But the dummy-proof simplicity of Tumblr also inspires a contrary, competing impulse: aggregation. Tumblr, in fact, works much like a rock tumbler. It takes something potentially exciting, smoothes its lumps and rough edges, and spits out a more palatable version. The majority of Tumblr blogs see the internet as nothing but a resource, fit to be exploited in the interest of, as Heidegger puts it in The Question Concerning Technology, “maximum yield at minimal expense.” These are the Tumblrs that Tumblr is truly made for—the ones whose growth is soulless and algorithmic, collecting and crudely contextualizing images in a bid for viral ascendance, which Tumblr’s own re-blog function (allowing you to share someone else’s post with a mouse click) all-too-readily encourages. These are the Tumblrs that are spoiling the internet.

¶ 8:03 PM