- In a recent interview with The New York Times, Alex Norström, co-president and chief business officer of Spotify, compared the app to nutritious food, contrasting it with “high-caloric, quick things”.
- Norström makes another analogy: our interaction with Spotify is like a relationship—it requires “commitment.”
- This is, of course, a marketing strategy. But that doesn’t mean it lacks merit.
- Both Spotify and smartphones are common targets of criticism—smartphones for being addictive and Spotify for allegedly ruining music with its algorithms.
- But perhaps our criticism is misdirected? Maybe we are at least partly to blame for our compromised well-being.
- If we allow ourselves to rely on algorithms, we shouldn’t complain about them misnavigating our inner soundscapes (not being us, they can’t possibly do it well). Similarly, if we choose to use our phones mindlessly, we shouldn’t be surprised if they leave us feeling numb.
- Of course, greediness from corporations doesn’t help. But until AI abolishes work and redefines money, greed is a fact of life. We would do better to learn to work around it rather than simply complain.
- We can choose to be more mindful and present in our musical discovery journey. By doing so, we can replace junk screen time—which doesn’t transcend the moment and leaves us worse off over time—with intentional screen time that sustainably supports our well-being and from which we “tend to come out […] feeling better”, as Norström put it.
Spotify Sells Itself as a Nutritional Alternative to Doomscrolling—And It Makes Sense
Related Hobbies: Discovering and Listening to Music
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