On Freedom

by Timothy Snyder

The algorithms of social media keep us online with a painfully elegant formula: too much contact with (apparent) others in the form of rapid affirmation, yet also too little contact with the actual Leib of actual humans. We feel as though we are recognizing and learning, but without the Leib we are disoriented, stressed, and prone to poor judgments about ourselves. We get used to all the dopamine hits, but they are delivered without any bodily sense. We get more psychological reinforcement from the device than we could possibly get in real life—and then get depressed because all the contact lacks tangibility. That experience of too much and too little leaves us trapped.