Social media, with its corruption of ego into capital, makes conspiracy theories far more likely. How can you foster objectivity when you’re encouraging everyone to be their own brand, or making phrases like “my truth” seem somehow normal, even praiseworthy? (Long thread)

Ego is one / *the* fuel source for all this nonsense. Therefore, if you’re not actively combatting this, you’re contributing to the problem, regardless.

Think how companies are divesting from fossil fuels etc. We need to divest from ego.

We can’t be like “Ha ha conspiracy people are nuts” and at the same time churn tweets out in the hope of attention. It’s trading off / contributing to the same fuel that creates the problem, same as someone who wants to combat global warming but drives walkable distances.

Ego gives us conspiracy theories: there’s a refusal there to be humble and yield your desire to be an authority (ego) to someone else, like an expert. *You* have to be in control / heard, and won’t be told what’s true. There’s a refusal there to be a student.

Ego gives us cancel / callout culture, because you’re more interested in how your calling out reflects well on you, and less interested in the other person’s capacity to learn, evolve, and self-correct. The movie that’s playing is about you, not them.

Also because you place the single moment of your ability to point out wrong above / more important than the entire story that went into creating that person, and a refusal to see how you, on any other day, could have been in their shoes.

It gives us (or exacerbates) white nationalism. There’s a fear of “outsiders” and a refusal to see commonality between us and everyone / anyone else. Your ego makes you identify more strongly than is rational with your arbitrary flesh-casing.

I imagine it’s behind the growing epidemic in teen suicides, as bullying and anxiety driven by perception of self (low self esteem) is massively magnified by, and almost entirely plays out on, social media.

In short, social media isn’t just some “slightly flawed” space that’s otherwise a totally awesome way to hang out and share ideas and meet people. It *is* the worst aspect of human nature turned into code.

People who argue “But I’ve made friends on here so it must be nice” are the same as those who worry about climate change but also eat meat 5-7 days a week. You’re

People who say “Oh social media’s bad? Because before we were *so* social” and share a picture of people on a train reading a newspaper? They are making an invalid point.

Reading a newspaper was a passive exercise. You didn’t use it as a window through which to express yourself to thousands of strangers. You didn’t scour articles as a resource for gaining attention. The newspaper was the end, not the means to an (ego-boosting) end.

Social media’s awful alchemic poison sees us transform every possible stimulus into a reflection of self. Once again, we are the centre of the universe. Copernicus has been erased in favour of dopamine-laced retweets.

And yes, I’m using social media now. But I do so sparingly (on all platforms, my activity has nosedived in the last 2 years). Also the lightbulb was invented by candlelight etc etc.

In short, we are all on here complaining a lot about the growing problems in the world while drawing enthusiastically from the same well that causes them. There’s no binary here. There’s no “good” employment of ego, no +ve use of social media. Not any more. That’s the big lie.

Solutions are (from my limited experience): less usage, if not total abandonment.

Heaps more meditation. Learning to disassociate from your own thoughts / feelings and the need to have them heard / validated. Spend more time identifying with *other* people’s experiences and perspectives, even if they’re counter to yours.

That last one isn’t a call to “sympathise with racists” or anything like that. It’s just a tedious exercise that has mental benefits regardless. Like going to the gym: it hurts / sucks, but the outcome is beneficial and you’ll be end up a more awesome human.

That’s all. Been thinking about this a lot lately, as well as having done heaps of research and reading of dozens of academic journals into how social media screws us up, and I think its toxification of ego is the easiest way I’ve found to express that.

Social media is to the ego what alcohol, cigarettes, refined sugar, and fast food are to the body *combined*. It makes it a toxic, malfunctioning, clogged up place, prone to illness, even if you’re enjoying the experience on the surface.

The end :)