Social media is the new-age courtroom, and here the judge is not present, the array of lawyers comes parading with ring lights, and the verdict is delivered in the comments section.
Globally, social media has replaced the village square meeting, only it is more vicious now. Unlike the village square, where elders moderated disputes with decorum, this new square is swayed by the algorithm. And the algorithm enjoys drama.
From cancel culture to timeline dragging, anyone can wake up to be summoned to the social media courtroom. Celebrities, religious leaders, politicians, influencers, and even you, if you “move funny.” You can either go looking for attention, or it finds you. That’s the influence of social media. It has eaten deep into our societal consciousness.
Why do we feel entitled to judge?
Performative Outrage on Social Media
We can all agree that the comments section is more heated than a courtroom. They get toxic by app, from Instagram to TikTok.
We are quick to point fingers at people and create readymade names to fit. The comments section is filled with people who have words of condemnation for people doing the same thing they are guilty of in their closet.
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On platforms like TikTok, outrage is the order of the day. A simple post could generate reactions within minutes and go viral if an influencer bothers to “drop their 10 cents” on a post that has nothing to do with them. I have seen a video from a popular skit maker gain positive reactions all through the day, only for a ‘respected’ social commenter to misunderstand the message and everyone to go berserk. How do you laugh in the morning and fume at the same post by evening? It cemented my suspicion of the “herd mentality” on social media, especially Twitter, now X.
The drama doesn’t end; just refresh your feed.
Why do people keep falling in the loop at the detriment of their mental health?
Clout-Chasing Syndrome
Everyone wants to be famous. There are content creators who need attention to feed their passion, and there are plain attention seekers whom we commonly refer to as clout-chasers. One hill I’m willing to die on is that clout-chasing is a psychological condition.
Couples air their dirty laundry online, friends shade each other, screenshots fly left and right within a twinkle of an eye, and social media courtrooms are the best spectators. Everyone feels obligated to justify themselves on social media. It gets crazy with the new wave of livestream drama and the aftermath of the monetization of some platforms like X and TikTok. Which brings me to ask, where do we draw the line?
“The internet never forgets” is the warning sound this generation loves to ignore. You post a “feeling cute, might delete later” thirst trap at 10 pm, and you delete it by breakfast. Now you have a hot take on someone’s random tweet that might trigger someone with too much time on their hands to revive your long-deleted thirst trap. The comments section is having a field day roasting you for acting all brand new.
There is hardly any privacy anymore; everyone wants to go viral. Now, the hunger for 5 minutes of fame has left us paranoid, grasping privacy like our lives depend on it. We play judge and juror and cancel anyone that doesn’t fit into our narrative.
See Also: Is Social Media Silently Drowning Your Emotions?
Social media comes with its good effects, but the negativity it thrives on is scary. It loves to feed on divorce rumors, breakups, celebrity scandals, and ugly pasts you think are buried and forgotten. The numbers of faceless internet trolls are increasing by the day; vices are becoming norms, but when you raise an eyebrow, you are told, “It’s not that deep” or “Don’t you understand sarcasm?”
We have become addicted to the thrill of judgement, but what I still find confusing is why negativity or apparent clout-chasing gets traction. People attach themselves to viral issues and become an overnight sensation. Social media keeps making the wrong people famous, and it has a ripple effect on our society whether we accept it or not.
