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Are.na
Steven Truong
rehab
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every single are.na channel related to having a healthy and non-obsessive relationship to technology, and healthy web
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The rise of the personal brand: how selling out became cool in the 2010s
The rise of the personal brand: how sel…
Iceland’s tourism boom, reconsidered - Vox
Iceland’s tourism boom, reconsidered - …
The State of Work Life Balance in 2019 (According to Data) - RescueTime
The State of Work Life Balance in 2019 …
Against Waldenponding
Against Waldenponding
A Blueprint for a Better Digital Society
A Blueprint for a Better Digital Societ
The Deliberate Awfulness of Social Media
The Deliberate Awfulness of Social Medi
booktwo.org
booktwo.org
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One of the ways I'm trying to get "better" at using Are.na is being more conscientious about titling and/or adding descriptions to my blocks and channels. It's easy to not do this because I've become used to privileging speed over long-term use (i.e. it's easy to add things, but harder/more time-consuming to label them, particularly if it means having to actually research the content). Also, I might have a pretty good idea of where I've put everything, but no one else will. This, to me, is key to making Are.na a more communal project than an individualistic one. Labeling helps make what you've added more useful to others (and yourself in the long term!). By creating a culture around "tending to" / "taking care" of the things we add, Are.na becomes more useful for everyone, like a community garden :^). I should note that I would not want Are.na to go the direction of Pinterest where users are required to add titles/descriptions because forcing it down your throat doesn't actually engender care (this is a key distinction for me). I imagine it might be possible to encourage this behavior more through UI/UX, but I think the desire and behavior should ultimately come from the users themselves.

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