Going “analog” won’t save you

00:00 intro 03:10 the flattening 04:00 the smooth 05:55 the loss of taste 09:32 my confession 11:59 the bigger picture 14:41 how to develop your taste 21:11 closing 2026 is being called the year of the analog with things like dumb phones, digital detoxes, knitting, paperbacks. Putting your phone down is a beautiful first step, but it alone doesn't fix the bigger problem: The Great Flattening of culture, taste, and our inner worlds. I talk about how algorithms eroded our ability to know what we like and discuss Ted Gioia's culture food chain, Byung-Chul Han's "smooth," the Matt Damon Netflix story, and how to get your taste back. This is my most personal and ambitious video yet. I hope it helps you with something!! SOURCES & FURTHER READING Ted Gioia, "The State of the Culture, 2024" The Honest Broker https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-s... Matt Damon on Netflix plot repetition The Hollywood Reporter, January 2026 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/mov... Netflix is telling writers to dumb down shows PCMag https://www.pcmag.com/news/netflix-is... Gen Z and the analog economy Fortune, April 2026 https://fortune.com/2026/04/01/gen-z-... "The Agony of Old Music”: why old music is killing new music The Atlantic, 2022 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc... Byung-Chul Han: The Smooth Critics by Finn Janning Waxing & Waning Literary Journal https://www.waxingandwaning.org/byung... Kyle Chayka, Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture Book, 2024 The Ezra Klein Show, "How to Find Your Own Taste" with Kyle Chayka Podcast, 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/op... Susan Carolynn, “Digital Detox Bag” YouTube Short, 2026    • let’s create a digital detox, cozy hobby b...   TheWildeFlores “My Analog Bag” YouTube Short, 2026    • My analog bag, the 💛 of my studio on the g...   --- A video essay on how algorithmic culture has flattened, how we experience it, and why going analog, while a meaningful first step, isn't enough on its own. Drawing on Ted Gioia's writing on the post-entertainment cultural food chain, Kyle Chayka's Filterworld, and philosopher Byung-Chul Han's concept of "the smooth," this essay argues that the deeper crisis isn't screen time but the loss of personal taste and our ability to feel what moves us and know what it means. Covers algorithm-driven cultural homogenization, the death of subtlety in film and television, the Netflix second-screen viewing model, the dominance of catalog music over new releases, capitalism's stake in keeping consumers numb, and a practical guide to rebuilding personal taste through embodied attention, indie curation, and word-of-mouth recommendation. Topics include digital detox, dumb phones, Gen Z analog trends, anhedonia, dopamine culture, smooth aesthetics, and the relationship between taste and self-knowledge.