This is a very well-written post, and it’s sad, because the same thing is going
to happen with it as with all the other well-written take-downs of proprietary,
siloed, platforms: the people who /need/ to read it aren’t /going/ to read it,
and WhatsApp (slash Facebook, slash Twitter, slash Instagram, slash Signal,
slash …) is still going to be used by a huge portion of the population.
Maybe I just feel really cynical today. I do think that “user domestication” is
a great metaphor for what happens. I guess what I’m saying is: fighting against
this kind of corporate behavior feels about as effective as fighting against
factory farming by going vegetarian. Like, sure, it helps, but the machine is
/so big/. It’s hard to feel like we’re doing anything.
This is a very well-written post, and it’s sad, because the same thing is going to happen with it as with all the other well-written take-downs of proprietary, siloed, platforms: the people who /need/ to read it aren’t /going/ to read it, and WhatsApp (slash Facebook, slash Twitter, slash Instagram, slash Signal, slash …) is still going to be used by a huge portion of the population.
Maybe I just feel really cynical today. I do think that “user domestication” is a great metaphor for what happens. I guess what I’m saying is: fighting against this kind of corporate behavior feels about as effective as fighting against factory farming by going vegetarian. Like, sure, it helps, but the machine is /so big/. It’s hard to feel like we’re doing anything.