I was thinking about my friends who similarly to the original talk I was thinking about in that moment of paralysis. So it's kind of addressed to people who feel compelled to make stuff but are also burned out and are being forced to sort of like sell their stuff or sell parts of themselves. It felt like translating almost because the way that I work is so collagey, you know, I'm a collage artist. How long did it take you to write? I wrote it actually really very quickly.
Jenny Odell is a multidisciplinary artist and the author of How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.
“I’ve noticed that the times I’m extra susceptible to being on social media is when I am feeling personally insecure or when I’m dealing with existential dread. That within itself is not part of the attention economy—that’s just a human being having feelings and reacting to things. For me, it’s a question of like, ‘What do I do with that?’ I can either feed it back into the attention economy and actually get more of it back—more anxiety or more existential dread—or I can go in this other direction and spend time alone or with people who care about the same things. Those are places where I can bring my feelings and they won’t destroy me.”
Thanks to Mailchimp, Substack, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
@the_jennitaur
jennyodell.com
Jenny Odell on Longform
[00:49] How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy (Melville House • 2019)
[00:51] ”How To Do Nothing” transcript of keynote talk (Medium • 2017)
[01:10] “A Business With No End” (New York Times • 2018)
[02:30] Evan Ratliff on Cointalk
[02:42] The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. (Evan Ratliff • Random House • 2019)
[03:18] “There’s No Such Thing As A Free Watch” (Museum of Capitalism • 2017)
[05:05] The Bureau of Suspended Objects
[16:55] Gordon Hempton’s “Desert Thunder”
[29:27] Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life (Adam Greenfield • Verso • 2017)
[37:32] Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer • Milkweed Editions • 2015)
[39:25] “Notes of a Bioregional Interloper” (SFMOMA • 2017)
[53:30] Mark Lombardi’s drawings
[56:40] “On How to Grow an Idea” (Creative Independent • 2018)
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