Are we less humans?
As humans increasingly blend their authentic selves with their digital personas, they are relying more on online interactions to establish their offline communities. It's now commonplace to socialize with couples who met on Tinder and friends made on Instagram or Twitter. I'm not asserting that this trend is negative; I'm merely observing that many of us struggle to build real-life communities based on offline encounters. In my view, using social media to find like-minded individuals is not a negative development. Personalities in the 21st century are shaped by both offline interactions and online experiences and reach. The digital era has brought with it permissionless tools that can be used to connect with millions of individuals, and this invariably includes a reciprocal process where online interactions shape one's personality in return.
In fact, it can be rather positive. However, it becomes problematic when 'like-minded' signifies equally shallow or equally retard. Instagram and TikTok, with their peculiar way of creating digital value, often amplify the voices of self-called Gurus who are able to build communities around themselves by propagating unsubstantiated "truths" online.
In a way, contemporary social networks mimic tribal behaviors through echo chambers and recommendation algorithms, with one critical exception. Your community is no longer founded on first-degree survivorship bias, but is instead aimed at achieving short-term goals fueled by cheap hits of dopamine. Living a life driven by dopamine shots is actually anti-survival.
Indeed, it's a kind of anti-survivorship bias, where people dedicate more time to using UberEats instead of hunting for fresh food, more time on Instagram rather than just unwinding, or more time on Netflix than reading books and developing profound knowledge. Since we are no longer in an era of constant, immediate threats, the necessity of fostering a resilient self has been entirely overlooked and even scorned. Why spend time deepening our knowledge, honing crafts, or exercising, when everything we desire can be accessed by merely lying in bed and swiping fervently on our phones?
Pointless competitive metrics
One crucial shift in the digital era is that personality shaping is no longer tightly linked with active decision-making over the content and activities one is exposed to. With recommendation algorithms and tailored feeds, individuals are increasingly spoon-fed with content that aligns with their pre-existing views and interests. While this can facilitate a sense of community and belonging, it also minimizes opportunities for critical thinking, serendipitous discoveries, and anything that brings salt and spice to life.
Digital platforms tend to highlight the achievements of others, fostering an environment where individuals are persistently confronted with the apparent successes of their peers. This can lead to heightened feelings of inadequacy, contributing to what is known as the impostor syndrome – a psychological pattern in which people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud, further inciting anxiety about the future.
In this digital world, the present moment can often feel marginalized. The constant influx of information and the incessant drive for future superficial accomplishments can eclipse the genuine, sensitive experiences happening in the now. We become more engrossed in the digital interactions and future-oriented desires fueled by these platforms, leaving no room to appreciate and savor our current experiences. This can foster an environment where the love for the present, and the mindful awareness of the beauty and depth of our immediate experiences, gets lost. As digitally augmented humans, we are losing the ability to appreciate the only real thing we ever possess: the present moment and the ability to make the best out of it.
This digital version of impostor syndrome doesn't just breed self-doubt and future-oriented anxiety; it also creates a sort of temporal displacement, a constant yearning for a future that promises fulfillment through shallow accolades, while neglecting the richness and potential of the present moment. Everyone seeks life-changing experiences through the superficial storytelling of others' supposed life-altering experiences, constantly interrupted by infinite scrolling. These brief bursts of dopamine, often mistaken for depth and accompanied by fleeting motivation to actually accomplish something, only lead us to swipe to the next image and forget the big picture and our real long-term incentives.
The shallow nature of algorithms, the trailty of humans
Semi-digital humans are no longer living in a community revolving around the common objective of surviving in a hostile environment, or being part of a patriotic tale. Individuals have gradually detached from centralized narratives, becoming more self-focused and collectively entering the internet to connect with their peers. The digital era presents an interesting paradox: while it's never been easier to form communities of like-minded individuals and connect with every single person sharing common interests, it has also fueled extreme individualization and the crafting of false, self-centered narratives, entirely detached from reality.
Indeed, it has never been easier to construct a facade of who we want to appear to be in the eyes of others, and we've never had fewer short-term incentives to embark on the arduous journey of truly becoming that version of ourselves. Talking has never been so cheap and ironically, it can be quite profitable. Why should I invest time in reading books and building genuine knowledge when I can simply post summaries and engage in superficial, verbose debates online? Many would equate me with genuine scholars and see no difference.
Where are my immediate incentives to delve into the complexity of a scientific field if a shallow and counterfeit understanding can bring me the materialistic happiness and social recognition I seek? As long as you value the praise of the ignorant and the worship of the suckers, why care about the opinions of the few truly knowledgeable and competent individuals? Consider, for example, the fake traders selling get-rich-quick schemes online, frenetically posting charts and photoshopped bank accounts. No genuine finance professional or trader will view them as legitimate, but neither will they publicly confront them. They will simply ignore these charlatans, leaving a crowd of naive and vulnerable people to fall into the trap. Ethical grounding serves as the ultimate safeguard, and nobody gives a damn about ethics.
Digital superficiality, human vulnerability
A decade ago, we could believe that digital identities were enhanced, sanitized versions of ourselves, and that humanity was entering an era free from biases and manipulation by centralized governments for ill purposes. We were mistaken. The digital world mirrors the real one, where the most extreme viewpoints are amplified and echoed within online echo chambers, while wisdom is severely compromised by the deluge of content that over-promises and under-delivers.
Computers far outperform humans in systematic tasks and computational power. However, even the most advanced artificial intelligence algorithms lack the essential ability to create detailed explanations and delve deep into a specific topic, to discover connections between disciplines, or to approach a topic using a counter-intuitive mental model. Computers can't explain the unseen in terms of the seen, and their abrupt integration into the world of human language reveals their limitations in avoiding shallowness and superficiality.
On the other hand, humans are naturally constrained by their physiological limitations and their inability to recognize short-term disincentives that lead them towards unfulfilling lives. We prioritize Instagram photos over deep contemplation, select encounters over serendipity, and prefer quick, superficial content over long-term profound knowledge. As humans, most of us are gleefully employing the tremendous power of computers to the worst ends, plugging our weakest human biases and behaviors into this mighty machine, transforming ourselves into zombified humans.
Rising above the digital noise
On one hand, it's never been simpler to put yourself on a deadly digital highway. You've got a camera on your phone, an Instagram account, and that’s it. However, everyone's doing the same thing, right? Trying to be that shiny object in a sea of glitter. It's like being at a concert, and everyone's got their hands up trying to get noticed. It's not just a few hundred people we're dealing with – it's millions, maybe even billions.
The entirety of humankind seems to be morphing into shallow pieces of plastic, embedding code modules optimized to chase the metrics of likes and followers. In the hustle and bustle of the digital age, standing out is like trying to make the est PowerPoint slides at McKinsey consultants national contest. Yet, despite all the noise, standing out is still very much achievable. It's about having the courage to pursue your genuine interests and reclaiming your time and attention. It's about genuineness over superficiality.
The goal isn't just to be loud - it's to be heard and to genuinely walk the talk. In a world of globalized digital blandness, being original, genuine, and truly focused has never been so valuable. We are entering an era where you can generate infinite value by just being yourself, and I believe that's quite a blueprint.
Love
Voss
I really reconected with your article. I would like to add something into "genuineness over superficiality". I feel what is driving us away as a society from our genuine self, is that we no longer feel see, and know who we are.
Reclaiming and finding ways to connect with our most inner, and guarded selfs is a true revolution. A revolution many don't dare to engage in because they are too afraid to escape the matrix.
I would however say, that I still have faith in humanity and that yes, here we are still connecting in true and meaningful ways with eachother. There is still a group of us that love looking at eachother's eyes and enjoying moments together.
Much love to you