The Engineered Lie
People have no clue who lives in their neighbourhood. What problems they are facing. How do they deal with everyday life. Do they have someone to look after them? We have started calling this indifference a lack of time. That we have gotten busy with our routines. That life happened to all of us. That's the most bullshit excuse I have ever heard.
I call it bullshit because people do have time to know about other people. They are choosing those people instead. They know more about a content creator on social media than about their own mother. They know everything about them: their relationship status, their everyday struggles, their kids, even their goddamn dog.
But they have no clue about their parents. Their relatives. Their neighbours. Even their friends. Caring about a content creator comes with zero stakes. That person is willing to tell you everything, without asking for anything in return, except your attention. The dynamic is unique, which is why it works so well on people. You just have to lie down on your bed and watch them go through their life.
You have no stakes, no responsibilities and therefore no participation. Watching someone else live their life feels better than living that life on your own. Such people are living a lie. The content creator, on the other hand, is living a lie too. They go through a routine manufactured for the screen. They feel obligated to keep sharing content for their audience, lest that audience run away to someone else. So they turned their everyday life into content.
Social media has turned into a vicious place. When everything becomes content, how do we know what's real? The spontaneity dies a cruel death. Because every act becomes an idea to enact for the audience. Every moment must be performed for them. The audience who lacks such moments watches them on the screen and feels the pang again.
Everything is a goddamn lie. The one performing and the one watching both know it's an engineered lie, and yet they keep participating in it. We have gone so numb that we want relationships without stakes. We want to consume without serving. In any relationship it takes two to tango, but we have lost all the will to endure.
That need has been transferred onto the life of a content creator. We want to be connected to someone. So we picked one from the internet. Who demands nothing from us. Who gives us a view into their life. We would rather swallow a lie than cook the meal ourselves.