This note was inspired by @alegria_irl.
In the past couple of weeks, we've been seing a lot of adverts regarding AI's capabilities. And a lot of them revolve around the idea of "alteration". In her video, Alergria explains "alteration" by the idea of "changing the present to match what we want it to look like as opposed to what it actually looks like".
Instagram is launching a feature in the US that will allow users to change the background of a photo to anything they want. There is also the "expand" TikTok filter that allows users to expand any photo. Then, Google Pixel's latest phone has a feature that makes it possible for people to edit their photos using AI directly in their phone (called the "best take option").
The human brain already has the capacity to mold and alter any memory, to enhance them, to fit a personal narrative or to protect us. But what happens when the material proof of a memory (i.e: a photo), can be altered and kept as a memory? Alegria asks: "how much can we trust ourselves or what we're told and how much are we willing to change the definition of truth to match our preferred outcome?". Social media and digitization have completely changed how we interact with memories. They are not just pieces of the past with only personal implications. But rather, are potential pieces of content that need to fit a couple of things: our alter-egos, the cultural zeitgeist, and how "likeable" they are. Capitalism has embedded itself so deeply within us that the idea of competition has entered our human life experiences that are memories.
The FOMO created by social media and the competition it induces have been widely documented over the years. The fact that some live better lives than others is not new but the idea that we have to alter our own to match theirs is something that I think our minds were never wired for. We chose to let ourselves be commodified for other's online voyeuristic consumption instead of interrogating why, as people, as a culture, we are all so in need of external validation. And how far can this really go anyway? When nothing we see online can be trusted as true, what we will be the outcome of that?
Social media were primarily used as a way for people to connect with loved ones and celebrities online. Overtime, the paradigm has shifted towards content consumption and entertainment. "Social media platforms" are now broadcasting platforms. Your memories, your life experiences have now become potential content for viewer's consumption. Social media are no longer a way to connect with others, but rather a place to broadcast your life. How far are we willing to go to make our lives palatable? As far as altering our definition of truth?
That will be the final part of this note. The rapid growth of TikTok has taught us one thing: people are looking for authenticity online now more than ever. (We may also ask what it means to be authentic and how authenticity is often faked but that will be for another note). Leaving Instagram's over polished feeds and unrelatable content to the ever-so-messy TikTok, showed that users, especially gen-z, were in need for "realer" content. But will we find what we are looking for on an internet where nothing can be trusted? Will we even stay on social media? I think reality has become so violent and grim that creating a fiction makes our everyday lives more bearable. As a generation, we have been promised nothing else but hardships and catastrophe scenarios. I sincerely think that everything we see trending online should be interpreted at a psycho-sociological level. And as users, we must understand that technology has failed to deliver its one promise: making our lives better. Instead, it preys on them. Your wounds are a very profitable market, so why help you heal them?