Why I Finally Quit Spotify

Chayka writes The New Yorker's Infinite Scroll column on internet culture and the book Filterworld. This piece is his account of leaving Spotify after the platform's algorithmic homogenisation made his listening feel impoverished rather than expanded. The piece is short and personal, but the underlying argument is serious: recommendation systems optimised for engagement can produce cultures that feel thinner than the ones they displaced, and the cost of that thinness is not evenly distributed. For product direction the essay is a useful case study in the unintended consequences of "personalisation" when what is personalised is designed for retention rather than for the listener. Pair with Simon's attention-economy essay.