are two things fighting for your attention, and you only have the one attention to give.

The first thing is who you have given your attention to, friends, lovers, artists of a thousand walks, who, by some twist on RSS you can now read about.

The second thing is who you are being forced to look at, countless “For You”s which all just waste your breakfast in calories and good stuff.

So, if you are sick of that, avoid both the algorithm and its curation, find your people yourself (and pay for a good vpn and adblocker, so you don’t have to curate either of them yourself, either, ever, and ideally forget about ads and your software keeping you sane), and direct your energies towards things you actually care about.

And never follow idiots. This is what I would say, assuming that we are both persons, you and me.

Look at what people pay you for your work. And then look at how much time you need to create what these people then call your “bubble”. I don’t see them buying you breakfast, for seemingly fine‑tuning their garbage, while in reality just making you look at a whoooole bunch of ads.

Rise above the noise. Be a person.

Source: My after‑hours blog on Tumblr Code & Canvas