Socofagia: The Algorithmic Smoothing of Cognitive Effort and a Proposal for ARN Digital as Counter-Practice
The rapid, large-scale adoption of generative artificial intelligence is shifting human memory towards external systems of cognitive control. Presented as a conceptual and exploratory contribution within the socio-critical paradigm, with a qualitative interpretation of results, this study analyses twenty-five cases gathered through a six-item open questionnaire on technology use, externalisation of the self, decision-making autonomy, identity and relational bonds. The article introduces the concept of socofagia, in dialogue with Byung-Chul Han’s critique of the burnout society, to name the algorithmic smoothing of cognitive effort. It then proposes ARN Digital (a Spanish acronym for “Necessary Real Attitude towards the Digital”) as a preliminary, theory-driven practice of deliberate dosing of technology use, organised in three operational phases (detection, intervention and follow-up) and articulated through Bloom’s taxonomy and Miller’s pyramid. The article reports the diagnostic phase of an action-research programme; the counter-practice has not yet been implemented or evaluated. The findings reveal a productive tension. Informants report a strong sense of continuity in their identity, yet they describe a decision-making autonomy increasingly entangled with external systems, and a shift of relational bonds towards the machine when human attention is perceived as scarce.