Welcome to our social-media-free-online-biz-and-marketing links digest AKA the CLICK THRU!

This month’s round-up includes the rise of Gen Z Luddites, advice on where to find media without doomscrolling, and more!

As always, this is a choose-your-own-adventure sort of endeavor, so you’re invited to dip your toe in one link at a time, dive into the deep end and open them all at once, or just hang out in the splash zone of the comments and see what surfaces there.

Please remember that I don’t necessarily know the folks who create the things I link to, and I definitely don’t endorse every single thing that every single person I mention writes, says, or shares.

OK now on to our thirteenth CLICK THRU + I’ll see you in the comments!⠀⠀

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WHAT’S UP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA & BIG TECH

👀 I’ve started calling myself an AI skeptic, particularly after watching this interview clip with Signal’s Meredith Whittaker.

🤖 Here’s an interesting look at how often AI assistants hallucinate links.

💍 This reporting from Morning Brew made me really glad that I took my Oura ring off for good earlier this year. Now it’s just… in a box in my closet. (I promise I’m not actually throwing it into the sea. I wouldn’t do that to the whales.)

🫣 According to Ars Technica, social media probably can’t be fixed.

🤳 Instagram just hit 3 billion monthly users… but if you need a reason to quit the platform, here’s a good one.

🙅‍♀️ While we’re talking about quitting platforms, here’s a good reason to break up with Google and X…

Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda

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Drop Site News

😡 Outraging-ly relatedly: This is just a huge yikes.

🙃 If the previous links got you down (sorry!)… here’s a great piece on where to find media to consume instead of doomscrolling.

Where to find media to consume instead of doomscrolling

Finding the media that you want to consume when there is a vast and endless sea of information can be quite overwhelming. When I started on my journey of mindful media consumption I had zero clue of where I could start, however, slowly but surely, I began to find so many amazing sources that are now part of the ecosystem I have built for myself. I wante…

Instead of Doomscrolling

🏭 I feel like I always link to at least one kyla scanlon essay, and here I am again recommending this piece on attention, wisdom, and profit!

📸 I wasn’t sure the “dumb” device trend was real, but I went to a wedding recently and saw more than one person carrying a digital camera, specifically this one.

ONLINE BIZ & CONTENT CREATION

🌱Let me begin here with an amazing podcast episode on creative sovereignty from the great show Feed the Art by Catherine LaSota.

💜 Nostalgia is taking so many of us back to the indie web. (For more on that listen to my conversation with Seth Werkheiser)