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Law in Contemporary Society
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The Generational PlaceI have no place to go but Here. -- By MicahMekbib - 20 Feb 2025Anxiety & AvoidanceThe third place has always been crucial to human connection. In America, the influx of suburbia and high-priced businesses have decayed its ability to meet our social needs. The Internet seemed to fix this by creating a new space filled with pockets of niche communities that anyone could find a sense of belonging within. Simultaneously, it created an unparalleled avenue for self-determination–never before could one so easily control what, from whom, and when they consumed information. The Internet as just another third space felt like a healthy relationship until everything started feeling like war out in the real world. I’m not tending to my familial relationships, participating in school feels dissonant, I wince when I buy groceries that I need to live (that are shit quality, mind you), we’re down to four years on that damn Climate Clock, and I feel like I’m wasting my time. 18-year-old me would scoff at being called an anxious person. Yet here I stand. And I know I’m not alone in this. My generation often turns to the Internet to escape our real world discomfort and develop a sense of control over our identities. A crutch to support our battered minds. At our best, we can enjoy endless information and a community to shape who we are. At our worst, we can at least deliver our anxieties to the Internet to hold while we doom scroll. But, therein lies the issue.Engineering AggravationToday, all social media platforms rely on algorithms that feed users whatever they’re designed to. Big Tech companies are incentivized to support these algorithms because they’re profitable. Algorithms collect raw behavioral data from user activity, which is sold to third parties who use it to inform marketing. This mechanism is known as surveillance capitalism. Since Big Tech companies benefit from user data, their algorithms are also designed to keep users generating it. An algorithm will latch onto any post you linger on for a few extra seconds. It will fixate on the desires you may not even realize you exhibit, gnawing at your free will until you acquiesce. Ultimately, the manipulation of our information context online strangles our self-determination and autonomy. I mean, how do you know you’re making the right decision if you only see one? By controlling what and how information is disseminated, private companies have created an epistemic battle promoting whatever kind of reality that keeps users logged on. Maybe it’s the kind of reality that targets users with their insecurities. It will certainly make you feel worse to fixate on something so demoralizing, but it’s either in Here or out There…and out There is terrifying. And I’ll have to do some serious work to fix myself out There, but why do that when I can remake myself Here by tweeting in this kind of way and keeping my Instagram theme to this specific style? Maybe it’s the kind of reality that allows you to pretend there is no war raging outside your window–a way to avoid confronting your truth. So what’s the fuss about? Obsessing Here feels better than obsessing There, and even if we’re conscious of its harm…well, isn’t life about enjoying the ride? The world is going to shit, anyway.You’re Losing Everything You Came Here ForWell, yes! The world might be going to shit…so you came Here for control that you lacked out There. You thought you might be able to find inspiration for the kind of life you want by seeing how others across the world live, or you thought you might find a sense of belonging by joining a Reddit community. You wanted to be able to consume a reality of your choosing. I mean if you wanted to live in a reality that made you anxious and avoidant…you would’ve just stayed out There! But surely, reader, you know by now that you’ve lost all control. You do not control the media you consume. The little man tinkering behind your screen, spying on your every move and hammering each into the algorithm, does. And the more time you spend engaging with his reality, the less time you spend on doing the things that actually matter: fixing your relationships with those you love, making your body healthier, and engaging with a world that cannot disappear in a digital crash (yea the Internet wouldn’t go down so simply, but just buy into it for one second, will you?). No one is asking you to “save THE world,” but you can always save YOUR world. And that’s the only one that should matter to You. You can regularly sit with friends you’ve collected over the years and discuss all it is you enjoy discussing online. You can connect with your classmates–you’re pursuing the same degree, so surely you have something in common. You can learn from strangers and libraries. Community is out There if you look for it, like that community garden you walk past on your way to work, or that mutual aid organization that posts tear-off flyers on the lamppost on 2nd. You’d be surprised what the joy of creating instead of consuming will do for your health. And what more being There will teach you about the kind of life you want to live. So You can choose your reality out There. It will just require a bit of consistent work and faith–as all good things do. You should probably do things that feel like You. You should probably be around people that are also interested in You being You. You should probably be in community with people that you can ensure are also being themselves, which you can’t do when everyone’s hiding behind screens. And most importantly, You can have control without submitting your will to technology that wants to preserve a reality that benefits them more than it does You. Or you can scoff, maybe chuckle. Get off the little man's Internet? Yea, no way in Hell you’re doing that.You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:
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