Read Hello, I’m Andy and I’m addicted to Twitter by Andy Bell (Andy Bell)
A big part of getting better and overcoming addiction is accepting that you are addicted, and with that in mind, I’m telling you here today that I’m addicted to Twitter. Enough is enough, though. I have to get better.
Some great ideas from Andy for mitigating a variety of issues with Twitter.

I’ve personally found that not having/using Twitter on my phone gets rid of a large portion of the problem. The other thing I can recommend is only reading subsets of Twitter via feed reader. Finally, I’ve long been making all my interactions with Twitter (Tweets, replies, etc.) through my own website. This creates just enough of an extra hurdle that I don’t make the snap decision to reply to tweets right away. Often they sit for a day or two and if I still care enough, then I’ll reply or comment. Not that my UI is necessarily worse than Twitter’s, just a little less addictive and immediate. I also have the benefit of owning my content for the eventual Twitterpocalypse–you know that thing that follows the fire and brimstone we’re currently experiencing.

👓 The Most Measured Person in Tech Is Running the Most Chaotic Place on the Internet | New York Times

Read The Most Measured Person in Tech Is Running the Most Chaotic Place on the Internet (New York Times)
YouTube’s C.E.O. spends her days contemplating condoms and bestiality, talking advertisers off the ledge and managing a property the size of Netflix.

👓 The world in brief, January 22nd 2019 | Economist Espresso

Read The world in brief, January 22nd 2019 (Economist Espresso)

WhatsApp, a messaging service, is cracking down further on fake news. Users will now only be allowed to forward a message to five groups (each group can be up to 256 people), down from 20. The limitation was first introduced in India last year after several mob lynchings there appeared to start after incendiary messages spread through the service.

I can’t imagine that unless the average group is well under 20 people, that WhatsApps change will have a drastic effect. 256 by itself, much less 5 times that, is way over the Dunbar number and likely not enough of a brake on social gossip. This sounds like a lot of lip service to me.

👓 Why I deleted my popular Twitter account | USA Today

Read I deleted my Twitter account. It's a breeding ground for thoughtlessness and contempt. by Glenn Harlan Reynolds (USA TODAY)
Twitter is poison to American political discourse. Can't we find a more worthy pastime?
A very solid reason for quitting social media, and particularly Twitter.

👓 The way out | Manton Reece

Read The way out by Manton Reece (manton.org)
There have been many articles written in the last month about the role of social networks. Some even reach the obvious conclusion: that the top social networks are too big. This interview on Slate was fairly representative, covering monopolies and centralized power. But these articles always stop sh...

👓 Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter | Maggie Haberman

Read Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter by Maggie Haberman (nytimes.com)
The viciousness, toxic partisan anger and intellectual dishonesty are at all-time highs.

👓 Zuck’s Empire of Oily Rags | Locus Magazine

Read Zuck’s Empire of Oily Rags by Cory Doctorow (Locus Online)
For 20 years, privacy advocates have been sounding the alarm about commercial online surveillance, the way that companies gather deep dossiers on us to help marketers target us with ads. This pitch…
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