A review by hauntbug
Wasting Time on the Internet by Kenneth Goldsmith

3.0

Haphazardly stumbles through a whistle-stop of oblique philosophical concepts, which steer it toward a clinical academic visage increasingly uninteresting to read, consistently failing to elaborate on any grounding argument or compelling synthesis. Instead, it appears more akin to a surface-level literature review or seminar ramble, probably impenetrable (certainly in many cases for me) if you're not largely familiar with the niche pop culture artefacts or theories he summons throughout. Not to suggest this is a fault of the author, although in the times I felt engaged, he quickly progresses toward another analogy without any worthwhile prodding or grounding argument. Above all, his central ethos is defending the internet from its stereotypical lambasting as a "zombie" tool dissociating humans from the physical, instead proposing it acts as a modern 'library of babel' allowing us to become more intimately invested in our passions & self-identity than any medium preceding it. One element I found fascinating was the "digital flaneur", and how commercial aspects derive the internet of its ability to thrive as a democratised resource. Curation is an interesting field to me, and in this context allows me to justify my daunting .mp3 collection, as our constant curation is a mode of engagement immutable from the internet -- it appears increasingly how content itself is subordinated to the action of acquiring as a conceptual gesture. Especially amidst megaleaks & breathtaking data dumps; the joy of liberating information & artwork cannot be subdued.