The High Low

Instagram's Proposed Removal of The 'Like' Counter; & Why Are We So Obsessed With Other People's Process?

07.23.2019 - By Pandora Sykes and Dolly AldertonPlay

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Ding dong the BoJo's in. Duuuuuude. 

This week: curry seagull; the controversial Cats trailer; and why Ireland's 8th amendment might have been repealed - but is far from what has been legally mandated.

And on today’s agenda, we delve into Instagram's proposed removal of the 'like' counter, which is being trialled in countries including Japan and Australia. Will this change social media for the better? Will it eradicate 'comparisonitus', a flimsiness of self constructed on dopamine hits, and the homogeneity of 'basic' culture? And what is the future for influencer culture? Dolly and I discuss, with reference to our own complicity in this personal profit model.

We also tackle our growing obsession with the processes and routines of people we admire. From beauty to work to sleep to exercise, we are obsessed with the schedules of other people. But what does that say about the way we live our lives? Is it an attempt to shrug off our own lives and co-opt what we perceive to be a happier, more optimised one?

If you would like to come and see The High Low live in action, there are a few tickets left to our Manchester show. Book here! www.faneproductions/com/highlow E-mail [email protected] Tweet @thehighlowshow 

Links Kate Kellaway interviews Lemn Sissay for The Guardian, 2016 https://bit.ly/2bs5oGL   Frank Sinatra Has Got A Cold, by Gay Talese for Esquire, 1966 https://bit.ly/2uLGEqS   Profile of Zadie Smith in The Telegraph, 2002 https://bit.ly/2JV4ftK 'Police officers demanded to see my books' by Elif Shafak for The Guardian https://bit.ly/2Y63aZ8   Is Instagram's removal of its 'like' counter a turning point in social media? https://bit.ly/2Y220yI   Megan Nolan on her teenage relationships with older men for The New Statesman: https://bit.ly/2McXEhb   Caitlin Moran on not slut-shaming daughters: https://bit.ly/2YnjLrt   Why are we obsessed with other people's daily habits? by Suzannah Showler: https://bit.ly/32OVIkP   Less by Andrew Sean Greer  So Lucky, by Dawn O'Porter, pre-order now 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World, by Elif Shafak Have You Heard George's Podcast? By George Mpanga https://apple.co/2PieAST   Zadie Smith interview on the Touré Show https://bit.ly/2M9mDBM   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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