Black Mirror

I have just discovered you can watch instagram reels on meta glasses. I don’t own a pair, but seeing MKBHD using them gave me the same eerie feeling I get when watching Black Mirror. If you haven’t watched the show, I highly recommend it. For most fans, Black Mirror is unsettling because you can see some of the dystopian tendencies in the show starting to manifest around the edges of our society and culture, but that is not the most chilling part. The real unsettling part is when you start to see the manifestation of the dystopian world in yourself and not some fringe subculture safely distanced from you.

The fact that the term brain rot is now mainstream, to the point that I don’t need to explain it, is the problem. The apathy we have developed toward this decay is concerning. Short-form content, by design, doesn’t encourage you to think; if you pause to think, you can’t scroll to the next video and that’s bad for business. The tragedy doesn’t end there. These social media platforms have become a source of “truth” for many. Politics, religion and identity topics are being debated in sound bites to fit into the algorithm and we are consuming such heavy topics with half our brains switched off. It is a recipe for disaster.

One of my hobbies is engaging friends, family and strangers on a variety of subjects (e.g. science, philosophy, religion, politics and econmics). I also enjoy watching/listening to debates and podcasts discussing the same. During some of these conversations, I have noticed that the root cause of polarization isn’t neccessarily the subject matter itself, but that one or both parties have become a shell of someone else's ideas or a victim of a dogmatic idealogy. I have been guilty of this too. You can never truly appreciate a different point of view when you—or the person you are debating—cannot exercise critical thinking or adequate self-reflection. We are consuming so much media we are drowning out any authentic thought or opinion that might start surface. It's tragic if you really think about it.

Technology is evolving faster than we can adapt. If we don’t become conscious of the fact we will be in trouble, and in many ways, we already are. Think about it honestly: when was the last time you sat in silence with no devices, just you and your thoughts? The urge to scroll and consume media is evolving into something primal. We can hardly resist pulling out our phones at the slightest tinge of awkwardness or inconvenience when we are around people. Worse still, even without people around, noticing our own presence when the movie plot gets a little weak is too much so we scroll until the next exciting thing happens.

Over the past couple of months I have been reflecting on my social media use and I didn’t like where it was going. On the positive front, I have managed to avoid downloading TikTok and I quit Instagram and Facebook freshman year of college, but I was addicted to X and YouTube. Last November I convinced myself to go the whole month without X and it was a breath of fresh air. It turns out not constantly consuming content that highlights the worst of human nature will make you feel better.

In December I uninstalled YouTube on my phone and limited its use to my laptop. I think I have earned back several hours. Since then I have limited my time on X and YouTube shorts to an hour a week and only from the browser not apps.(This is the extension I use). As for LinkedIn, another dangerously toxic platform that doesn’t get its “credit”, I am simply waiting for my career to stabilize before I purge my account.

My account of social media use is by no means a prescription to anyone; however I hope it can encourage an honest reflection on the subject.

A parting quote: “For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?” ― George Orwell, 1984