What's wrong with this picture?

When our ancestors decided to walk the long way home cause they heard a roar in the distance, they survived. At least, they survived better than those who didn't listen to the warnings in a dangerous world. This is what our biology has taught us — look for the patterns to make an unpredictable world more predictable and be afraid of the warning signs.

Today, we don't have to run from sabertooth tigers. The world is a much safer place in many respects than it was for our Homo Erectus friends. But our brains don't understand that they're no longer a risk — we can't help but look for what's wrong with this picture.

Social media amplifies this. It does it by changing the story we tell ourselves and the world around us. Since the machine isn't a source of clarity but is used to extract data, attention, and money, we tend to look for what can end us. Further amplifying the story of what is wrong with the world.

These are not positive spaces to live in. And when we choose to embed our lives in the digital space of social media or create doppelgangers, we become an extension of the story it tells us about the world. We can't help but point out all the problems we see because that is what is socially acceptable to do online.

I mention this because I have had three interactions recently in which the person felt the need to complain about everything wrong around them. The lights are too bright, the line is too long, the food is too cold, and so on.

This is what is acceptable now — complain about everything that is wrong with the picture we are seeing. Pointing out what is perceived as danger when it isn't. It is no surprise to me, at least, that all three have a social media problem. Garbage in, garbage out. If all we are exposed to is slop, then our lives and our interactions will become the same.

You can't game the system. The house always wins. And yet, so many who are hooked on social media think that they have a handle on their addiction. The internet sucks in most ways now. I love the good parts of it. AI and this blog have enriched my life in so many ways. But make no mistake: we are watching its enshitification at the same time.