When the technologies we use every day collapse our experiences into 24/7 availability, platforms for personal branding, and products to be monetized, nothing can be quite so radical as… doing nothing. Here, Jenny Odell sends up a flare from the heart of Silicon Valley, delivering an action plan to resist capitalist narratives of productivity and techno-determinism, and to become more meaningfully connected in the process.
The Real Friends' take on How to Do Nothing:
Courtney: My first act in doing nothing was to put down this book midway because life is too short to read a book you can't get into.
MP: How to become a bird watcher
Erks: A nature manifesto in 4 acts Read along with us!
Here's what's next:
9/14: Ready Player Two
9/28: The One
10/12:Evicted
And if you're looking for more, some of Erks and the Real Friends favorite reads lately:
- Anything from The Marshall Project, particularly their "Life Inside” series, first-person essays from people who live or work in the criminal justice system.
–Why Managers Fear a Remote-Work Future, The Atlantic <<< a quick, interesting read from the Atlantic on how the way we work has already evolved, whether we like it or not.
– American Prison, Shane Bauer
