Before the Algorithm Decided Loneliness Was Monetizable | Brook Woolf

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:01]Hi, I'm Brooke Wolf, and I have a Substack called The Practice of Living One, where I post every Thursday morning a new essay. This one is called The Loneliness of Actually Showing Up, Part One. There's actually two parts of this, The Waters We're Swimming In, and I'm going to read a little line a little excerpt.

[00:00:22]The bell hooks wrote that most of us were never taught what love actually is, that we live in a culture that confuses love with possession, with need, with the management of other people's behavior for our own comfort.

[00:00:37]That genuine love, the kind that requires will and intention and the daily choice to actually see another person, is so countercultural, it reads as naive or threatening.

[00:00:50]And she was writing before the algorithm, before the attention economy decided that loneliness was a monetizable condition, before connection became a product and belonging became a subscription.

[00:01:05]So, if any of that kind of made you feel things, I hope that you read both of Part One and Part Two inside The Practice of Living, and find the link in my bio, and have a beautiful day knowing that yeah, showing up can feel lonely, but it's so, so worth it.

[00:01:29]And you'll know by both parts after I you read them, that that is so, so true.

[00:01:36]You deserve it.

[00:01:38]Love you already.