This chapter reminds me of the some of the reasons I've started to disengage from social media and push content in general. As many people do, I find it really easy to get sucked in a scrolling session on some kind of feed like a news aggregate or social hub. It's really addicting, and it can last for hours if you let it... I'll always feel bad and kind of empty afterwards knowing how much time I've wasted for how little I've actually gained. And the issue is so much worse today even than it was when this book was written, because slightly newer than the book was the popularization of short form content, and really fancy algorithms with it. Everything on the internet moves so fast now and with every company on the internet competing for my attention it feels like my brain is getting fried just by using the internet.

As for a completely different topic, I think APIs are really great. I think I've used a few mashup websites in my past. I had an idea for a mashup website that I probably lack the skills to execute, but I think is pretty cool. A lot of world-information type websites have free APIs that you can integrate into your work (except for the Google Earth API, which used to be free, but you have to apply for now) like FlightRadar24, which tracks planes around the globe in real time. If you could get a good world map, weather information, plane data, local news for individual countries, live camera feeds, etc... You could use that information to paint a picture of the world, and maybe "drop in" to whatever location you're in the mood for and get relatively current information. It would probably be too information packed to be useful, but as a novelty it would be cool to watch the world move.