Until then, we’re stuck with the question that kicked this all off: is everything a humiliation ritual? Maybe not everything . But the more accurate question might be – how much of ourselves are we willing to give away just to stay visible? And when the likes dry up, what exactly are we left with?

t’s not that anyone is forcing us to humiliate ourselves; it’s that we’ve come to equate being known with being exposed.

In certain corners of the internet, an idea has been gaining momentum: that social media has turned everyday life into one long, rolling series of self-inflicted embarrassments.

the idea of “humiliation rituals” becomes less about grand conspiracies and more about structural inevitabilities. It’s not that anyone is forcing us to humiliate ourselves; it’s that we’ve come to equate being known with being exposed.

So which direction are we moving in? Down the same old path – where identity is just content, content is monetised, and monetisation demands a steady drip of oversharing and low-key emotional collapse? Or could we actually start to build new ways of being online? Ones that prioritise people as people, and not just scrolling spectacle?

Until then,... See more

Our Cringe = Sublime SEED touched on some of this — simply opting out of performance becomes an act of quiet rebellion. Going for a walk without posting about it. Writing a thought without tweeting it. Wearing an outfit without wondering how it will look on Instagram. These small acts chip away at the scaffolding of digital humiliation culture.

It’s not that anyone is forcing us to humiliate ourselves; it’s that we’ve come to equate being known with being exposed.

The result is what Moskowitz describes as a “mirror maze”. We enter social media hoping to express ourselves but instead see endless refractions – ourselves as we want to be seen, as others might perceive us, as the algorithm is training us to become.

All of this has consequences for how we think and feel. Our sense of self begins to dissolve under... See more