Boundary Objects

Why is Instagram doing this?

In a nutshell, it is ragebait. Instagram’s developers know that if they repeatedly show this crap, I will get annoyed, and when I’m annoyed, I’m more likely to give into the urge to comment, and then I get into fights with other commenters, which generates a nice increase in the measures of engagement that define success for a social media platform. Once you recognise this pattern it can’t be unseen.

What’s the problem?

Let’s come to the term neurotypical. I have two problems with it: the neuro and the typical. First, as I’ve just argued, some of the big differences in CSD are contingent on the situations in which we live our everyday lives. Social interaction can be a source of stress or support, depending on the people we are interacting with.

What’s the solution?

Just as I’ve proposed the term CSD, I want to propose a couple of alternatives to the term neurotypical. The first is neuroconvergent. This is just the opposite of neurodivergent, but all word use is at least partly metaphorical, and this term carries a couple of apt connotations.

Drug talk — why so problematic?

On pt 6, there are mental health professionals who would scold me for talking about drugs. They often ban patient ‘drug talk’ in support groups and services in order to reserve that privilege for trained clinicians.