TALIA BARNES 

"Consider, for instance, the undying trend of appending the word 'smart' to names of common items connected to the internet: 'Smart-phone,' 'smart-watch,' 'smart-fridge,' 'smart-home.' The implication is clear. Smart products are for smart people—people who are up-to-date on the latest trends, in the know about remaining relevant in a rapidly changing society. And if you’re not smart, you’re, well … you know ..."

"Today, I pluck most of my food from grocery shelves instead of tomato vines. But I still plant seeds every spring. Why garden at all, knowing that the dream of total self-sufficiency is unrealistic for me?

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Precisely for that valuable reminder."

"Viewed outside the mechanistic lens of efficiency, this utopian vision feels oddly dystopian. If the digital age—with its outrage-exploiting algorithms and endless streams of 'content'—has taught us one thing, it’s that more technical power doesn’t necessarily mean better alignment with human goals ..."

"While there’s an undeniable ease-of-use factor to housing a phone, internet browser, entertainment center, camera, and GPS in a lightweight rectangle that fits inside my pocket, the proximity of each of these tasks to one another leads, inevitably, to constant distraction. If you’ve ever tried to find the perfect angle for a photo while your Instagram post is blowing up, or answer a work email while your mom is calling you, you know what I mean ..."

"In one sense, the reemergence of these works despite cancellations tells us what we already know: They appeal to an audience — or else they would not have been platformed in the first place. It also tells a little bit more: Single institutions don’t have a deathgrip on cultural production and distribution, no matter how much censors would like them to ..."

"Reading 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' in 2023 is a clarifying reminder that a healthy culture, like a fruitful garden, needs cultivating. This means examining not only content, but also context. It means digging below the surface of our conversations, tending to the roots that lie beneath ..."