<img src="images/cover.png" width="710" alt="Cover for The Great Unfriending" border="0">
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#The Great Unfriending
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###A Player's Handbook
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**By G. M.**
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<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"></td><td align="center">[01/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Open player's handbook »|Welcome]]</td></tr></table>##Mission: *The Great Unfriending*
You are in the network. The network is all around you. It delivers your morning news, it connects you to your friends, and it enables you to do your work. It has been growing for years without any sign of slowing down.
Although the network is ubiquitous, you do not have to let it overtake you. Simply because you are here, it means that you have finally woken up to its many dangers. It is clear that the network has been using you as a pawn for its ends. With your newfound awareness finally comes the opportunity to play, and even break, its game on your own terms.
Your mission is called *The Great Unfriending*. To complete it, you must successfully reconfigure your relationship to the network and develop new strategies of engagement.
This player’s handbook will help you understand the hazards, obstacles, and enemies that constitute the network. It also provides important information about the skills, equipment, and roles that will help you prevail against the network.
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**Using This Player's Handbook**
Social networks are dangerous places. There, you will run into soul-sucking monsters, intense flamewars, and seductive distractions that put users at risk. To properly train yourself for *The Great Unfriending*, you must heed the advice found in this hanbook to reimagine your role in the network.
Proceed deliberately and confidently.</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Start]]</td><td align="center">[02/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Mission Objectives]]</td></tr></table>##Mission Objectives
There are many tasks involved in accomplishing *The Great Unfriending*. This player's handbook provides important information toward:
0. Learning the lay of the land
0. Busting through the propaganda
0. Understanding the inhabitants
0. Defending against enemy attacks
0. Negotiating rules of engagement
0. Adopting new roles
These are core steps in taking down the network and complete *The Great Unfriending*
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**The Significance of Unfriending**
The act of unfriending is one of the most vital strategies available for successfully completing *The Great Unfriending*. It is a gateway to reconfiguring how the network will no longer exploit you but how you can disrupt its machinations. The network champions friending as a vital act of establishing digital social connection by encouraging such behavior without recourse to the dynamic and varied contexts that shape lived social relations. Unfriending, a critical counter strategy, becomes all the more important in resisting the false promises of ever-increasing connectivity via digital networks by understanding deletion, as a supplement to addition, as an important act of sociality.</td><tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Welcome]]</td><td align="center">[03/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Learning the Lay of the Land]]</td></tr></table>##Learning the Lay of the Land
(set: $cycle_list to (array: "DANGEROUS", "INTRUSIVE", "TOXIC", "DRAINING"))(set: $sidebar_list to (array: "<img src=\"images/dangerous.png\" width=\"690\"><br>They are DANGEROUS landscapes because they exploit people. An online friend Jesse has never met sends their protest photographs to the police to arrest dissidents, while Kai's old high school friend outs them to their parents. Networks make it easier for people to access information that can be used to hurt others.", "<img src=\"images/intrusive.png\" width=\"690\"><br>They are INTRUSIVE because they demand self-disclosure. Jo's ex locates them after 'checking-in' at a bar, while Sam feels obligated to accept their boss's friend request. Online sharing etiquette and surveillance ambiguously intersects with conventional offline social expectations of privacy.", "<img src=\"images/toxic.png\" width=\"690\"><br>They are TOXIC because they foster abusive interactions and encounters. Lee enjoys expressing contrarian and harmful views, while Taylor keeps around trolls because they enjoy arguing with them. The transience of large networks encourages users to spread inflammatory messages for pleasure with seemingly minimal consequence.", "<img src=\"images/draining.png\" width=\"690\"><br>They are DRAINING because they require emotional carework. Minh is always shamelessly posting about their noble deeds, while Cam updates their friends as each day goes awry. Social networks demand unrecognized emotional labor from users, leaving many depleted."))(set: $cycle_index to (random: 1,4))The network is an unfriendly and trying place, filled with misinformation, hazards, and enemies. They all make the environment of the network (link-repeat: "[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<cycle_link|")[(set: $cycle_index to it + 1)(if: $cycle_index > $cycle_list's length)[(set: $cycle_index to 1)](replace: ?cycle_link)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_head)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_body)[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]].
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**Networks Are [(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_head|**
[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_body|</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Mission Objectives]]</td><td align="center">[04/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Busting through the Propaganda]]</td></tr></table>##Busting through the Propaganda
(set: $cycle_list to (array: "THE GLOBAL VILLAGE", "THE DIGITAL PUBLIC", "THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS", "THE WEALTH OF NETWORKS"))(set: $sidebar_list to (array: "The propaganda of THE GLOBAL VILLAGE characterizes a fantasy of unified communion with everyone worldwide via digital network technologies. THE GLOBAL VILLAGE assumes shared humanity modeled after Western values adopted by all participants, which elides situated differences about ways of life that vary culturally across the globe. Recognizing key differences—for instance, concerning how individuals have differential access to, literacies for, and practices with social media technologies—reveals core problems with this myth.", "The propaganda of THE DIGITAL PUBLIC describes a reinvention of the public sphere through digital technologies, where politics occurs through group deliberation in cyberspace. Discussions of THE DIGITAL PUBLIC upgrade public salons and cafés into internet chatrooms and social media feeds as sites where participants are expected to engage in agonistic sociopolitical discussion toward a shared goal of self-government. THE DIGITAL PUBLIC relies on a particular Enlightenment subject committed to fantasies of civil deliberation, negotiation, and compromise.", "The propaganda of THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS extends the logics of capitalist markets to the exchange of ideas, views, and opinions by suggesting that the best are developed and identified through competition. THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS assumes that the best ideas will emerge victorious through Darwinian struggle. As a result, THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS violently detaches ideas from their sources and confuses dominance and popularity with veracity. It ignores that the circumstances that produce knowledge (from where, by whom, for what purpose) greatly affect an idea’s circulation and reception in digital networks.", "The propaganda of THE WEALTH OF NETWORKS relies on anxieties created around missing out on the purported benefits of participating on social media. Such a false narrative argues that participants encounter unexpected, innovative, and beneficial material through online connections, framing the network as a unique resource. While THE WEALTH OF NETWORKS, in its online aggregation of individuals, can do things individuals cannot do alone, it assumes that individuals are not already imbricated in effective and powerful social ties not facilitated by digital platforms."))(set: $cycle_index to (random: 1,4))The network spreads propaganda that obstructs users from recognizing its harmful effects. Many false narratives surround digital social networking platforms and their supposed potential. One common narrative found among the network’s propaganda is that users, by participating in digital networks, participate in (link-repeat: "[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<cycle_link|")[(set: $cycle_index to it + 1)(if: $cycle_index > $cycle_list's length)[(set: $cycle_index to 1)](replace: ?cycle_link)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_head)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_body)[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]].
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**The Propaganda of [(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_head|**
[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_body|</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Learning the Lay of the Land]]</td><td align="center">[05/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Understanding the Inhabitants]]</td></tr></table>##Understanding the Inhabitants
(set: $cycle_list to (array: "THE ANNOYANCE", "THE PROVOCATEUR", "THE OTHER SIDE", "THE CLUELESS", "THE UNAVOIDABLE"))(set: $sidebar_list to (array: "You may encounter others who pester you. THE ANNOYANCE posts too frequently, tags you more than you would like, or sends you unsolicited messages and requests. It is your prerogative to unfriend pesky people whose online behaviors cross your personal boundaries.<br><br><center><img src=\"images/annoyance.png\">", "Even if they pose as question-askers with only good intentions, there is an emotional cost to being friends with THE PROVOCATEUR who intentionally stirs up conflict. You have no obligation to keep around online friends who take pleasure in discord for its own sake.<br><br><center><img src=\"images/provocateur.png\">", "Not everyone can agree in the network. THE OTHER SIDE fundamentally opposes you over matters that affect you and those you care for personally, such as on issues of poverty, racism, or gender discrimination. It is not your responsibility to acknowledge them, support them, or educate them on social media.<br><br><center><img src=\"images/otherside.png\">", "Not everyone is savvy about their online participation. Perhaps you have an online friend who has no filter, spreads questionable content, or lacks basic courtesy. There is nothing wrong with eliminating THE CLUELESS who is not careful about the consequences of their online activity, no matter how benign of intentions, especially if it impacts you negatively.<br><br><center><img src=\"images/clueless.png\">", "Not-friending does not always feel like an option. Refusing the friend request of a family member, boss, or anyone else with influence over you can feel difficult. Know, however, that remaining friends with THE UNAVOIDABLE who inhibits your online activity affords them undue power over you.<br><br><center><img src=\"images/unavoidable.png\">"))(set: $cycle_index to (random: 1,5))Players will face many hostile enemies populating the network who will vary widely in form and in behavior. Such opponents will directly and indirectly interfere with your safety and your mission. Be on your guard, and respond to these threats, including (link-repeat: "[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<cycle_link|")[(set: $cycle_index to it + 1)(if: $cycle_index > $cycle_list's length)[(set: $cycle_index to 1)](replace: ?cycle_link)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_head)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_body)[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]], appropriately.
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**Keep Your Guard Up for [(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_head|**
[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_body|</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Busting through the Propaganda]]</td><td align="center">[06/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Defending against Enemy Attacks]]</td></tr></table>##Defending against Enemy Attacks
(set: $cycle_list to (array: "ISOLATING ONESELF FROM DIFFERENT VIEWS", "INFRINGING ON THE FREE SPEECH OF OTHERS", "POSSESSING UNHEALTHY ATTITUDES TOWARD SOCIAL TIES"))(set: $sidebar_list to (array: "Anxieties over creating filter bubbles on social media rely on myths that digital networks should function as digital public spheres, even though online debates rarely lead to deliberative political discussions that influence policy. Moreover, with dangers such as flame wars, trolling, and anonymized threats, digital networks foster hostile and malicious behavior from those with different views alongside trying to engage in aspirational civil and public debate.", "This accusation is unfounded because unfriending does not prevent others from expressing views or sharing content. Free speech does not grant one the right to an audience, particularly if they desire to express something harmful and malicious, or that that speech is free of consequences, such as dissolving digital social ties. It merely guarantees that the state cannot incarcerate someone for speech.", "On the contrary, the prevalent but unquestioned assumption that one must maintain all social ties on digital networks assumes that all ties are beneficial, durable, and equivalent. This attack often ignores why digital network friendships exist in the first place, overlooking that most superficial ties do not lead to strong social bonds, since casual acquaintances and distant relatives, for example, function similarly to close friends and partners on many online platforms. Moreover, this attack does not take into account the interpersonal relationships individuals continually create, strengthen, weaken, and dissolve outside of social media."))(set: $cycle_index to (random: 1,3))The enemy arsenal includes attacks that will frame you as the malicious nemesis of the network that requires suppression, when in fact it is up to you to reveal the truth behind the network’s operation and the limits of what social networking platforms can offer. One such attack will accuse you, as an agent of *The Great Unfriending*, of (link-repeat: "[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<cycle_link|")[(set: $cycle_index to it + 1)(if: $cycle_index > $cycle_list's length)[(set: $cycle_index to 1)](replace: ?cycle_link)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_body)[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]]. Prepare yourself to defend against such attacks accordingly.
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**Defending against Attacks: [(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<cycle_link|**
[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_body|</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Understanding the Inhabitants]]</td><td align="center">[07/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Negotiating the Rules of Engagement]]</td></tr></table>##Negotiating the Rules of Engagement
(set: $cycle_list to (array: "PLATFORMS", "INTERFACES", "PROTOCOLS"))(set: $sidebar_list to (array: "Social media are \"software-as-service\" businesses. They created the template that led to the many popular services now offered as digital platforms: AirBnb's lodging service, Instagram's photo-sharing service, and Facebook’s friendship service to name a few. All are part of a wider trend of technology companies inventing new PLATFORMS for businesses to monetize previously-free social activities.", "The design of social media INTERFACES seeks to balance user-experience and profit. Some explicit INTERFACE elements promote business interests, such as advertising and paid features that boost visibility. Other priorities are made default (page layout), hidden (feed order), or missing (unfriending notifications). Upon inspection, for example, Facebook seems to treat unfriending as hazardous; as opposed to friending, unfriending is suggested less often, deferred with possible alternatives, and hidden from the person unfriended.", "We are told that social media allows us to connect with others based on mutual-interest. Friendship makes the network appear like a contract, with both users agreeing to a friendship that can be broken by either party at any time. Yet the deep architecture of the platform is not based on equal exchange. Likes, comments, posts, and re-shared content reflect the intersection of institutional, governmental, and business PROTOCOLS, although none of them have direct influence."))(set: $cycle_index to (random: 1,3))There are a number of explicit and implicit rules of engagement that you must recognize, negotiate, and subvert to complete your mission of *The Great Unfriending*. They operate on many levels of the network, including the (link-repeat: "[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<cycle_link|")[(set: $cycle_index to it + 1)(if: $cycle_index > $cycle_list's length)[(set: $cycle_index to 1)](replace: ?cycle_link)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_head)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_body)[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]] that structure digital social relations.
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**The [(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_head| of Digital Networks**
[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_body|</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Defending against Enemy Attacks]]</td><td align="center">[08/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Adopting New Roles]]</td></tr></table>##Adopting New Roles
The default user unwittingly exposes themselves to a great number of risks. Networks can be draining, dangerous, intrusive, and toxic. By understanding these threats, you understand the suspicious promises of platforms championing the power of connection at no cost. With this knowledge, you can finally adopt new roles to accomplish *The Great Unfriending* and manage your social networks under your terms and objectives.
(set: $cycle_list to (array: "THE PROTECTOR", "THE ACTIVIST", "THE SPY", "THE DISRUPTOR", "THE CONDUCTOR"))(set: $sidebar_list to (array: "<center><img src=\"images/protector.png\"></center>What critics call the filter bubbles is your support network. Make yourself an echo chamber of affirmation. Stack your network with like-minded people. Amplify, signal-boost, and grow stronger together.", "<center><img src=\"images/activist.png\"></center>Build a profile for your <i>*nom de geurre</i>. You are not a person, you are a communication platform. Friend only those you can trust, those who are interested in taking direct action. Do not debate or discuss with the enemy; direct resources, circulate intel, and build alliances instead.", "<center><img src=\"images/spy.png\"></center><br>Cloak yourself in the likeness of the enemy. Construct a convincing backstory, create a backlog of likes, learn their lingo, and make friends. After you have ferreted your way deep into their network, document and expose their dirty deeds.", "<center><img src=\"images/disruptor.png\"></center>Hack the network. Sock-puppets, imitation profiles, and false information are your counterfeit currency in the marketplace of ideas. Troll the gullible, unnerve the paranoid, and incite the hotheads to turn the network against your enemy’s safe havens.", "<center><img src=\"images/conductor.png\"></center>Plan the great escape. Embrace the impermanence of the network. Destroy and create ten accounts every day before breakfast. Or simply demote it to a simple means for initiating other types of encounter. When everyone is ready, collectively wipe the network from the map through a coordinated mass exodus."))(set: $cycle_index to (random: 1,3))There is no single role to fulfilling your mission. Players should remain flexible as there are multiple, overlapping, and divergent ways to traverse the terrain and complete objectives. If you are careful about who remains your friend, you will improve your capacities to survive. Navigation will become simpler, specific goals more easily achieved, and your technical abilities more powerful. The resulting clarity of purpose will unlock a new set of potential uses and roles for the network. Perhaps you will take on the mantle of (link-repeat: "[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<cycle_link|")[(set: $cycle_index to it + 1)(if: $cycle_index > $cycle_list's length)[(set: $cycle_index to 1)](replace: ?cycle_link)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_head)[(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)](replace: ?sidebar_body)[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]].
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**For Users Interested in the Role of [(print: $cycle_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_head|**
[(print: $sidebar_list's $cycle_index)]<sidebar_body|</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Negotiating the Rules of Engagement]]</td><td align="center">[09/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right">[[Next »|Conclusions]]</td></tr></table>You are now ready to accomplish the *The Great Unfriending*.
Digital networks are dangerous places, and it is important to develop strategies for surviving them, reconfiguring them, and defeating them. Knowing the rules of the network’s game and the moves of those already playing it are critical for learnining how to play it effectively on your own terms.
Ultimately, this handbook sees the mission of *The Great Unfriending* as also a mission of care: how to care for yourself and for other as you negotiate your own role in digital networks. Unfriending is one among many survival strategies that will help you deliberately refine your own relationships to digital networks, allowing them to serve your needs rather than you mindlessly serving theirs.
Share this player’s handbook with others whom you think show great potential for advancing the mission of *The Great Unfriending*.
Most importantly, take what you have learned and put it into play.
<table width="100%" bgcolor="#e9e7e7" border="1"><tr><td>**Credits**
By Andrew Culp and Josef Nguyen
with illustrations by Talia Henry</td></tr></table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td width="40%" align="left">[[« Previous|Adopting New Roles]]</td><td align="center">[10/10]</td><td width="40%" align="right"></td></tr></table>