78
‘Our consciousness is under siege’: Michael Pollan on chatbots, social media and mental freedom
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
78 points (97.6% liked)
News
36583 readers
2686 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.
Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.
7. No duplicate posts.
If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.
All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Cute. Way too late.
No, it's not. You can literally delete social media right now and just start using your phone as a phone. Sure, there are endless temptations pulling at your attention, but in the end it's still you choosing to distract yourself from the real world.
Life gives you constant opportunities to be present, but we just choose not to take them because sitting on a bus staring out the window feels boring.
Just decide when you want to be present and stick to it. Pair it with daily stuff you're already doing anyway - doing the dishes, going to the bathroom, driving or commuting, queuing, waiting for something. Decide in advance not to pull out your phone in these moments and just be there.
This "it's too late" thinking is just mental handcuffs you're putting on yourself.
Defeatists really need to STFU. Most annoying people ever. It’s like they‘re on a mission to demoralize everyone.
On social media, cynicism often gets mistaken for intelligence because it looks like "seeing through the bullshit." It gives the appearance of depth and critical thinking. But it's not. It's a defensive posture, not a truth-seeking one. Cynic just assumes everything is corrupt, stupid, or fake. That way they never have to risk being wrong, vulnerable, or naive. It's low-effort intellectual armor.
Well said, it lives in the realm of posturing, saying things because of how they sound and not actually thinking and wanting to solve problems.
On one level I agree with what you're saying. On a different one I really dislike the "just do it" attitude, when we're dealing with software that has been engineered to be extremely addictive. Of course, you could tell a heroine addict or meth-head that they need to "just decide to quit", but it's well established that that doesn't usually help much. Of course, it's true that, bottom line, they "just" need to quit. However it's reductionist to the point of no longer being helpful to suggest that as a solution in itself.
With e.g. social media (and other addictions) we should be doing more than just putting it on the individual to cut out their addiction. After all, they're just an individual that's fighting a huge for-profit industry that's set up around keeping them addicted. Asking them to fight that battle alone is setting them up to fail.
I think my response is a bit more nuanced than "just do it."
I acknowledge that it's hard - that's exactly why I'm laying out small, practical steps people can actually take instead of quitting cold turkey. Deleting social media is extreme and easier said than done, but something like not taking your phone to the bathroom is an easy daily habit anyone can start.
I'm just trying to highlight that it can be done - and it sure as hell isn't "too late."
Well said, I see that I may have read your initial comment a bit too quickly and misinterpreted it a bit :)
All good man. Noting that things are nuanced is always welcome - especially online.
🥱