Agentic Internet

In praise of being delusional and building to increase agency.

I like the ‘delulu is the solulu’ trend. It calls for confidence, permitting oneself to experiment, try, fail but keep going.

And maybe that is the mindset we all need to keep up with the growing digital universe. Not being skeptical but actively stepping up to experiment, break, combine, and build ideas in this networked economy. Assert ourselves early on and grow with the new invention. And possibly, leap big as early adopters of these developments.

A few years ago, AI wasn’t a mainstream talk, but with the advancement of generative AI, businesses, governments, and individuals are all reacting and looking at how they can all adapt to the times. Such is the world we live in now, which calls for adaptability and sees the agency divide as the new emerging divide, beyond what we have always known as the digital divide. i.e. those who are early stewards of something and become experts of whatever is the trendy discourse are likely to benefit. I like this take by Nadia on the agentic divide.

If Gen X and Millennials grew up with a “digital divide,” perhaps Gen Z will face an “agentic divide”: those who believe they have the power to change their circumstances, versus those who do not. And this belief in personal agency appears to be a critical difference between social movements that have pronatalist versus antinatalist outcomes. — https://nadia.xyz/agency

But how do we keep up with tech?
Well, this is a challenge even to those who are already in the sector. The pressure to keep up is on. But a worthy one. As new forms of increasing productivity and collaborating are coming up (Chat-GPT), new business models are emerging (more subscriptions).

Agency requires we stay open and pay attention, not writing off new inventions immediately but experimenting and finding our voices in them. Some things we’ve come to enjoy are disappearing. Many demand additional costs for subscriptions as well as upgrades to paid versions to escape extreme ad invasion. Or for a smoother experience and access to quality content. And with that, the monthly subscription bills are increasing. Unfortunately, some of this keeping up is costly, and not accessible to everyone, especially when costs are involved.

Two months ago, a friend messaged me, frustrated about a shared Netflix account, she couldn’t log in. I replied that it was due to a new sharing rule by the platform, now restricted to households, and her disappointment was palpable. We had shared the account for 3 years. Across 3 households. She had curated her list of shows and was feeling disheartened about losing that. Now, she needed to get her account, our little Netflix family plan had collapsed. As this happens, some users are pushed to take on a hands-on approach to how they participate digitally either by becoming creators themselves or leaving the platform altogether. Such actions count as a form of agency. Through participation or refusal. One can build more time for hobbies by cutting off Netflix or can decide to pay and have access to content.

As a student of development, I am constantly contemplating our past and future. There have been many talks of “if you are not paying, you are the product”, and that has come with a lot of ethical concerns. But with the move to pay for quality, we’ll need a shift to know what counts as valuable to pay for, what we can prioritize, and who is being left behind in the paid models. If you ask many people, what we did before the internet and smartphones? Most of us can’t recall, but perhaps we don’t need to. Unless as a form of nostalgia or as a brag to the younger generations, of our earlier days.

With digital developments, we can’t afford the lethargy and apathy of being victims of development. We must keep up with the times, amidst the pressures to adapt, define what we want from the internet, and contribute in one way or another. Also, support those who are just coming up onto the internet, especially the young on how to navigate mindfully, contribute, and take chances. Find incentives to learn and build as we go, and be producers of ideas too. I read somewhere that building digital literacy is compared to the early days of financial literacy as indicators of future success, and I think that will be true (teach them young).

Delulu is an agency mindset

With growing tech sophistication, tech literacy will be a great addition for anyone who wants to participate both socially and economically. And the delulu is the new solulu is one of the trends driving this push, it’s a mindset. People are more confident in opening up a social media channel, promoting their business, sending emails, asking users to subscribe and follow, and even asking for users to donate to their pages in the form of subscriptions or patronage.

While some might find this cringe, agency calls for such discomfort. Doing it afraid, hoping that when you start users will follow and experiment even as we seek to find our path in the digital space. The good thing with digital opportunities is we don’t need permission to create and experiment. It pushes for self-pioneer ships and has lower barriers to entry. But once in, the task of winning can be daunting. The algorithm is unpredictable, requiring new skills every day to appease and contest it. Burnout when we try to keep up but we need not despair.

Here’s where user agency comes in. Being adaptable, believing in our capability to contribute, angling ourselves, being visible, casting a wide net to increase our luck, collaborating, and advocating for accountability. I know all this can be tiring, and sometimes most are not sure where to plug in. From fearing the algorithm, keeping off advanced tech development, and failing to experiment early on, we miss the chances to gain from the technical development. Tiring, but someone needs to, we all need to. Move from passive consumers to creators. Push our luck too, maybe we’ll gain from it too.

And for those who manage, pass on the ladder to others

With growing digital and access divides, I know the possibility of doing this is not accessible to everyone. Some need patronage through resources and patient time to develop. Find creative ways of surviving and thriving, sometimes by appeasing the algorithm, contesting it, relying on offline-online relations, as well as other methods to adapt and navigate the system. Such are early efforts at agency, that we should keep up with. And for those able to get ahead, pass the ladder on to others. Through mentorship and documenting their journeys, showing the behind-the-scenes.

This is our reality, with opportunities and challenges.

Digital development offers increasing opportunities to engage, connect, create, and partner. Simultaneously, complexities arise. Some are imagined worst-case scenarios, while others manifest as new cultures and subcultures emerge. As this is happening, agency can take many forms, from the pressure to become an expert in trending discourses to leveraging affordances early on and being intentional about avoiding mindless scrolling and unproductive hype. Entering, staying, choosing to leave, curating, owning ideas, doing cringe things without fear, and building out our digital gardens. Managing, performing, and creating boundaries. It can also be gained through identity creation, resistance, hope, and audacity, being delusional.

However, the digital divide persists for some due to lack of access, literacy gaps, costs, and inadequate infrastructure. This is where the push for agentic internet becomes even more crucial. Beyond skilling programs and literacy to actively building agency. Transitioning from passive consumers to active participants, enabling people to believe in their ability to influence their circumstances and supporting them in their digital uptake and production.

This can be achieved by championing active involvement through time, resources, and capital. Providing people with the freedom to experiment and the autonomy to hope, practice, create, and test. Moving them from victims of technological change to proactive shapers of their destiny. Investing in their ideas. Rethinking investment models to match up the current times, like sponsoring a newsletter, funding creatives to create, and giving access to tools of work like the internet, laptops, and phones.

Agency is complex, some want in, others want out, and it’s all important. While some grapple with access and digital divides, others are exploring ways to minimize their digital consumption. Despite the differing challenges, they all seek agency. The power and responsibility to solve problems and create solutions, for oneself and others, alone and together.

Some observations on agency include

• Angling oneself and frequent self-promotion.
• Regulating addictions through refusal and logging off when feasible.
• Communal agency through networked protest or online organizing.
• Staying curious and having the drive to do more.
• Curating media consumption to align with your preferences and interests.
• Building your luck, through creating, sharing, and experimenting.

We can advance agency by

• Creating environments that build it and putting people in rooms that can scale their imagination. e.g. tech hubs, hacker labs, or gatherings.
• Encourage experimentation and lots of DIY, fund them, support them.
• Build more patronage models for emerging creators.
• Sharing and showing that it’s safe and encouraged to do otherwise and to do hard things through shows and tells.
• Educating others on navigating platforms, including strategies to optimize engagement with algorithms.
• Promoting channels of collaboration.
• Identifying key moments and interventions to enhance agency, such as offering support for college graduates transitioning into the workforce.

By advocating for an agentic internet, we allow others to take control of their experiences. And maybe, this is the new form of building with the user in mind.