Digital Toxic Shock

I’ve been reading about the work¹ of Sharra Vostral and her idea of “biologically incompatible technology”, and I can’t stop applying it to the stuff we build today.

In the early ’80s a new tampon called Rely was launched with a lot of fanfare. It was smaller, lighter and super absorbent.

Then came an outbreak of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS), mostly among young women. The tampon itself wasn’t toxic, but in a messy mix of factors it gave Staphylococcus aureus the perfect place to multiply and produce a deadly toxin. In her book Toxic Shock, Sharra calls this kind of thing a “biocatalyst technology”, and that name hasn’t left my head since.

The product was pulled from the market, but the women who used it were blamed for using it “the wrong way”, and that idea still sticks to TSS today, as if getting sick was her fault.

Now look at what we’re building. Social media has been linked to the rise in depression and anxiety², and almost a third of high school girls considered suicide in 2021³. Hard not to think about those young women from the ’80s.

So, as someone who builds products, I keep asking myself two things. Are we building “psychologically incompatible technology” without noticing, anxiety catalysts, a kind of Digital Toxic Shock? And if something goes wrong, are we going to blame the users again?

I don’t have the answers. I’d just rather ask now than find out from a recall.

For a deeper dive, here’s what helped me connect these ideas:

1. Rely and Toxic Shock Syndrome: A Technological Health Crisis
2. Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch’s research on the teen mental health crisis
3. Almost a Third of High-School Girls Considered Suicide in 2021