Substack and 'performative intellectualism'

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This video is about performative intellectualism on social media and Substack. I started to think about this when Charli xcx posted on substack for the first time and everyone lost their minds about it. My aim is not to argue that people are not being performative or to pretend that knowledge isn’t a status symbol, but I wanted to add my thoughts to the conversation, because I think that many people have a genuine desire to reclaim their brains and even try to do “hard things” as a form of resistance. To that end, I talk about personal curriculums, analog hobbies, dopamine fasting and all similar things people have been trying to get their pre-internet back.
I’m also drawing on articles like the one about friction-maxxing and “thinking is becoming a luxury good”, to show what other reasons people might have for seeking out intellectual content, besides “it looks cool”. I hope it resonates.

timestamps:

00:00 - intro
6:04 - what is anti-intellectualism
7:30 - what is intellectualism
8:38 - what is critical thinking
12:23 - why does everyone want to be an intellectual now?
32:55 - my problem with performativity discourse?

Articles mentioned:
Brain Rot is word of the year 2024
https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/
In 2026, we are friction-maxxing
https://www.thecut.com/article/brooding-friction-maxxing-new-years-2026-resolution.html
Thinking is becoming a luxury good
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/opinion/smartphones-literacy-inequality-democracy.html
Charli xcx can’t write but neither can most of you
​​https://thecrank.substack.com/p/charli-xcx-cant-write-but-neither

Books mentioned:
Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian Daub

Creators mentioned:
Eugene Healey - https://eugenehealey.substack.com/