Can We Focus Beyond Gossip?

There is a choice between the banality of social media and the infinite well of knowledge that exists online.

a woman scrolls through the hologram of a social media feed, which feeds straight into her brain, surreal digital art — by DALL·E

Seven years ago or so, something changed in how we use social media — at least, how I use it (or not) is certainly different. When enough people noticed the enormous marketing potential of these new networks, the collective focus shifted from connecting with people we already knew to connecting with those we still didn’t. Soon enough, knowing those we added to our circles wasn’t the goal. The new ambition was selling to them.

Suddenly, everyone had access to millions of potential consumers. The playing field was not utterly even but much more so than ever before. Everyone had the same level of access. An apt seller could build a bigger following from scratch than someone with an existing community but mediocre sales skills. Sadly, the mutation also meant that the quality of the end product became secondary to its popularity. In turn, the attention rush gained pace as scruples diminished until they became the blurry memory of an obsolete notion that once mattered.

One of the ways my experience of social media has changed recently is a steady decline in the time I spend there. While the change could be linked merely to a personal choice, I find more and more people…