The commercialisation of the human experience

Does social media place too much emphasis on day-to-day human experience. The short answer? Yes.

Naomi Scott
19th October 2022
Image Credit: Sara Kurfess, Unsplash
Does social media place too much emphasis on day-to-day human experience. The short answer? Yes.

High levels of social media usage are plaguing humanity and forcing us to lose sight of the true human experience. Our attention spans are deteriorating at an alarming rate and our whole existence is beginning to be dictated by the digital age. However, have you ever taken a moment to stop and think why can’t I just exist? Exist without constantly scrolling through random feeds on social media, exist unaccompanied by external stimulation, exist peacefully with your own thoughts and nothing more. Allowing internal dialogue and dedicating time for this is important for having a good relationship with oneself. Perhaps, we would all be more content if we embraced this idea.  

Social media has evidently saturated every corner of our lives. In result, the human experience has become a commercial object to be judged, compared and sold. Our attention as consumers is being dragged away from what it really is to be human towards repetitive irrelevant information and messages, in turn distracting us from reality. It overloads us with information about what we should be doing, how we should be living and in succession this builds the feeling that we are not doing enough.

Sharing every aspect of your life on social media platforms such as Instagram increases feelings of inadequacy, isolation and dissatisfaction. Put bluntly, social media is making us depressed. The normality of posting your mundane everyday activities creates a pressure to let everyone else know what you are doing every day, but truth be told we should just be living. The human experience should be lived in the moment, when we stop to take pictures of everything, we stop enjoying it.

To me, living vicariously through a screen is not living. Social media is designed in such a way to appeal to our psyche better than reality. The exchanging of messages, likes and follows allows us to feel validated and not only this but we are able to get an inside look at celebrities' engagement photos and tedious gossip. But why does any of it matter?  

However, have you ever taken a moment to stop and think why can’t I just exist?

It is arguable that social media has impacted our behaviour to a high degree. For example, the assumptions we make about people based on how they present themselves on their digital profiles, this then translates into how we treat our relationships with others in real life. Perhaps if the human experience wasn’t commercialised, we would be far less judgemental of others.

Above all, spending time in the company of your own mind is a fundamental component of being human and social media takes away from this aspect of our existence. Simply spending time thinking to yourself and being in touch with your thoughts makes us happier as people. I'm not saying the whole of humanity should quit social media completely but try taking some time away from it and exist in harmony with your mind. That is what the human experience should be.  

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