Hacking the System, Gently

Citizen Friday as Ritual, Resistance, and Reprogramming

The system we live in is fast, loud, and relentless. It’s wired to keep us consuming, to keep us scrolling and shopping, reacting and refreshing, eyes always on the next thing. And, it’s smart. It learns what pulls us in and feeds it back to us, urgency, outrage, scarcity, shiny things, endless offers.

But here’s the quiet truth: we don’t have to play along.

Citizen Friday began as a small refusal. A gentle turning away. A choice, once a week, to step outside of that system and into something else. A different rhythm. A slower pace. A shared space. Just a few hours on a Friday to share what we have, repair what we can, and get out into the fresh air. And over time, that small ritual became something much more, it became a kind of weekly reprogramming. A soft, repeated hack into the dominant story that tells us who we are and what we’re here for.

Not to consume.
Not to hustle.
But to connect. To care. To co-create.

This year, we’re leaning further into that idea. What does it really mean to hack the system, not in a hostile or flashy way, but in a deep, intentional, collective way? Can we gently subvert the machinery by creating new patterns, new neural pathways, new algorithms, new stories?

And what happens if we don’t just hack the algorithm, but also ourselves?

We’ve been thinking a lot about how to make Citizen Friday a truly collective campaign, not something designed by one person or organisation, but shaped and built by a community. So this year, we’re using Pol.is, a collaborative tool for shared decision-making. It’s an experiment in participatory culture, where everyone who wants to be part of the campaign can help shape its direction.

Your responses will literally change the message. The questions we ask, the tools we make, the words we share on the streets, the look and feel of the campaign, it’s all up for shaping. That in itself is a hack. Because we’re not waiting for permission or approval or funding or a boardroom strategy, we’re building it together, from the ground up.

Even the tiniest contribution matters.
A like.
A comment.
A share.
All of it helps bend the algorithm toward something slower, kinder, and more human.

These small actions, they tell the system that 'OUR' story matters. That repair, reciprocity, and reconnection are worth surfacing. That a stitched seam, or a shared walk, or an ACTionism community film night is worth more than a limited-time offer and an online discount code.

The act of joining in is a reprogramming, of the self, of the feed, of the future.

So, this week, consider it a gentle call-in.

• A call to vote in the Pol.is poll. To add your voice, not to a debate, but to a collective sense-making process.
• A call to show up, with your hands, your heart, your humour, and help build something better (join the Citizen Friday Community Call on Wednesday)
• A call to disrupt the scroll with stories of real connection.

We’ve said it before and we’ll keep saying it: this campaign only works if it’s co-created. That means you’re not just invited, you’re essential.

And this Friday, as I step outside again, likely to the forest floor, the place where I seem to be learning most these days, I’ll be thinking not just about the system we’re trying to hack, but the world we’re trying to build in its place.

Let’s build it together.