Digital loneliness
Cognitive Ecology: The Human
The world’s population has almost doubled during my lifetime. Where one person stood, now there are two, yet we feel lonelier than ever.
Our technological world makes us lonely by design.
It’s a paradox that social media feels so lonely, even though it’s a web of human thoughts—a collective brain carved by algorithmic neural paths.
Or maybe we’re all just lonely people reaching into the void, hoping someone reaches back, hoping to feel their touch.
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We can plug into the technological world built around us only through the glowing screens of our individual terminals.
The more we want to be connected, the lonelier we get.
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Tech is commodifying loneliness.
Minds tethered to our screens, we drift away.
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Our glowing digital cages make being in the real world a premium experience.
Explore the notebook of meditations here: Intro to Cognitive Ecology.
Claudia Befu
I find myself drafting this on a screen, in a room alone, hoping someone reads it and reaches back. That's the paradox of writing about digital loneliness online. What's your version of it?
Claudia, you say, “It’s a paradox that social media feels so lonely, even though it’s a web of human thoughts—a collective brain carved by algorithmic neural paths.”
I think the pertinent part of your statement is “…a collective brain carved by algorithmic neural paths.” The excitement was palpable in the early days of the Web and other aspects of digital content (e.g., hyperlinks), when it was hoped—assumed?—that this tech would expand communication and social connections. Alas, in the words of the great Cory Doctorow, this has been “enshittified” by unregulated and rapacious business interests that seek to extract as much money as possible from captured participants, typically through advertisement revenue. Or should I say “audiences,” since the ad-driven algorithms remove the social connection function and substitute ephemeral distraction and cortisol-spiking conflict that builds an ad-consuming audience.
There certainly is a loneliness epidemic and the causes for it are no doubt many, but an amazing human achievement in interpersonal communication called the Internet has been monopolized for value extraction to shareholders in yet another another blow against the concept and practice of The Commons.
Thanks for your work with There is Hope and your experiment in Substack as a fiction publication platform. I’m following your efforts closely, especially considering my own four-book climate fiction series and my ongoing frustration with the state of trade publishing today.