The rise of anti-intellectualism is terrifying. I know people who ask ChatGPT to summarize trending books and they really believe they have read it.
On Tiktok, people do not have minds of their own... especially in comment sections. A comment section is either entirely positive or negative. People always conform to the behavior of others. It is so unsettling.
I think sometimes it only seems that comment sections are one-sided, because the algorithm somehow likes to encourage the absence of critical thoughts, and shows you only the comments that agree with your inner narratives. Different tik tok accounts watch the same video, but see different comments at the top.
Wow 😔 I don’t even know what to say or write without looking at the comment under this post 😔 so I’ll write about how reading this makes me feel. I feel like you’re telling me about myself, while reading the voice repeating the words are loud and I used to think for myself when I was a teenager now all I do is consume and repeat what I just read or learnt at the moment.
I’ve written my thoughts twice on this app without thinking or even reading it from somewhere
You really inspire me to make use of my brain more and stop regurgitating ( I learnt the word regurgitate from reading your article btw) thank you
I’ll tell you how to overcome this. I was exactly the same.Every time you read or hear an opinion, try to form the opposite of it in your mind. You don’t always have to comment or say it. Just think about how it can be presented in a different way. Learn to disagree with everything… everything and see how quick your brain adapts
Feels like reading about oneself,those thoughts that only our brains do tell us but we do brush away and display the performative self on wherever the platform is Enlightening piece of art that is
This was a really insightful read. I think around last year or so I had realized that the opinions I had on the books I had read and movies I had watched were all just things I had seen people say on Reddit and TikTok. That’s because whenever I read a book or watched a film I immediately went to Reddit or TikTok to see what other people were saying about it and that would form the opinions I had on the book and over time it bothered me so much I couldn’t even form an original opinion without checking the internet so this year I decided to start writing little reviews about what I thought of the movie in my notes app ( kind of like a personal Letterboxd) as soon as I was done with the film before checking what others had to say about it. I think so far it’s been helpful.
Ok. Saw some valid points but I believe you didn’t miss the whole point. Knowledge production is a big thing. Creating knowledge takes years. First and second year of PhD sometimes is all about realising many original thoughts you had is preexisting. And we create knowledge from the existing, now during social media we get too much information and we forget to really understand and feel it instead we perform. And sometimes checking review can also be protecting yourself from bad content and saving your time. Our economic model demands us to live such a life,where everything is consumed. So the larger point is this. And even this piece I have heard about the same from other places. Not saying you’re lying just saying too much creators too much information around the world. Knowledge is mass produced actually
This is gonna be a little long apologies ahead of time- This is similar to how I felt reading this! I definitely think there is truth to understanding how our thoughts are being filtered through the lens of social media and the opinions of others, and I do believe that we are over consuming EVERYTHING which leads us further from our own personal identity and towards this homogeneous, hive mind, easily controllable society (which to an extent we definitely already are). Yet sometimes this overconsumption and over saturation of discourse and knowledge can lead to people (me) becoming apathetic and not wanting to create out of the idea that it has already been said or done, or the judgement that may come from not being original. But like you mentioned- we create knowledge from the existing. I think the balance is that we can consume, and we can learn, but we also have to create for ourselves- creating via journaling abt the world for 10 minutes, writing analytical essays and thought pieces on a topic of interest without consulting other video essays, drawing, painting, playing music etc… creating without the intention to have it be consumed. When we create, in any capacity, it reflects how we see the world and we take time to analyze our morals and values through intentional time put into writing, designing, drawing, executing. It still takes a lot of inner workings to understand if your actions align with you, or if they are regurgitations of something you consumed on social media. Overcoming this imbalance of consuming too much and creating too little can be a good point for people to start feeling like themselves again.
Great read as always! But...my only issue is that, while I have a hard time coming up with an answer to "what do you think?", its not at all because I dont have my own thoughts or opinions...its because I HAVE to be very careful with the thoughts and opinions I share publicly for fear of harm due to the way I think, feel and believe how things should be in this world. I have PLENTY of thoughts and opinions of my own even if I do also repost or share other people's posts. 🤷🏼♀️ not everybody is a brain dead zombie follower.
I'm going to write this without looking at the comments (for starters... hehe). I thought about this briefly a few days ago. I was worried that I couldn't hear my own voice. I couldn't recognise my thoughts. I didn't even know what I REALLY liked. It terrified me. And I've this amazingly written work just as I've begun to work through this crisis. A lot more people are going through this... But lack the self awareness to realise it.
Start writing what you think. Don't wait for what someone else has said. A book club can help you with this. You can voice your opinion. It's not too late to start.
tbh are we who we say we are or just things we’ve absorbed from social media. because in a world of social media, we’ve one way or the other subconsciously absorbed habits, takes and opinions. the real danger isn’t in the absorbing, it’s the unexamined absorbtion.
Gonna comment without looking at other comments first lol.
This was suchhh a refreshing, authentic, and a SLAP IN THE FACE read. Needed to read something like this for a long time that will get me back to my conscience. I think, deep down I've always known that I have also fallen into the trap of becoming an echo chamber of the things I consume digitally, but I wasn't ready to accept it. The fear of being average or below average has always been extremely scary for me which is why I subconsciously end up consuming and then spitting out intellectual things I read online.
Really needed this reality check. Amazing read fr, thank you!
I felt so called out by this post. I am guilty as anyone about repeating opinions that are not truly my own.
However I guess I struggle with how do you truly learn about things without accepting someone else's thoughts as your own? I guess I am trying to determine if this more about forming opinions and thoughts on topics or learning about objective facts around that topic. Like can you ever truly learn something without accepting someone else's thoughts and putting your name on it? I have definitely outsourced my thinking to other people and the general "consensus" on a topic without actually putting the time and effort to determine why I think that way. In many areas of my life I have been taught what to think and not HOW to think.
I felt seen, or rather, like a mirror was being held up to me. However, I do think it’s a bit complex; I don’t think it’s quite so black and white. Personally, I’ve always struggled to form a concrete, polar opinion or, in other words, to pick a side. I love seeking out different perspectives and getting to know all sides because, more often than not, I only have one piece of the information. I believe it’s crucial to know as much as possible before forming any decision or opinion for fear of introducing even more bias.
In simpler words: I could be a food enthusiast sharing restaurant recommendations and making delicious food at home; of course, not everyone will enjoy my cooking or my suggestions, but as anyone does, I speak from my own experience. The rest is obviously up to the other person.
I think an awareness of how much content I’m consuming and knowing when to take breaks, especially when I catch myself saying 'I saw this on a reel' in conversations - helps me course-correct accordingly. I also think one can’t avoid the internet entirely; it’s about finding the right balance and never stopping one's own thinking. Aligning with our own individual sense of self is really, really important.
The funny thing is I came across this substack post by an instagrammer @twinklestanly sharing her thoughts on this article! I find myself instinctively sharing this post right after reading this post the first time. This second time reading this I am leaving a comment! I arrived at a realization that how I interact and perform on social media is similar to the family dynamic role I am in, being the youngest. I look and read everyone’s facial expressions and I go along with their thoughts, opinions and decisions without fully forming my own thoughts and opinions. That’s when I find myself reading to feel but having trouble to share my thoughts. I buried these thoughts in journals and I often wonder, who will make time to listen to my thoughts? Do I have sit with my loneliness even more? Sit with my thoughts even more?
Most of the people have become like this, hollow from inside and have mostly adopted the popular opinions. My few friends are like this, and I feel so bad when in a discussion we are talking about the national issues, or any trending celebrity moment and all I get to hear is the opinion which they've already learnt to say by ig going through the comment section or just by googling it. I don't feel their opinion made any difference or was at some point even valuable. They're wanna be in every aspect I feel. But having your own thoughts and opinions about something is really important, who am I without my thoughts or opinion about something be it popular or unpopular. Content consumption is totally okay, but thinking and processing it, forming an opinion based on your values, thoughts and life principles is more important to be a better human being and to understand the world through a better lens.
The rise of anti-intellectualism is terrifying. I know people who ask ChatGPT to summarize trending books and they really believe they have read it.
On Tiktok, people do not have minds of their own... especially in comment sections. A comment section is either entirely positive or negative. People always conform to the behavior of others. It is so unsettling.
I think sometimes it only seems that comment sections are one-sided, because the algorithm somehow likes to encourage the absence of critical thoughts, and shows you only the comments that agree with your inner narratives. Different tik tok accounts watch the same video, but see different comments at the top.
People never seem to have a problem with a video till they enter the comment section, all of a sudden they agree and follow suit, sad.
This is so true
Same thing on twitter(X)
Wow 😔 I don’t even know what to say or write without looking at the comment under this post 😔 so I’ll write about how reading this makes me feel. I feel like you’re telling me about myself, while reading the voice repeating the words are loud and I used to think for myself when I was a teenager now all I do is consume and repeat what I just read or learnt at the moment.
I’ve written my thoughts twice on this app without thinking or even reading it from somewhere
You really inspire me to make use of my brain more and stop regurgitating ( I learnt the word regurgitate from reading your article btw) thank you
I’ll tell you how to overcome this. I was exactly the same.Every time you read or hear an opinion, try to form the opposite of it in your mind. You don’t always have to comment or say it. Just think about how it can be presented in a different way. Learn to disagree with everything… everything and see how quick your brain adapts
Thank you
I’ll definitely try this 🙏
Feels like reading about oneself,those thoughts that only our brains do tell us but we do brush away and display the performative self on wherever the platform is Enlightening piece of art that is
This is such a wonderful and honest comment. Bravo, Franca as it takes a lot of guts to admit to one's shortcomings publicly.
Real 😕 I’m reading comments to check how other people feel about this attack
Daamn, never been called out like that... I really needed this frrr
This was a really insightful read. I think around last year or so I had realized that the opinions I had on the books I had read and movies I had watched were all just things I had seen people say on Reddit and TikTok. That’s because whenever I read a book or watched a film I immediately went to Reddit or TikTok to see what other people were saying about it and that would form the opinions I had on the book and over time it bothered me so much I couldn’t even form an original opinion without checking the internet so this year I decided to start writing little reviews about what I thought of the movie in my notes app ( kind of like a personal Letterboxd) as soon as I was done with the film before checking what others had to say about it. I think so far it’s been helpful.
I've also been doing the liitle reviews on movies... And it's really helping xd
Ok. Saw some valid points but I believe you didn’t miss the whole point. Knowledge production is a big thing. Creating knowledge takes years. First and second year of PhD sometimes is all about realising many original thoughts you had is preexisting. And we create knowledge from the existing, now during social media we get too much information and we forget to really understand and feel it instead we perform. And sometimes checking review can also be protecting yourself from bad content and saving your time. Our economic model demands us to live such a life,where everything is consumed. So the larger point is this. And even this piece I have heard about the same from other places. Not saying you’re lying just saying too much creators too much information around the world. Knowledge is mass produced actually
This is gonna be a little long apologies ahead of time- This is similar to how I felt reading this! I definitely think there is truth to understanding how our thoughts are being filtered through the lens of social media and the opinions of others, and I do believe that we are over consuming EVERYTHING which leads us further from our own personal identity and towards this homogeneous, hive mind, easily controllable society (which to an extent we definitely already are). Yet sometimes this overconsumption and over saturation of discourse and knowledge can lead to people (me) becoming apathetic and not wanting to create out of the idea that it has already been said or done, or the judgement that may come from not being original. But like you mentioned- we create knowledge from the existing. I think the balance is that we can consume, and we can learn, but we also have to create for ourselves- creating via journaling abt the world for 10 minutes, writing analytical essays and thought pieces on a topic of interest without consulting other video essays, drawing, painting, playing music etc… creating without the intention to have it be consumed. When we create, in any capacity, it reflects how we see the world and we take time to analyze our morals and values through intentional time put into writing, designing, drawing, executing. It still takes a lot of inner workings to understand if your actions align with you, or if they are regurgitations of something you consumed on social media. Overcoming this imbalance of consuming too much and creating too little can be a good point for people to start feeling like themselves again.
Great take also
Great read as always! But...my only issue is that, while I have a hard time coming up with an answer to "what do you think?", its not at all because I dont have my own thoughts or opinions...its because I HAVE to be very careful with the thoughts and opinions I share publicly for fear of harm due to the way I think, feel and believe how things should be in this world. I have PLENTY of thoughts and opinions of my own even if I do also repost or share other people's posts. 🤷🏼♀️ not everybody is a brain dead zombie follower.
I'm going to write this without looking at the comments (for starters... hehe). I thought about this briefly a few days ago. I was worried that I couldn't hear my own voice. I couldn't recognise my thoughts. I didn't even know what I REALLY liked. It terrified me. And I've this amazingly written work just as I've begun to work through this crisis. A lot more people are going through this... But lack the self awareness to realise it.
Now you've called so many people out what's the way forward please 🥲
Start writing what you think. Don't wait for what someone else has said. A book club can help you with this. You can voice your opinion. It's not too late to start.
tbh are we who we say we are or just things we’ve absorbed from social media. because in a world of social media, we’ve one way or the other subconsciously absorbed habits, takes and opinions. the real danger isn’t in the absorbing, it’s the unexamined absorbtion.
I guess it’s better to try and fail than fail to try. See? I’m still not using my own words.
Gonna comment without looking at other comments first lol.
This was suchhh a refreshing, authentic, and a SLAP IN THE FACE read. Needed to read something like this for a long time that will get me back to my conscience. I think, deep down I've always known that I have also fallen into the trap of becoming an echo chamber of the things I consume digitally, but I wasn't ready to accept it. The fear of being average or below average has always been extremely scary for me which is why I subconsciously end up consuming and then spitting out intellectual things I read online.
Really needed this reality check. Amazing read fr, thank you!
I felt so called out by this post. I am guilty as anyone about repeating opinions that are not truly my own.
However I guess I struggle with how do you truly learn about things without accepting someone else's thoughts as your own? I guess I am trying to determine if this more about forming opinions and thoughts on topics or learning about objective facts around that topic. Like can you ever truly learn something without accepting someone else's thoughts and putting your name on it? I have definitely outsourced my thinking to other people and the general "consensus" on a topic without actually putting the time and effort to determine why I think that way. In many areas of my life I have been taught what to think and not HOW to think.
Great article!
I felt seen, or rather, like a mirror was being held up to me. However, I do think it’s a bit complex; I don’t think it’s quite so black and white. Personally, I’ve always struggled to form a concrete, polar opinion or, in other words, to pick a side. I love seeking out different perspectives and getting to know all sides because, more often than not, I only have one piece of the information. I believe it’s crucial to know as much as possible before forming any decision or opinion for fear of introducing even more bias.
In simpler words: I could be a food enthusiast sharing restaurant recommendations and making delicious food at home; of course, not everyone will enjoy my cooking or my suggestions, but as anyone does, I speak from my own experience. The rest is obviously up to the other person.
I think an awareness of how much content I’m consuming and knowing when to take breaks, especially when I catch myself saying 'I saw this on a reel' in conversations - helps me course-correct accordingly. I also think one can’t avoid the internet entirely; it’s about finding the right balance and never stopping one's own thinking. Aligning with our own individual sense of self is really, really important.
Thank you for slapping my face and trigger my consciousness :D
The funny thing is I came across this substack post by an instagrammer @twinklestanly sharing her thoughts on this article! I find myself instinctively sharing this post right after reading this post the first time. This second time reading this I am leaving a comment! I arrived at a realization that how I interact and perform on social media is similar to the family dynamic role I am in, being the youngest. I look and read everyone’s facial expressions and I go along with their thoughts, opinions and decisions without fully forming my own thoughts and opinions. That’s when I find myself reading to feel but having trouble to share my thoughts. I buried these thoughts in journals and I often wonder, who will make time to listen to my thoughts? Do I have sit with my loneliness even more? Sit with my thoughts even more?
Most of the people have become like this, hollow from inside and have mostly adopted the popular opinions. My few friends are like this, and I feel so bad when in a discussion we are talking about the national issues, or any trending celebrity moment and all I get to hear is the opinion which they've already learnt to say by ig going through the comment section or just by googling it. I don't feel their opinion made any difference or was at some point even valuable. They're wanna be in every aspect I feel. But having your own thoughts and opinions about something is really important, who am I without my thoughts or opinion about something be it popular or unpopular. Content consumption is totally okay, but thinking and processing it, forming an opinion based on your values, thoughts and life principles is more important to be a better human being and to understand the world through a better lens.