disconnect.ing
Social media is strange, but not society's heritage per se. It’s not so much about social media, as it is about persuasive technology. This last week I’ve been kept hostage by a circular thought I’ve surpassed into most of my social interactions of how social media affects the way we then live and pursue relationships.
What I’m personally triggered by is not how dopamine reward systems created by big tech firms make us return, and have a sense of belonging. It’s how the easiness of algorithmic studies provides the feeling of community building and permanently alters the psychic nature of human relationships, by creating these digital realities we adapt ourselves to.
Persuasive technology falls into the trap of pretension in human connection. Here’s to say there is a direct measure of success in the way we interact. We can learn how to frame a picture and edit it to be more appealing to the human eye. We understand how metrics correlate to serotonin: every time we like someone’s story, we get direct messages, quantity and quality of likes and comments.
“The success of persuasive technology boils down to three primary factors: motivation, ability and triggers.”
Physical relationships are not straightforward. They’re messy and confusing. Every time you think you managed to get closer to understanding different cultures, you get a new surprise factor. If we don’t fully commiserate ourselves, how are we supposed to be fully conscious of anyone else? We can look up a million-fold library on how to understand human emotions, cultures and behaviour. We can talk about chronotypes, Myer Briggs, and Enneagram. When you think you’ve mastered the frameworks, you crash your head against the realisation that there is no such thing as a single framework for the complex and layered spectrum that is the human network.
In saying all this I criticise persuasive technology as an aware hypocritical internal user and admirer. Guiltily taking a step back for a little while to see how differently I approach myself, and the offline world in a non-asynchronous manner.
From the urban dictionary, the one who shares bits and pieces of her journey as a self-dictated way of keeping in contact with long-distance relationships. When did it become a new normal for everyone to know I had avocado toast for breakfast?
Social media is strange.