Most people fear irrelevance more than death—to the point many are willing to hate the “other” for a sense of belonging. In their mind, irrelevance is a kind of death. Social media has created a virtual reality that is more real in the minds of most than reality itself. That’s not an accident. “If I didn’t post about it, did it actually happen? Did it actually matter? Do I actually matter?” The ability of corporations and governments to harness this type of fear is something more powerful than even a death threat. You don’t need to threaten the public, you just need to design an algorithm that convinces people that if they refuse to play, they don’t matter.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with keeping up with trends. Humans are social animals, after all. On the surface, it’s harmless. But as we all know, it doesn’t stop at the surface. Even when most people go offline (and these days, no one is ever “offline”), there is still that nagging voice that says “Oh, I should post about this!” or “This could be content!” You begin to subconsciously model your identity around how the internet models you, not how you would otherwise model yourself. This is why you often see me take months-long breaks from the internet, much to the dismay of my fans. Indeed, many fans quickly become bored of me and move on because of my frequent periods of inactivity.

At one point (several, actually), I was receiving no small amount of hate-mail from jaded fans and followers because I don’t post enough. But let me tell you, no amount of money, power, or popularity in the world is worth surrendering my psyche to the point I have the voice of thousands of internet strangers creeping into my mind saying, “Hurry, post this! Your life is a spectacle! You belong to us!” I first came to this realization back in 2020, when I realized no one truly gave a fuck about what was going on in my life. It was only ever about content and “What can you do for us?” And so, lesson learned; cognitive boundaries established. If you want to survive, I suggest you do the same.