Wellsbaum.blog

Writing about life and arts

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  • Tech this out

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    1 min read

    Technology controls us. The companies that make the hardware and software hijack our attention and turn us into distraction-seeking mice. None of this is good for our cognition. Reward and pleasure are addicting, so much so we get anxious when the pellets stop showing up. That’s when we reach into our pockets and pull out…

  • Devouring optical information

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    1 min read

    There’s optical information everywhere — on cereal boxes, to ads atop taxicabs, to the best quiche recipe on Pinterest. We are bombarded by the same signals we signal right back, purchasing the Nike sneaker posted on Instagram yesterday. Communicating through images negotiates a plausible reality. We consume and project, show and inspire others. Assume everything…

  • Hearts manipulated at scale

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    1 min read

    Hearts manipulated at scale. It’s as if social media is the new religion. The double-tap ❤️ permeates everything, so much that we stopped going on vacation for pleasure — instead, we travel for the purpose of accumulating likes. Studies show that if your phone is in your field of vision you won’t be able to…

  • Taste the rainbow, on loop

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    1 min read

    There it was, crushing the human will. It was the antithesis to my Kindle Jenner, a screen of sanctity for focus and learning. The lite brite is an attention thief. Like a fresh bag of Skittles, it begs you to consume your favorite colors first. The rainbow hue of Instagram may be the shiniest of…

  • Visuals: Faceless portrAits

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    1 min read

    Atop Adrift Adjacent Afar All photos by Wells Baum People from behind + Story + Favorite place + Faceless

  • Human rationality and craziness

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    1 min read

    The most successful people are both rational and crazy. As much as robots and artificial intelligence threaten our creativity, there will be some people who cultivate the randomness of thought to continue innovating. Wrote Jean-Luc Godard: “It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.” See the world, not its…

  • How Instagram homogenizes our creativity

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    2 min read

    Instagram is a clash of sameness: the same travel pics, coffee cup shots, and innumerable selfies. The app ‘homogenizes‘ photography so that all images look roughly the same. It’s always refreshing to see Instagram users who are trying something different, who are using the platform to explore their creativity instead of posting endless food porn. Not only are…

  • Enjoying the silence of GIFs

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    1 min read

    The mind fills a silent GIF with sound. The flags flickering in the wind, the lightbulb dancing at a Mexico City bar, to the whistle of leaves swinging outside your window. Living in the distraction era, noise is ubiquitous. Standing still, the decibels around turn up to match the horizon. But the calmer it becomes,…

  • Walden, water, and wifi

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    1 min read

    One day we’re going to miss the powerful silence of the natural world, the way it smells and begs for an inquisition. That’s because “most people are on the world, not in it,” wrote the father of national parks John Muir. In putting a “fence around nature,” we lock ourselves into a secluded wall of…