Jia Tolentino on what happens when life is an endless performance
Aug 26, 2019
01:44:49
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Author Jia Tolentino discusses the impact of the internet on identity formation and human interaction. She explores how online platforms distort self-perception, amplify opposition, and erode solidarity. The conversation touches on maintaining authenticity in a digital world and the transformation of human relationships in the age of technology.
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Quick takeaways
Internet distorts identity, overvalues opinions, maximizes opposition, cheapens solidarity, and destroys scale.
Tolentino's work focuses on real-life impact of internet technology on human psychology and interaction.
Online platforms prioritize opinion expression, blurring lines between personal beliefs and actions.
Internet shifts focus to opinion refinement over civic engagement, challenging moral living and values.
Deep dives
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Internet's Influence on Identity Construction
The podcast features a discussion with Gia Tolentino about how the internet deeply intertwines identity with online performance, leading to the magnification and monetization of personal identity. The internet's focus on social media platforms centralizes and monetizes selfhood, even for non-participants, influencing how individuals perform and perceive their identities online.
Challenges of Online Opposition and Opinion Formation
The episode delves into how online interactions create an environment where the expression of opposition and opinions can overpower other societal interactions. The internet's fusion of identity with opinions blurs the lines between personal beliefs and actions, often valuing and promoting controversial opinions and oppositional stances.
Media's Impact on Opinion Amplification and Action Perception
The conversation highlights how the media environment, especially online, amplifies and conflates opinions with actions, shaping the public perception of speech as impactful action. The internet's emphasis on opinion formation and dissemination as a form of activism and engagement challenges the traditional boundaries and values of individual opinions and public actions.
The Impact of the Internet on Civic Energy and Moral Living
The podcast delves into how the internet diverts energy into opinion refinement rather than productive civic engagement, making moral living challenging. The acceleration of capitalism linked to the internet is highlighted, indicating the difficulty in maintaining moral values. The discussion emphasizes the disconnection between online communication about morality and actual moral actions in real life.
Online Politics and the Lack of Persuasion
The episode explores how the internet simplifies political opinions but complicates the practice of politics. It leads to an 'anti-politics' environment where individuals avoid persuading those with differing viewpoints. The discourse around 'not my job to convince you' is discussed, highlighting the challenges of engaging in constructive political dialogue.
The Influence of Identity and Solidarity on the Internet
The impact of cancel culture and identity-based solidarity on the internet is examined. The phenomenon of reducing individuals to their identities and forming solidarity based on identities rather than people is critiqued. The balance between identity-driven solidarity and a broader solidarity encompassing humanity is explored.
Navigating Uncertainty and Human Connection Online
The episode reflects on the struggle with certainty and human connection in writing and online interactions. The tension between portraying certainty in writing while feeling uncertainty is discussed. The importance of striving for authenticity and humanity in digital communication is highlighted amidst the challenges of online discourse.
The introduction to Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, hit me hard. In her investigation of how American politics and culture had collapsed into “an unbearable supernova of perpetually escalating conflict,” she became obsessed with five intersecting problems: “First, how the internet is built to distend our sense of identity; second, how it encourages us to overvalue our opinions; third, how it maximizes our sense of opposition; fourth, how it cheapens our understanding of solidarity; and, finally, how it destroys our sense of scale."
Yeah, me too.
What sets Tolentino’s work apart, though, is that it’s not about the internet — it’s about how people are living their real, everyday lives in the age of the internet. This is a conversation about what happens when technology combines with the most powerful forces of human psychology to transform the nature of human interaction itself. It’s about how we construct and express our core sense of self, and what that’s doing to who we really are.
