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A Book of Proverbs
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1. Plain text only, please.
No videos, pictures, VR,
or what have you.
Audio may be OK,
but watch yourself.
2. Prefer books,
paper, pen, a deck of cards:
the ancient, resilient tech.
Quiet and undistinguished.
3. Avoid the Feed.
A bottomless coffee cup
has an infinity
of bad coffee in it.
"All good things
must come to an end."
4. I'd rather write an essay
to five people who care
than write a tweet
to 5,000 who don't.
5. Boredom can be power.
Did you know that you can use it?
6. You don't push;
I pull.
7. No likes,
no favorites,
no subscriptions,
no comments section,
no replies.
8. Social media
makes you stupid,
then crazy.
9. You can't find
time, silence, and deep thought
online,
but those are the things
you need most.
10. Do you need _more_ information,
or do you need to think through
the information you already _have_?
11. Don't look at your phone.
Not necessary,
not desirable,
not needed,
not wanted.
Whatever it is,
I bet it can wait
till you get back
to your computer.
12. Turn off notifications.
13. They want to replace
your attention with excitement
and your thoughts and actions
with their thoughts
and the illusion of action.
14. Everything that you crave online,
someone has designed it
to evoke those cravings.
You are being manipulated.
If you keep pushing their lever
over and over again
until you die,
that's "mission accomplished" for them.
The designers of these systems
don't know you,
don't like you,
and they don't wish you well.
15. Try not looking it up.