Anti Social

someone in a focus group 
once described Apple TV

“the person standing alone
in the corner at a party”

people laughed

i’ve never been naturally social 
in the traditional sense

it’s easier for me to express myself
through written words

edited video
remixed culture

in person I can fumble

but with time 
I can listen

observe
absorb
metabolize

and craft something that says 
exactly what I mean
at the exact right 
temperature

maybe that’s why I spent fifteen years 
working in social

because social was never distribution to me

It was emotional transmission

for a long time
i thought making an impression 
meant being impressive

fast
clever
sharp

the kind of thing people notice

but being noticed 
isn’t the same thing 
as being felt

people rarely share things 
because they learned something

they share because they felt something

a laugh
recognition
a lump in the throat

vibes travel farther than information

an old boss once told me 
social is like oxygen

the invisible space between people

an atmosphere of images

Sound
Language
Emotion

moving between us

a shared consciousness
divided into millions 
of tiny realities
shaped by what 
we pay attention to
on our phones

every once in a while
something breaks 
containment

a feeling spreads

we call it “viral”

machines can imitate words
but people move people

that’s what social is to me

the rare and beautiful feeling 
of feeling together