"They're coming for every second of your life...And it's not because anyone is bad, it's not because anybody in this company has evil plans or is trying to do this, they're not even doing it consciously. It's because these companies like Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, and everything, they went public and they went to shareholders, so they have to grow. Their entire models are based off of growth—they cannot stay stagnant. YouTube and Twitter grossed $4-$5 billion last year. It is in the red, it is unprofitable. It has to get more of you,"
"No matter how nice it's trying to be, it is all they're trying to get more engagement from you. We used to colonize land. That was the thing you could expand into, and that's where money was to be made. We colonized the entire earth. There was no other place for the businesses and capitalism to expand into. And then they realized human attention..."
"They are now trying to colonize every minute of your life, that is what these people are trying to do. Every single free moment you have is a moment you could be looking at your phone, and they could be gathering information to target ads at you. That's what's happening,"
"So like, as much as we can, have really good conversations, and try to humanize the conversations. The mechanism of the business is rolling towards that just because of the market. "
"Its coming for every free second you have. And that's dark. That's really, really dark and scary. And for someone like me, I grew up a little bit on the internet, and I felt the repercussions of it. I suffer from anxiety, so I know where it leads."
"And I'm saying, like, you don't want this—trust me. You're not going to feel good about yourself. And you know it. The kids know it. Like, the whole joke on the internet is everyone's like, 'This place sucks, right?' I mean, that's like kind of the thing."
"That's why their memes are all ironic and detached and self-referential and 12 layers deep, because truth is completely dead to them and they know it. They look at the president, they look at the culture, they go, 'What the hell is this?'"
Reminiscent of the old Grapes of Wrath quote about everyone being a slave to money-making machine without any single person being at fault.
I fuckin' love Steinbeck