The Dark Side of Clubhouse

Distraction, Disinformation, and the Commodification of Conversation?

Monday morning. 10 am. I’m several hundred words into an article I’m working on.

I receive a notification. It’s a ping from a friend on Clubhouse informing me that superstar VCs Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz are hosting a one-on-one chat for an audience of several thousand. It would be rude of me not to acknowledge the ping and pop in, right?

Before you know it, it’s almost midday and I’m still only several hundred words into that article.

Sound familiar?

The Social Dilemma

The hit Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma shone the spotlight on big tech and social media in particular, and how tech platforms are incentivized to hijack and monetize our attention, something that not only leaves us as hyperresponsive as Pavlov’s dog and compromises our ability to focus and do great work, but also sets up myriad downstream consequences — a pessimistic world outlook, political polarization, self-esteem issues, and so on.

And just when you thought you didn’t need another social media app, along comes Clubhouse — an invite-only drop-in audio platform that’s a mish-mash of podcasting and Meetups, and currently boasts more than…