We have witnessed a multi-generational decline in reading comprehension. We read less, retain less of what we read, and struggle to engage in critical analysis. And if this trend continues, we risk undermining the very foundations of our society. In the bite-sized content and viral media age, too many of
I know this is going to make me sound old – but I miss the internet. The real internet. The one we used to have. Before it all got so much less – and somehow so much more – complicated. I went online for the first time around 2001. The 90s had ended,
Perverse Incentives are Poisoning the Well Think creator payouts are lifting up talent? Think again. Social media’s reward systems are driving creators into a race for views, churning out content at all costs. Here’s how it’s breaking the creator economy. Perverse incentives are the hidden traps lurking
Podcasting was unstoppable—until it wasn’t. The bubble’s burst, and the battle for survival has begun. Are we watching the death of podcasting as we know it? Remember when podcasts were the hot new thing? Advertisers couldn't throw money at them fast enough. The big names
The Matthew Effect was first coined by sociologists Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman in 1968, who noticed that eminent scientists tended to get disproportionate credit for collaborative research compared to their less-well-known colleagues. The same paper would get more attention if a famous name was on it, even if
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, fracturing the unified Catholic hierarchy that had dominated European spiritual and social life for centuries. In 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath. These
The world isn’t falling apart—it’s being pried apart, one stolen moment at a time. Attention has become the most coveted commodity, and we’re little more than unwitting marks in a global grift. The apps, platforms, and systems sucking up our time aren’t tools anymore. They’
Last week I recorded a podcast with a friend who works in private equity. More on that later. He mentioned that his firm looks at education the same way they looked at housing in 2007 - a market propped up by cheap debt, artificial scarcity, and mass delusion about underlying
In 1973, sociologist Mark Granovetter published one of the most influential papers in social network theory. "The Strength of Weak Ties" demonstrated something counterintuitive: when it comes to finding jobs and opportunities, your casual acquaintances are often more valuable than your close friends. This makes perfect sense when
I’ve been thinking lately about the “anti-identity trap.” It works like this: Someone starts out reasonably disliking something — let’s say corporate greenwashing. Fair enough. They join online communities dedicated to mocking greenwashing campaigns. Their social media becomes a steady stream of eye-rolling screenshots. They develop an eagle eye
Hey! I’ve got something new to share—The Westenberg Podcast. Most episodes are quick dives, clocking in at 5–10 minutes (never more than 20), designed to get you thinking about the systems shaping our lives without eating up your day. The latest episode just dropped: “Understanding Digital Oligarchies:
The last few years of my life have been a whirlwind of change. Everything I thought I wanted, everything I thought I was building toward, began to feel hollow. A sense of unease crept in—like I was running on a treadmill that kept speeding up, but I wasn’t
Moscow, 1959. The Cold War is in full swing, and the U.S. government has organized an exhibition to showcase American prosperity. Their goal: prove to ordinary Soviets that capitalism delivers a better life than communism. But while President Eisenhower dreams of ideological victory, a 30-something Pepsi executive named Donald
Imagine spending 400,000 years climbing to the top of the food chain, only to lose the will to live because your GrubHub driver forgot the extra ranch. We’re surrounded by the husks of tools that were supposed to make life easier—once indispensable, now crutches, then chains, and
Imagine you’re offered a bet: You can have $1 million today, or you can have ownership of one square mile of Manhattan real estate, but you can’t sell it for 100 years. The catch? You’ll never personally see the payoff — only your great-grandchildren will. Would you take
It’s Monday morning. The first thing you see (yes, before you see your kids, your partner, even your coffee) is a Slack notification. That Slack notification leads you to a Confluence document, which is supposed to prepare you for the upcoming Zoom meeting. In the Zoom meeting, you’re