The money always likes the workers squabbling amongst themselves. Keeps them busy and diverted
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Precisely. Whilst the Reformongers are distracted they won’t realise there’s a fag paper worth of difference between their lives and the lives of refugees.
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My favourite Ballard apart from a few choice short stories of his life that
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Any substackers out there investigated Substack TV?
Feels a bit like yet another enshitification of a format that gave people a quieter, more reflective headspace, only to morph into another overload to the senses.
From Techcrunch:
" Substack, a platform known primarily for newsletters, is launching a TV app for Apple TV and Google TV. The company announced on Thursday that the beta app will allow subscribers to watch video posts and livestreams on TV created by authors on its platform.
The TV app features a TikTok-like “For You” row that will highlight videos from these creators, along with recommended videos.
Free and paid subscribers can now start using the TV app, with access based on their subscription tier. Substack plans to add paid content previews for free subscribers in the future. The platform also plans to add audio posts and read-alouds, enhanced search and discovery features, in-app upgrades to paid subscriptions, and dedicated sections for each publication where subscribers can explore all videos from a specific creator.
The move comes as Substack has been investing more heavily in video and livestreaming, as it looks to compete with platforms like YouTube and Patreon for both creators and viewers.
Substack began its push into video with the launch of video posts back in 2022. It then started allowing creators to monetize videos early last year. Around the same time, it rolled out livestreaming capabilities to all publishers. The company has also embraced short-form video, launching a TikTok-like video feed in its app in March 2025.
“Substack is the home for the best longform—work creators put real care into and subscribers choose to spend time with,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Now these thought-provoking videos and livestreams have a natural home on the TV, where subscribers can settle in for the extended viewing that great video deserves.”
While Substack sees the launch as the next step in its video ambitions, comments on its announcement tell another story. The top comment on the company’s blog post reads: “Please don’t do this. This is not YouTube. Elevate the written word.” Another popular comment reads: “You guys have gone from saying Substack is the best home for longform writing/writers to ‘Substack is the home for the best longform—work…’. I get trying to evolve, but this just seems like another venture capital-fueled idea.”"
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Same at Patreon. Homepage on their app disregards any patrons you’re subscribed to and instead gives you a “feed” of random content .
The enshitification is real. All good things come to an end. I like substack but it wouldn’t take much to sour the milk
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Been about 18 months since i took Twitter and IG off my phone. Reluctantly reinstalled IG this week as Im going to need some “online visibility” (ugh) for a thing im working on.
Not all bad as had some messages from a few old friends but one thing i noticed was the amount of old shit being recycled. Videos that did the rounds years ago (even forum era, pre socials) getting traction. Feels like its stuck in a never ending loop. Especially bad when its old shit being presented like its brand new.
Still alarmingly easy to waste time browsing all this bollocks though. Im pretty good at refraining from leaving comments on the bait posts but might have to delete and just reinstall to post at the weekends or something.
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So it turns out I’m not missing Instagram in the slightest which I’m buzzing about. I’m less buzzing about my screen time actually going up by a couple of hours because it turns out I’ve replaced Instagram with watching YouTube videos instead 
I’m trying to console myself with the fact that some (but not all) of the videos I’m watching are synth tutorials and that’s educational right?
We’ve no chance have we?! This is like quitting smoking all over again….
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Instagram has just killed itself for me thanks to this automatic reality check screen which instantly reminds me not to continue! I have already removed all social media from my phone and only had instagram on my laptop. thanks meta!
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has anyone else found YouTube now has ridiculously frequent ads? like, every 5 minutes.
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Yes, seem to run two Ads now with no option to skip during the second one.
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I have a youtube adblocker app on my laptop which works well but sadly doesn’t cast. Not too sure how to get round that
Tai Chi walking …
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I just had Tai Chi - seated - complete with AI senior demonstrating highly improbable, possibly physically impossible, six week results. The wonders the internet has brought us * facepalm *
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Feels like it’s time to remove the ‘social’ from social media? There’s little incentive for the platforms to create communities or strengthen relationships when they want you isolated, addicted and watching ads.
I’m doing some research into the state of dating (for a project!) and I read that the dating apps don’t actually want people to meet and fall in love, because then they’ll stop using the apps. They want people in a continual state of singledom, ‘situationship’ and looking for someone better. Grim but also obvious when you think about it.
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Ive taken everything off Phone ( never had TP) so only browse when at laptop which helps a lot but you still got to see good bits
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Some interesting and some flippant ways in which a digital detox affects your life and those around you.
I get so fed up with friends telling me I’m the problem for not using WhatsApp. We all draw our line somewhere, and one of mine is Zuckerberg. I’m still available on text or by phone call
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YouTube is the one thing I don’t mind paying premium for, I use it so much.
Vanced Tube works pretty well on Android if you don’t want ads
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took me ages to quit youtube, it was the hardest one, i still use it for specific technical info but only on computer not phone if i can help it, i still use discogs for music and listen to youtube clips there as well… but it really encourages endless ‘searching’ for exciting new content and it’s insiduous imho
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I’ve deleted Instagram and have a timer on WhatsApp which makes me wait if I want to access outside of 2 specific windows. The only person who should need to contact me urgently is my wife and we now use iMessage.
Not sure how I’ll know what’s going on without Instagram - tickets for gigs and stuff?
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The gigs/tickets thing is the main miss for me and the main reason I still have to log in at least once a week to see what’s happening.
Luckily I’m on a WhatsApp group with alot of like minded peeps here who ensure flyers, gig announcements and pre sale codes are posted for everyone’s benefit. Copped tickets this week for goat in Dublin with a shared presale, so it’s great
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