The Last Shared Story

How personalised media is dissolving the culture we hold in common

Shevek and Deckard watched the same film on Tuesday night. They discussed it on Wednesday morning, because that is what colleagues do when a platform’s algorithm has directed them both toward the same title so insistently that saying no felt like work.

Deckard described the ending as devastating. The protagonist chooses the door on the left, walks into t…