You almost can't escape it these days, it seems that every social site has some form of way of approving or "liking" someone's content be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even... venerable GTPlanet.
It doesn't even stop there, you see it outside of commercial websites as it's even used on "project sites" that I see at work. It really hit me when I saw it on that type of site as it makes you realise the whole "liking" business has gone further than taking a few funny pictures and uploading them to Facebook.
But why? Do we feel the need to be congratulated with a "like" on everything we post or say. Do we feel happy when we do get lots of "likes"? Do we feel we've said the wrong thing if we don't receive any likes?
Worryingly I would probably have to say yes to both questions. When I logon here the first thing I do is click the alerts button to see who has replied to my posts and who has liked them. When before I would've gone straight to the new posts button. It's hard to resist that cheap dopamine hit your brain gets as you revel in another like or 10 likes (wow!).
But what are we really gaining from all this? To me it's just making ourselves overly critical of what we do in our digital musings, it's making us insecure about posting what we really think or going against the grain. It makes me want the old internet back where it was more about discovering new things, watching great videos and reading informative articles. Now half of the time on the internet seems to be checking all our favorite sites for updates on our approval (likes) or non approval.
I'd love to know if you have "likeitus" and if not how do you avoid it?
*This article at a skim seems to explore the same topic in much greater detail and with far better writing as well - https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...-happen-mantra-instagram-era-facebook-twitter
It doesn't even stop there, you see it outside of commercial websites as it's even used on "project sites" that I see at work. It really hit me when I saw it on that type of site as it makes you realise the whole "liking" business has gone further than taking a few funny pictures and uploading them to Facebook.
But why? Do we feel the need to be congratulated with a "like" on everything we post or say. Do we feel happy when we do get lots of "likes"? Do we feel we've said the wrong thing if we don't receive any likes?
Worryingly I would probably have to say yes to both questions. When I logon here the first thing I do is click the alerts button to see who has replied to my posts and who has liked them. When before I would've gone straight to the new posts button. It's hard to resist that cheap dopamine hit your brain gets as you revel in another like or 10 likes (wow!).
But what are we really gaining from all this? To me it's just making ourselves overly critical of what we do in our digital musings, it's making us insecure about posting what we really think or going against the grain. It makes me want the old internet back where it was more about discovering new things, watching great videos and reading informative articles. Now half of the time on the internet seems to be checking all our favorite sites for updates on our approval (likes) or non approval.
I'd love to know if you have "likeitus" and if not how do you avoid it?
*This article at a skim seems to explore the same topic in much greater detail and with far better writing as well - https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...-happen-mantra-instagram-era-facebook-twitter