Fighting the death of discovery

Recap! Last week we talked about the death of discovery, a.k.a., the enshittefication of Google. Essentially, changes to Google Search — and the addition of its AI Overview — have weakened our ability to stumble upon content we might find interesting. In this second part, we’re diving into how to combat it all — or at least, how we can try.

Six years ago I took a humor writing class. On day one, the teacher told us, “I can’t make you funny.”

In that same vein, let me begin by telling you all: I can’t make you curious. Much like that writing class — where we were expected to have some preexisting sense of humor — this conversation is only useful if you already have some degree of curiosity. 

(I will never forget one particular classmate from the humor writing course: She was extremely put off that we didn’t find her story about a southern college funny. After we offered our critiques, she actually tried to lecture us on the ins and outs of fraternities/sororities in that region, wrongly assuming that our disinterest in her story had to do with a misunderstanding of her culture. I did learn that taking constructive criticism is not part of Greek life.)

So assuming you are a naturally curious person — you don’t want to be dull! — how do you find new roads to discovery now that Google Search has been bastardized? The answer, so far as my own experience suggests, is to not rely on the algorithm.

Case in point: The Search & Explore tab on my Instagram account thinks I want to look at endless videos of dogs, celebrity news, and pimple extractions. I really don’t! And I have no idea what I clicked on to be fed celebrity news in particular (the other two categories make sense. I like an occasional zit popped!). Instagram, TikTok, and other apps aren’t actually trying to help you discover or “explore” anything. A New York Times article last month announced the death of “going viral,” due, in large part, to the fact that everyone’s feed is ​​hypertailored to them. The apps want you to stay on the apps, so they’ll just feed you more of what they know you already seem to like.

We have to create our own opportunities to stumble over information. And at the risk of sounding like an aging hipster (yes, our home has not one but two record players!!!!), the answer is at least partly about going analog.

Pick up a magazine or newspaper (maybe even get a subscription). Read all or most of the publication. Not every article may appeal to you immediately, but just try it! I once read about how European-style “forest kindergartens” help children’s development better than the hyper-safe and sanitized American playgrounds. Why? Because I had a copy of The Atlantic with me and a few hours to kill on a flight. There’s no chance such a story would have landed in my lap by way of an algorithm: I don’t have kids, I’m not an educator, and I’ve never developed a playground. I can list off a broad variety of topics I’ve learned about, just because I had a copy of a magazine or newspaper and some time.

If you do need an internet-y way to allow for more discovery, this is where I’ll pitch newsletter subscriptions. Many of my fellow newsletter writers do a really phenomenal job of curating interesting content, whether by way of just sharing what they’ve consumed lately, or by linking to other sources that support an argument or offer background on a topic. There are newsletters that I read where I find myself clicking open five new tabs, which sometimes leads to five more tabs. It’s the rabbit hole effect: I start reading about how one person has helped restock local free fridges, and four clicks later I’m learning about the impact of community CPR training. 

Starting with a particular writer/publication/topic you already respect or are interested in helps to kickstart the whole ordeal, and it makes a daunting idea (just go discover) far less overwhelming. Begin with the familiar voice, then start picking up some new scents.

A writer I follow — Haley Nahman of Maybe Baby — recently re-promoted her answer to a reader question about how she incorporates other writers’ voices into her own work. Nahman explained how she began by identifying writers/thinkers whose subject matter resonated with her, then she would read some of their most popular work. 

“Learning about a few tends to lead you to others, and over time a mental map will start to form,” she wrote. “It’s less that I have quotes memorized and more that, after years of reading, I now have a general sense of where I might sniff around if I’m thinking about a certain topic.”

The nerdy thing that I started doing is this: When I find myself on a tab-opening bender, I’ll set aside some time to go through those bookmarked reads and see if I might want to reference them later. I add them to a spreadsheet (in my Google Drive, no less. I am ENORMOUSLY hypocritical!) with a cell that gives a one- or two-word description of the main topic and a cell for secondary topics. This way, I can easily reference them for future articles or newsletters, or maybe just go back and poke around at the concept later.

We lose a lot when we lose the opportunity to discover. Right now, Big Tech seems to be in the business of tamping down your desire for discovery. On my Instagram feed, I have seen the same videos of dogs falling off of couches 100 times, but in a slightly different order and set to slightly different music. It’s like the app is saying, “You like these dogs, right?? Keep watching the dogs you like!” And yeah, I still get a kick out of the same Labrador retriever puppy slipping off of a side table.

But if describing reels that I saw on my phone is all I can bring to a dinner party conversation, you have every right to pour hot soup in my lap and tell me to leave.