Likes cause users to regress from self-other balance toward fusion
Evidence
The “Like” button was only the start of what was to be an historic construction of a new social world that for many users is defined by fusion with the social mirror, especially among the young. Just as gamblers chase the zone of fusion with the machine, a young person embedded in the culture of mutuality chases the zone of fusion with the social mirror. For anyone already struggling with the challenge of the self-other balance, the “Like” button and its brethren continuously tip the scales toward regression. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1460
Categorization
- XREF: The social mirror / fusion concept parallels the ‘One Square Inch’ chapter discussion of attention capture, and Brukner’s zone-of-fusion account of slot machines cited elsewhere. — connects to: An interdependent self keeps members distinct while connected through stable relationships