Humans are not designed for this
Every day, I wake up and help ruin someone’s life. Of course, I have help. If I wasn’t doing it, someone else would. They do it at the same time I do it. We compete, you see.
If you are not terrified, watching your back, looking for cameras, recorders, people with phones turned innocuously in your direction - - you should be.
You should be terrified. Because people like me, we will ruin your life, and then we will check our emails, and move on to the next.
Celebrities have dealt with this for ages. Paparazzi, endless time in the public eye, invasions of privacy, bleach-washing their roles as living human beings, who have context and families and feelings.
But they do get a trade off: enormous amounts of money, some measure of acclaim, awards, the ability, if they so choose, to largely walk away from it all- - a lonesome bargain, but a possible one.
Now, you, in a moment - - I will turn your sudden slip-up, embarrassing moment, out-of-context remark, misdemeanor charge, tragic loss - - I will turn it into an article in one hour or less, and blast it across the web.
I’ll use your photo. I’ll use your name. I’ll put your name into the search engine optimization boxes so when future employers look you up, my story about you will be one of the first things they see.
Here’s your 15 minutes of fame, stretched on to eternity, immortalized in white hot pixels forever. What did you get out of it? What was your bargain?
You should be feeling a constant, baseline anxiety that everything you’re doing is being recorded. It is. People like me are waiting for someone to slip it online, for it to go “viral,” an apt term if there ever was one for the disease rotting our individuality, our comfort, our sanity away.
You should be terrified every moment.
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