(est. 2021) explores the intersections of technology, culture, and human experience. From urban phenomena and digital spirituality to the evolving landscapes of creativity, we investigate how modern life reshapes perception, identity, and society.
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#21 — VIOL: the ‘anti-violence’ drug that is spreading through Lisbon by Mark Ellison
#20 — Signal Ghosts: The Cities Where Wi-Fi Never Dies
#19 — Digital Detox Retreats: Escaping the Algorithm by Cassandra Myrren
#18 — The Urban Sleep Crisis by Eleanor Voss
#17 — Cryptic Art: NFTs and the Revaluation of Creativity by Marcus Ellwood
#16 — Virtual Pilgrimages: Religious Experience Online by Mark Ellison
#15 — The Dark Side of Wellness: When Self-Optimization Becomes Obsession by Eleanor Voss
#14 — AI Companions and the Loneliness Epidemic by Isolde Maren
#13 — The Rise of Microdosing in Corporate Culture by Cassandra Myrren
#12 — Sonic Immunity: Healing Through Frequencies by Cassandra Myrren
#11 — The Ethics of Immortality by Adrien Veyra
#10 — Algorithmic Faith: When Machines Preach by Mark Ellison
#09 — Post-Human Erotics: Desire Beyond the Flesh by Elin Vårnes
#08 — Synthetic Memory: The Future of Personal Archives by Caio Navarro
#07 — Neurosprawl: Mapping the Brain as a City by Eleanor Voss
#06 — The Archive Will Outlive You by Liang Wei
#05 — Eternal Scroll: The Infinite Feed as a Prison by Isolde Maren
#04 — Terraforming the Mind by Alessio Romano
#03 — Digital Necromancy by Mark Ellison
#02 — Speculative Hunger: Future Diets in a Synthetic World by Cassandra Myrren
#01 — The Ecology of Glitches by Alessio Romano
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In the quiet hours of the night, when the glow of our screens is the only light we recognise, the infinite scroll reveals itself not as a tool, but as a subtle architecture of captivity. Social media, often praised as a conduit for connection, has become a digital labyrinth where attention is both currency and chains. Each post, image, or video is a carefully calibrated stimulus, designed to arrest our gaze and extend our presence within the platform. The architecture of these feeds is deceptively simple: no endpoints, no conclusion, only perpetual motion.
This design taps into a deep neurological vulnerability. Dopaminergic pathways respond to novelty, unpredictability, and social validation. Every like, comment, or view acts as a micro-reward, reinforcing the cycle of engagement. Yet unlike classical addiction, the infinite feed does not offer a tangible reward or satisfaction—it offers continuation, a promise of discovery that can never be fully realized. As Tim Wu argues in The Attention Merchants (2016), these platforms monetise our focus while subtly restructuring our perception of time itself.
Philosophically, the infinite scroll represents a paradox: freedom and imprisonment coexist. Users navigate a vast digital space, seemingly liberated from physical constraints, yet this very freedom is orchestrated by invisible algorithms. The feed becomes a mirror reflecting not the world, but our desires and anxieties, continuously curated and reshaped by predictive analytics. In this sense, the digital present is both hyperreal and hollow, echoing Baudrillard’s notion of simulation (Baudrillard, 1983).
The implications extend beyond individual psychology. Collective attention, once a shared resource, is now atomized, fragmented across millions of streams. Public discourse is truncated, memory is compressed into ephemeral engagements, and the distinction between meaningful reflection and passive consumption blurs. Nicholas Carr, in The Shallows (2010), warns of cognitive consequences: diminished capacity for deep thought, reflection, and sustained attention. In the infinite feed, knowledge is transactional, and understanding is incidental.
Yet the infinite feed is not merely a technological artifact—it is a cultural phenomenon. Its persistence reveals our epochal condition: a society entranced by immediacy, addicted to continuous stimulation, and yet haunted by an underlying anxiety that the next post, the next update, is always just beyond reach. Here lies the cruel genius of the digital age: we are simultaneously observers and prisoners, perpetually scrolling, aware yet unable to escape.
As we confront this architecture of the mind, we must question what is gained and what is surrendered. Can consciousness flourish in a space engineered for distraction? Or are we witnessing the slow dissolution of attention into algorithmic rhythm, a surrender of inner life to perpetual, synthetic motion? The infinite feed, in its seductive and unyielding continuity, may not just trap our eyes—it may subtly recalibrate our very capacity to be present, to think, and to desire.
References
- Baudrillard, J. (1983). Simulations. Semiotext(e).
- Carr, N. (2010). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Wu, T. (2016). The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads. Knopf.