Jia Tolentino • Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion

But on Twitter, if you tweet something out and one lone person out there— it moves them, it changes them, it changes their world— that’s not going to register. What that’s going to look like is your tweet got one lonely like and you’re going to feel like a failure. And one of the interesting things about this experience is the process of quantifica... See more

The pressure to perform and live up to the expectations of others is not a new social phenomenon — nor a bad one. **^^But the way it manifests at the internet’s global scale increases its intensity tenfold — especially for young people. The goal is no longer to simply live up to the high expectations of your parents and peers — online you could be ... See more

I was talking to a younger friend about this a while back—your Internet presence is increasingly more valuable than your real-life presence. Which is weird and dystopian and I don’t really know how to think about it. But it’s true, and I think people who are like,  I don’t need the Internet , don’t understand the extent to which much of the p

... See more

For the first time, they can type in any thought they dare say aloud and see how many likes and comments it receives. While limited, this ability has shown people, for the first time, what others think is worthy of sharing and what is not. They are exposed to their own success, or lack thereof, quickly and painlessly, allowing much more feedback th

... See more

With Instagram there was the idea that my life is constantly available for perception and evaluation by other people. I had these thoughts: I’d upload a photo and then I’d view my Instagram story and try to pretend to be somebody else—a stranger—and imagine how they’d see me. I’d be trying to present myself to be legible in a certain way to complet... See more