The reachability illusion

We live in the age of social media. Everyone is on at least one platform. The same platforms you and I use. Everyone is right there and can be reached just by clicking a button. You can follow everyone, you can have their words and pictures in your feed, and you can connect with them directly, or at least you can try. When it comes to "famous" people, what social media is selling, is an illusion. That illusion is that you and the famous person are at the same level. And don't get me wrong, at a human level, you definitely are. They're just human beings; they're not special.

But when it comes to social media and internet interactions, when you tweet at a famous person or when you comment on an Instagram post, you don't really expect that person to reply to you. They can't possibly reply to everyone. They probably won't even read your comment. That's just the reality of social media.

That said, you could have spent that same time and mental energy writing to someone "less famous" and more approachable and maybe something meaningful could have come out of that interaction.

What if, instead of adding your meaningless emoji comment to an Instagram post with 15000 other comments, you decided to write an email to a small content creator to simply say hey I love your content.

What if, instead of buying merch from a YouTube channel with 15 million subs, you decided to spend that same money to support a small indie blog or publication?

Those are tiny actions but trust me, they make a difference.

The web is getting more and more centralised, and we're not helping. We're part of the problem. Browsing the web should be an exciting experience. We need to bring that sense of discovery and exploration back.