People realizing that marketing is all smokes and mirrors BS and starting to not give a crap, and instead buying things from local producers and manufacturers based on how it contributes to and benefits their own community.

It’s the holiday season, please let me dream :-)

For a dream that is depressingly minor! How about people stop buying things they don't need. Lost crafts of fixing things are thriving again. As result, elderly are re-introduced into society as they have the lost knowledge. Deurbanization starts when people discover they can't grow their own food on concrete. The 9-5 day slowly shifts back to a dynamic sunrise-to-sunset schedule. Cars are banned from small communities because emission degrades the local crops. As a result, kids rediscover they can safely play outside, without the limiting supervision of adults. That starts a positive feedback loop that collapses the (a)social networks, and as a byproduct the whole economy of attention.

A sunrise sunset schedule would mean working more hours than I currently do.

That lifestyle is sustainable for preindustrial population levels.

I really thought nobody could be influenced by this stuff for a moment. But damn, it works well. I think it'll take a few years until we all wake up.

Brands crate their own AI-rendered influencers, so they have complete control.

So Miquela? https://instagram.com/lilmiquela

Honestly, I wasn't expecting this when I clicked on this story, but for me the next logical step ended up being to promise myself I will not read a single article about or sourced from instagram ever again.

I realized I removed the app to get away from it, and that I'm only reading about it because other people haven't. They're just looking for interesting ways to write about where they spend their time. I don't actually have to read this stuff just because it shows up here. I get that now.

Thank you!

brands stop paying because influencers doing it for free