Project Parakeet

Of all the posts I ignore on social media – pursed-lip selfies, work-out tips, celebrities’ thoughts on politics, pharma ads – the ones I ignore most thoroughly these days, almost with a vengeance, are the results of prompts to AI chatbots.  The tell-tale fonts and formats of these posts allow me to spot them instantly, and I bypass them as swiftly and reflexively as I do weight-loss pamphlets in doctors’ waiting rooms or dry hairy tangles of bean sprouts in salad bars. It’s an aversion that came on rather recently, like the posts themselves, and perhaps I should examine it, if briefly.