Little Miss Tech Skeptic - An Introduction
“Imagine walking into a control room with a bunch of people hunched over a desk with little dials, and that that control room will shape the thoughts and feelings of a billion people. This might sound like science fiction, but this actually exists right now, today.” - Tristan Harris
Hi, my name is Candice...
...and if I see this stupid little AI icon on my screen one more time I'm going to scream.
Literally, as I am typing and working through this first post, a little AI icon keeps popping up on my screen. His/Her/Their little smug robot face keeps smiling at me as if it wants to be my friend.
I'm tired of all of it. I've been tired of it for years.
I'm old, 38 to be exact. I don't remember exactly when my family got a computer in the house, but I can tell you that we had a specified room in our small Pittsburgh stock house basement called "the computer room". It also held the piano and an ancient Hammond organ that I loved to improvise on (God bless my parents).
I remember my pre-teen and teenage years writing unhinged blogs on dead journal and Xanga. I miss the moments when we had MySpace and the days of the non-algorithmic Facebook feed. I remember the days when you were not supposed to tell anyone online your last name, and when buying anything off the internet was looked at with a giant side-eye.
The internet seemed so hopeful and quaint in the early 2000's.
I fondly remember days when I would leave my old indestructible flip phone smashed under my music binders and books in the bottom of my messenger bag which I carried from class to class in college. I turned in my music theory homework on paper. Our music history "drop the needle" exams were basically a sheet with numbers and lines on it. I remember hand writing the name of the piece, the opus number, and the name of the composer. They were wicked exams, and you had to know the information cold. You had to be able to write everything with a pencil or pen and make it legible. Misspelled names of composers and pieces got you points docked.
I remember thinking Facebook was nothing but a phase. It was a phase that would eventually play itself out and I wouldn't "need it" after college.
Clearly, I was very wrong.
Now it's 2026 and I really don't know what to make about the world of tech as it stands. I've cycled through many platforms over time: MySpace, Xanga, DeviantArt, Live Journal, Snapchat, Threads, Tumblr, WhatsApp, Goodreads, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Rednote, Bluesky, Twitter (now X), TikTok, Instagram, and probably a few others I've since forgotten about and that have fallen into the pit of internet despair.
Currently, I only have two major social accounts that I actively participate in: Instagram and LinkedIn.
A few years ago I took a blogging class through Gotham Writers in New York and I started a Substack. Initially, I loved the idea of Substack. It was like having an old school Xanga blog, but your posts were sent directly to people's inboxes. I moved my stuff from old platforms over there, and got into it. After a few months, Substack also got an algorithmic feed.
I tried to stick it out for a while, but all of the things I was excited about were destroyed by seeing another version of Twitter every time I opened the homepage of Substack.
Needless to say, I deleted Substack.
I have felt like I cannot escape the madness that is the algorithmic feed no matter what I do.
For context, I am a singer and a voice teacher in New York City. Most of my clientele come from my higher education position teaching voice at American Musical and Dramatic Academy, but a non-trivial number of my students have also come from Instagram. I feel trapped in a cycle I can't stop. I truly think if I quit Instagram, I will fade into obscurity and lose my student base. I haven't run any experiments to see how true this is and, frankly I'm far too afraid of losing the income.
Simultaneously, I'm also infuriated that my income is in any way tied to these platforms.
I have noticed something really alarming over the past year or so.
Very few people are really, deeply informed about what is going on with tech. This is something of a hyper fixation of mine. I feel like I am constantly reading books, listening to podcasts/TED Talks, and screaming from the rooftops about the terrors of AI and social media.
The opinions I keep seeing feel extremely undereducated and misguided. While I think there are a lot of very strong willed people who are deeply against AI, I don't think people are alarmed enough about social media. People use it and love it. They feel tethered to it and they are addicted to it. (I am one of these people).
Basically, I think everyone is missing the forest for the trees. This is far more pernicious, sociologically problematic, and destructive than anyone is talking about.
Clearly, I am in a case of cognitive dissonance with this issue myself. I'm pretty vehemently anti generative AI, but I am also a user of Instagram and LinkedIn. My hated of the algorithmic feed runs deep, but I'm also addicted to it.
I feel like I've lost control of my mind and choices, and I don't know that there is a middle path. I've been searching for one for years to no avail.
I want a safe space outside of the algorithmic feed to really flesh out my thoughts. This blog will start this way, but I want it to morph into whatever organic form it wants to be.
If this is something that interests you, I think a good place to start learning about the inner workings of the tech industry is the 2020 Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. The documentary is a little out of date, but its discussion about how algorithmic feeds work is very well done. I think it's a good place to start your journey.
In future posts I will recommend more books, podcasts, talks, and documentaries I that have greatly influenced my thoughts on this subject.
Welcome to the journey, even though I don't know what it is.
