ive spent years documenting how they extract from us. not stealing. extraction. SYSTEMATIC EXTRACTION AS INFRASTRUCTURE. i wanted to map the machinery. the systems designed not to serve us but to extract from us. extract our attention. our data. our money. our labor. our time. our sanity.
the genius is making it voluntary. making us participate in our own extraction. making us defend the systems that drain us. stockholm syndrome at scale we love our captors because we cant imagine life without them.
every app. every platform. every service. designed around the same question: how much can we extract before they notice. before they resist. before they stop using. the answer is ALMOST EVERYTHING. we will give almost everything if you make it convenient enough.
average person checks phone eighty-five times daily. picks it up every twelve minutes. first thing in morning. last thing at night. during meals. during conversations. during sex. CONSTANT INTERRUPTION IS THE PRODUCT.
tiktok watch time averages ninety-five minutes daily. instagram seventy minutes. facebook fifty-eight minutes. youtube forty-five minutes. total over four hours daily. thats sixteen years of your life if you start at fifteen and live to seventy. sixteen years watching. scrolling. consuming. sixteen years of your finite existence converted to advertising revenue.
they call it engagement. engagement metrics. time on platform. daily active users. what they mean is HOW LONG CAN WE KEEP THEM HOOKED. how long before they remember they have lives. have responsibilities. have anything better to do than scroll.
hired psychologists to maximize addiction. hired behavioral scientists. hired neuroscientists. studied slot machines. studied cocaine. studied everything that makes humans compulsively return. variable reward schedules. infinite scroll. pull to refresh. these are features these are hooks. carefully designed to override your prefrontal cortex.
push notifications designed to trigger anxiety. what if you miss something. what if someone messaged. what if something happened. FOMO weaponized. turned into profit stream. your anxiety is their quarterly earnings. YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL WEAKNESS IS THEIR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.
tried to quit social media. deleted apps. lasted one week. felt like missing out on reality. except reality was happening OFF the apps. but my brain couldnt tell the difference anymore. the feed became more real than real life. the notifications became more important than present moment. THEY REPLACED REALITY WITH SIMULATION AND WE PREFER THE SIMULATION.
autoplay exists for one reason. keep you watching. episode ends. next episode starts. no decision required. no effort needed. just keep consuming. keep watching. keep scrolling. friction is the enemy of extraction. they removed all friction. made consumption effortless. MADE STOPPING HARDER THAN CONTINUING.
children now averaging seven hours daily on screens. more time with algorithms than with parents. than with friends. than with nature. than with themselves. theyre being raised by recommendation engines. by engagement optimization. by systems designed to extract maximum attention. and we call this normal.
data broker industry worth two hundred thirty-nine billion dollars. thats the value of your personal information. your location history. your purchase history. your search history. your health data. your relationship status. your sexual orientation. your political views. your mental state. YOU ARE THE PRODUCT YOU ARE THE RESOURCE YOU ARE THE OIL.
facebook has fifty-two thousand data points on average user. google has more. they know you better than you know yourself. predict your behavior before you decide. influence your decisions before youre aware youre making them. THIS IS BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION AT POPULATION SCALE.
pregnancy prediction algorithms know youre pregnant before you tell anyone. sometimes before you know. target sent diaper coupons to teenager. father complained. store knew she was pregnant from purchase patterns. browsing behavior. search terms. creepy but profitable invasion but legal.
health apps sell your data. fitness trackers sell your data. period tracking apps sell your data. mental health apps sell your data. the apps you use to manage your health are monetizing your illness. monetizing your anxiety. monetizing your body. they profit from your vulnerability.
terms of service nobody reads. privacy policies nobody understands. consent manufactured through complexity. through length. through legal language designed to obscure not inform. you agree to surveillance because the alternative is not using the service. and not using means EXCLUSION FROM MODERN LIFE.
third party cookies track you across the web. fingerprinting tracks you when you block cookies. cross-device tracking follows you from phone to laptop to tablet. there is no escape. no privacy. no anonymity. unless you live off grid even off grid theres satellites. theres drones. theres license plate readers. theres facial recognition.
data breaches every month. millions of records stolen. your social security number. your passwords. your medical records. companies say were sorry. offer credit monitoring for one year. then another breach. and another. your data leaked so many times it doesnt matter anymore. EVERYONE ALREADY HAS EVERYTHING.
worst part is we volunteered it all. uploaded our lives. documented everything. checked in everywhere. tagged everyone. created comprehensive databases of our existence. did the data entry ourselves. UNPAID LABOR FOR THEIR PROFIT. and we competed for who could document most. who could share most. who could expose most of their life for likes.
subscription economy designed to extract forever. used to buy software once. own it forever. now you rent it monthly. adobe. microsoft. autodesk. stopped selling products. started selling access. OWNERSHIP REPLACED WITH PERMANENT PAYMENT.
count my subscriptions once. twenty-one monthly payments. netflix. spotify. hulu. disney plus. hbo max. youtube premium. amazon prime. cloud storage. password manager. vpn. domain hosting. email service. calendar app. note-taking app. project management. slack. zoom. linkedin premium. medium. substack. FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTEEN DOLLARS MONTHLY. five thousand annually.
cant cancel because everything is integrated. cancel spotify lose playlists. cancel cloud storage lose files. cancel email lose address. cancel subscriptions lose access to things you need for work. for life. for basic function. they made themselves essential then charged rent.
free trials that auto-renew. hard to cancel. have to call. have to navigate phone trees. have to argue with retention specialists. they make signing up one click. make canceling require effort. friction asymmetry. easy to get trapped. hard to escape. dark patterns DELIBERATE EXTRACTION DESIGN.
microtransactions in everything. games. apps. services. ninety-nine cents here. four ninety-nine there. small enough to ignore. too small to think about. but it adds up. gaming industry makes more from microtransactions than from selling games.
loot boxes are gambling. pay real money for random chance at digital items. taught children to gamble before they can drive. governments finally investigating. but damage done. generation raised on gambling mechanics. on pay-to-win. on monetized progression. ADDICTION AS BUSINESS MODEL.
surge pricing everywhere now. uber charges more when you need rides most. amazon changes prices based on your browsing history. airlines change prices based on your location. dynamic pricing means MAXIMUM EXTRACTION BASED ON DESPERATION. they charge what they can get away with. what youre willing to pay. what you have no choice but to pay.
hidden fees on everything. processing fee. service fee. convenience fee. facility fee. resort fee. booking fee. cancellation fee. late fee. fees for things that should be included fees because they can. because regulations dont stop them. because we got used to it. normalized nickel-and-diming as standard practice.
credit card debt averaged six thousand dollars per person. not because people are irresponsible. because wages stagnant. because cost of living increased. because they made survival expensive. made normal life require debt. made debt feel normal. twenty-three percent interest on survival.
gig economy is labor extraction perfected. uber. doordash. instacart. taskrabbit. upwork. theyre not employers. theyre platforms. no healthcare. no benefits. no job security. no minimum wage. no overtime. just EXTRACTION OF LABOR WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY.
drivers making below minimum wage after expenses. gas. maintenance. insurance. depreciation. wear and tear. calculated actual earnings. seven dollars per hour. less than minimum wage. but called independent contractor so labor laws dont apply. MISCLASSIFICATION AS BUSINESS MODEL.
always available. always online. always working. gig work means no separation between work time and life time. app sends notification. you have to respond. you have to accept. or algorithm penalizes you. lowers your priority. gives work to other drivers. flexibility PRECARITY DISGUISED AS FREEDOM.
worked corporate job once. salaried. forty hours became fifty. became sixty. unpaid overtime normal. expected. if you leave at five youre not team player. not dedicated. not serious about career. they buy forty hours but extract sixty. wage theft legalized for salaried employees.
emails at night. messages on weekend. always connected means always working. laptop closed but phone in pocket. work follows you home. follows you on vacation. follows you to bed. boundaries eroded. work-life balance became work-life integration became WORK COLONIZING LIFE.
productivity increased four hundred percent since 1950. wages increased fourteen percent adjusted for inflation. we produce four times more. earn basically same. where did the value go. EXTRACTED UPWARD. shareholders. executives. ceos making three hundred fifty times average worker. not because theyre three hundred fifty times more valuable. because they own the extraction machinery.
automation should have freed us. should have meant less work. more leisure. but productivity gains went to owners not workers. automation eliminated jobs. didnt eliminate work hours. people working more jobs. more hours. more hustle. because EFFICIENCY ONLY BENEFITS CAPITAL.
side hustle culture is symptom. people need multiple income streams to survive. main job doesnt pay enough. so drive uber after work. sell on etsy. freelance on weekends. monetize hobbies. monetize skills. monetize every moment. live your passion EXTRACT VALUE FROM EVERY ASPECT OF EXISTENCE. rest is waste. leisure is waste. existing without producing is waste.
influencer economy extracts aspiration. extracts desire. shows you lives you cant afford. bodies you cant have. experiences you cant access. then sells you products promising to bridge the gap. MANUFACTURED INADEQUACY AS SALES FUNNEL.
instagram influencers showing curated perfection. private jets theyre not flying on. designer clothes theyre borrowing. luxury hotels theyre photographing then leaving. creating illusion. selling illusion. followers buy products trying to buy the lifestyle. chasing image that doesnt exist. emptying bank accounts for simulation of success.
comparison is automatic. unavoidable. see someone with better life. better body. better relationship. better everything. brain does math. them minus me equals failure. everyone performing. everyone curating. everyone showing highlight reel. you compare your behind-the-scenes to their final cut.
wellness industry worth four point five trillion dollars. selling solution to problems they create. selling peace. selling balance. selling mental health. yoga classes. meditation apps. wellness retreats. life coaches. therapists booked months out. self-care MONETIZING YOUR BREAKDOWN.
theyre the cause and the cure. social media creates anxiety. sells you meditation app for anxiety. work extracts everything. sells you productivity system. consumerism creates emptiness. sells you minimalism course. EXTRACTING PROFIT FROM FIXING WHAT THEY BROKE.
self-improvement industry is trap. always something to optimize. always something to fix. always something to improve. read seventy-three self-help books. took eighteen courses. still anxious. still inadequate. still wrong. because THE POINT IS KEEPING YOU TRYING NOT HELPING YOU ARRIVE.
personal brand requirement now. everyone is business. everyone is content creator. everyone is their own marketing department. cant just exist. have to perform. have to optimize. have to monetize. being human is not enough anymore. have to be brand.
authenticity became aesthetic. vulnerability became content. trauma became engagement. people sharing breakdowns for views. sharing grief for likes. sharing recovery for followers. genuine connection EMOTIONAL EXTRACTION PACKAGED AS COMMUNITY. even our pain is content. even our healing is product. nothing left private. nothing left sacred. everything extractable.
this is the system. not broken. working exactly as designed. DESIGNED TO EXTRACT EVERYTHING FROM EVERYONE ALWAYS. your attention. your data. your money. your labor. your time. your psychology. your relationships. your identity. your humanity.
they turned everything into extractable resource. turned you into extractable resource. divided you into monetizable parts. your eyeballs worth this much. your data worth that much. your time worth something else. your anxiety worth even more. HUMAN REDUCED TO SUM OF EXTRACTABLE VALUE.
cant opt out. try to live without smartphone. without social media. without subscriptions. without participating. becomes impossible. cant work. cant communicate. cant function in modern society. participation is choice participation is mandatory. they made it mandatory then called it freedom.
people say just delete apps. just disconnect. just live simple. but simple life requires privilege. requires wealth. requires not needing job that demands constant availability. not needing to be findable. not needing to participate in systems that require participation. opting out is luxury most cant afford.
watch younger generation. they dont remember before. dont remember life without constant extraction. think its normal. think its just how things are. theyre right. it is how things are. EXTRACTION IS INFRASTRUCTURE NOW. built into everything. foundation of modern economy. not aberration. not corruption. design.
people think theyre using services. using apps. using platforms. wrong platforms are using you. apps are using you. services are extracting from you. youre not the customer. YOURE THE RESOURCE BEING MINED.
and the mining never stops. gets more efficient. more comprehensive. more inescapable. new ways to extract. new data to collect. new attention to capture. new money to take. new labor to exploit. INFINITE EXTRACTION FROM FINITE BEINGS.
this document wont change anything. people will read it and nod and go back to scrolling. back to subscribing. back to working. back to participating in their own extraction. because what choice is there. because opting out means not existing. because THEY MADE EXTRACTION THE PRICE OF PARTICIPATION and participation the price of life.
the machines won. not through force. through making themselves necessary. through making resistance impossible. through making extraction normal. WE ARE BEING HARVESTED. and we know it. and we accept it. because the alternative is worse. because theres no alternative. because this is just how the world works now.