Social media is a vehicle that allows humans to connect with each other — across space and time barriers. We can see, hear from, and chat with and meet people who we may have never otherwise had the chance to speak to. This can be purely platonic friendships, or relationships – with dating apps acting as a form of social media that allows people to connect on a romantic level.
But despite the “social” aspect of social media — what it was designed to invoke — it is clear that it is making us lonelier as humans, and thus more disconnected.
Doom-scrolling is an inherently lonely, solitary and singular task, in which one conducts an endless scroll to no end. No socialising, no communication: just you and your screen for hours at a time. Although you may see millions of faces on your scrolling conquest, you will interact with none, speak to none, communicate with none. Not only does this displace interaction with people in real time by causing the scrolling participant to isolate themselves in a solitary physical space, but also then within a solitary digital space within the confines of their “Discover” or “For You” page. This is the abyss.
The abyss is a space occupied by thousands of humans daily, yet connecting none of them. The abyss is the double solitary space of both physical and digital aloneness.
Apps chain us to these spaces by creating no end to the dopamine fuelled content that we consume. There is no natural end to the scroll, there is no bottom to the feed. Just a smorgasbord of content, ready to be spoon-fed to you. It is truly infinite, with the same video rarely being shown twice to the scroller.
We are chained to the abyss. We are tied to the dual solitary nature of this space, and this is what allows social media to disconnect us and therefore make us lonelier.
Although social media may try to tackle this, for example by introducing “repost” functions, through which you can share the findings from your scroll with others, and see what others have found, is this really fixing the problem? Humans are social animals, and this pseudo form of communication only anchors our position further within the abyss. What need do you have to reach out of the confines? You can still communicate through direct messages, SMS or through your mutual reposting habits.
A confine, within a confine, within a confine: the abyss occupies a structure like that of a Russian doll, making it harder for us to make our way out. Breaking free of one form of dependence will not necessarily guarantee you freedom from the rest, and this is what structures our loneliness. This is how social media contests with its namesake and instead disconnects and isolates us.
Photo by Kelli McClintock on Unsplash.