Off The Grid: Leaving Social Media

If we stop trying to get ahead online, what becomes possible?
 
Today Ayana Zaire Cotton of Seeda School returns to the podcast to explore why she quit using ChatGPT and other AI tools.
 
She helps us slowwww down, unpack shame, and align our desire with our capacity — a process and methodology she created and calls Erotic Engineering.
 
Tune in to reconnect with your values, reclaim self-respect, and step off the path of certainty with us.
 
I also highly recommend reading Ayana’s essay — and learning more about The Powerhouse Portal at: https://www.seedaschool.com/ph
 
 
RESOURCES + LINKS
👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit
🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for courses + community
👉 Join our conversation about AI in the Clubhouse
 

 COMING UP:
✨ RSVP for the FREE 2026 Astro & Biz Planning Summit, happening April 17 & 24 on Zoom
✏️ Get on the waitlist for COME TO CLASS, a spring workshop on how to teach & sell online with confidence & care

COMMUNITY SPONSORS:
🌞 Craving a planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind Planners today. Get 50% off digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid

Today I’m doing something I said I’d never do… inviting my partner on the podcast!
In this Clubhouse-exclusive episode, my spouse JJ Lang joins me for an unexpected conversation about AI.
JJ is a high-level chess player and works for US Chess. They’re here to talk about how algorithms and AI engines have been a big part of the chess world for decades — and also why JJ doesn’t use Generative AI or LLMs in their work today.

I wanted to share this conversation, because:
It’s fun to give you a cute behind-the-scenes in to my personal life!
It’s good to talk to someone being told to use AI at their job alongside our conversations centering self-employment.
The origin of contemporary AI (at least at Deep Mind) was building chess engines. So JJ can help us understand algorithms vs AI and what computers are actually “doing” when they answer a question.
This is a nerdy, sweet conversation, and I hope you enjoy it. To hear the whole thing, join the Clubhouse at offthegrid.fun/clubhouse
When you do, you'll get access to over 40 bonus episodes (and counting), curated tech + creative business newsletters, and more. Plus your own private podcast feed, comments threads, and behind-the-scenes updates on the show.
Please join the Clubhouse to support the show! And find this specific episode here :)

 COMING UP:
✨ RSVP for the FREE 2026 Astro & Biz Planning Summit, happening April 17 & 24 on Zoom
✏️ Get on the waitlist for COME TO CLASS, a spring workshop on how to teach & sell online with confidence & care

COMMUNITY SPONSORS:
🌞 Craving a planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind Planners today. Get 50% off digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid

Let's get into all our feels about AI. 🌀
In this episode, I share some of the messages I've gotten from people who are using AI but feeling bad about it.
And I talk through three reasons I think many of us (especially listeners of this show) feel so much tension about these technologies.
Tune in for a lot of empathy and even more clarity. Then join our community conversation about AI in the Clubhouse!

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE
Find all the episodes in our AI series here
The Tension of Platforms & Why I Haven’t Left Substack (Yet)
Cut Off the Spigot: ChatGPT Alternatives
What is Moral Injury? (from the Moral Injury Project)
AI is African Intelligence: The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back (from 404 Media)
The Emotional Labor Behind AI Intimacy
AI has an environmental problem (from the UN)
AI Doesn’t Reduce Work— It Intensifies It (from HBR)
If you want to learn about ethical approaches to AI, I recommend:Shae Omonijo's work — Find her on Substack or listen to Critical Thinking in the Age of AI (on Apple & Spotify)
& Aggressively Human Podcast with Jessica Lackey and Meg Casebolt

 
RESOURCES + LINKS
👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit
🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for courses + community
👉 Join our conversation about AI in the Clubhouse
 

 COMING UP:
✨ RSVP for the FREE 2026 Astro & Biz Planning Summit, happening April 17 & 24 on Zoom
✏️ Get on the waitlist for COME TO CLASS, a spring workshop on how to teach & sell online with confidence & care

COMMUNITY SPONSORS:
🌞 Craving a planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind Planners today. Get 50% off digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid

When ChatGPT launched in 2022, I noticed a few spiritual practitioners talking about its ‘oracular consciousness’ and I wondered… is that a thing??
Today I’m joined by Casey Zabala of Modern Witches to talk about how AI is reshaping mystical practices in real time — and why that’s harming our intuition and agency.
Tune in to hear us discuss:
How Casey & I have used AI in the past
The embedded inequity and colonial power dynamics of chatbots
The astrology of 2026 and how it’s very AI-coded
Why using AI might be ruining your intuition
Considering where your body and the earth exist in relationship to AI
Holding space for the connective potential of these technologies
What an oracle actually is
And if you want to join the conversation... come chat with us on Substack! I've opened a community thread for paid subscribers. For only $5, it's a welcoming space to share your thoughts, feelings, experiences, and questions about AI with other considerate creatives. I'll also be chiming in to cheer and answer questions.
👉 Join our community conversation about AI in the Clubhouse! https://offthegridclubhouse.substack.com/p/want-to-talk-about-ai

RESOURCES + LINKS
👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit
🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for courses + community
💓 Join the Clubhouse for more episodes + emails
📔 Buy Amelia's book at yourattentionissacred.com!
 

 COMING UP:
✨ RSVP for the FREE 2026 Astro & Biz Planning Summit, happening April 17 & 24 on Zoom
✏️ Get on the waitlist for COME TO CLASS, a spring workshop on how to teach & sell online with confidence & care

COMMUNITY SPONSORS:
🌞 Craving a planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind Planners today. Get 50% off digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid

Let’s be more transparent about how we are and aren’t using AI in our work!
In this episode, I walk you through key considerations and a simple process for writing a thoughtful AI policy for your creative business.
You’ll also hear how I crafted the Interweb AI policy, as well as why I was really inspired by Mel Mitchell-Jackson’s AI policy in that process.
Press play, then click right here for more notes and resources!
 

 COMING UP:
✨ RSVP for the FREE 2026 Astro & Biz Planning Summit, happening April 17 & 24 on Zoom
✏️ Get on the waitlist for COME TO CLASS, a spring workshop on how to teach & sell online with confidence & care

COMMUNITY SPONSORS:
🌞 Craving a planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind Planners today. Get 50% off digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid