social becomes a spectacle

We see curiosity theater all around.

Audience members asking questions at panels that are actually mini-speeches. People at dinner name-dropping obscure books in conversation but never engaging with their core arguments. Folks on social media starting ‘learning projects’ and abandoning them after a week.

Then there’s curation theater.

Posting endless... See more

As someone who came of age online and on social media, learning how to comport myself into legibility is a familiar act.

I had a boss who combed through my likes before making a final decision to hire me. I talked to another friend who called snooping likes “the last good way of stalking someone online.” Both of these point to the idea that likes are weirdly a good window into who someone is. It's certainly a better window than what they post.

Not everyone was impressed: TikToker Tamika Turner made a video saying, “Your addiction to surveillance and attention is betraying the fact that although you’re the exact demographic to call yourself ‘girl’s girls,’ your only allegiance is to your own entertainment,” pointing out the enormous personal ramifications a video like this could have on... See more