You've Missed 10 Posts: The Authoritarian Whisper of Social Media

Have you noticed how the powers that be control us? Not how but how?

It’s become really noticeable in social media. There was time when I could look at my accounts in Facebook or Twitter Instagram and I would just see, “OK someone said something”, or I’d get an e-mail saying someone's commented or followed you or whatever.

Now it's actually telling me You have 14 notifications to see in Facebook or Twitter at whatever app it is, as if it's my secretary. Do you realise that you have missed 14 appointments? The responsibility is put on you as if somehow they’ve become the boss of you.

Did you forget to ...?

I wonder how many people succumb to that and think “Oh, I must check what it is, without even thinking that's time taken out of whatever you were doing. Instead it’s become, No, I have to go and check because I've been informed that I have 14 notifications. It's an authoritarian whisper that's a reminder.

And it's molding our psyche, grooming us psychologically to respond to the authority of AI.

Now, I don't say that in any conspiracy theory way at all. I'm talking about automated authority, so what you are left with is less connection between humans. Less what's it called now, it's no longer personnel human resources. It's not even going to be that. It literally is time for you to wake up, I mean we're already there anyway, with apps telling you it’s time to exercise, time to drink water, time for you to shower, to have your breakfast. There are even apps telling you what you write. These are the things you should be doing. If you're not doing it that way, you must be uncool.

Some of us are welcoming that. We've actually set up apps that tell us to do these things, that remind us, and if that's what you want, that's all well and good. But when it becomes an insidious thing, I mean notifications about people posting stuff, that's not about the people anymore. After all, they could be posting anything. Why do I need to see every comment by other people on an image that I liked or commented on? Come on, AI.

Lobster boiling

It's about the control narrative. That's the switch being slightly turned, you know, just a couple of digits from 2 to maybe 2.5. It’s turning up the heat until, to use that mythological analogy, we become like lobsters in boiling water. Or is it crabs? I'm sure they’d like to distinguish a difference, but I've actually seen the lobster put in boiling water. It fought like hell to get out, so that's a complete myth.

So, but we are just slowly being inured to the fact that our lives are no longer ours? Unless we put our feet down firmly, everything around us will dictate our lives. It is insidious, and you just wonder where we are going with this narrative with this agenda.

Let's just hope it's somewhere warm, pleasant, and relaxing.