The Zombie Apocalypse Happened
The zombie apocalypse happened and nobody noticed or seemed to care. We expected flesh-eating monsters mindlessly roaming the earth in blood-thirsty hoards but got social media instead.
Social media began with the hope of communal connection but quickly devolved into cannibalistic consumption. In the early days of social media, everyone was a contributor. People were excited to add their voices and to share their lives with others. Then came the awareness that social media companies were making billions of dollars. How? Users were not paying for access to their sites. There was minimal advertising. There were no products being sold. Uh…hold up…that’s it…what product was being sold? People.
People are the product. We have some idea now about the scope of data collection that was happening, but very little awareness regarding the long-term repercussions. We numbed ourselves to privacy concerns as sharing private things in public places became normal. Here is the truly troubling question: If people are the product, then who is the consumer?
People are consuming people. As the number of people on social media grows, the percentage on contributors decreases. I believe the primary reason for this is that most people do not like being consumed by other people. We are not equipped for the praise or the criticism. We are not designed to process the judgements of people who do not know us. People are not fit for public consumption.
So, what is going on with the small percentage of contributors who offer themselves to feed the masses? Some have made it their profession. We created professional influencers who work to move the corporate economic needle as consumers dutiful munch on the influencer’s lifestyle. Other contributors, simply crave the attention…good and bad, love and hate, positive and negative. Attention is the desire and it makes no difference what it is, why it is there, or where it comes from. The attitude is, “I don’t care why you consume me as long as you keep consuming me.” Consuming people is a bad idea to begin with, but consuming people who want to be consumed is a junk food diet.
The zombie apocalypse started online and moved into the physical world. Let’s look at some prominent zombie symptoms and see if we notice them in our world.
Loss of Cognition – Zombies struggle with language, self-awareness, memory loss, and critical thinking. They are reduced to being driven by basic impulses. Why do you think 24-hour television news works on people? Why are people so easily manipulated? Why is it that people cannot identify basic hypocrisy and lack intellectual integrity? Why do people yell, curse, name-call, and approve of others who do?
Insatiable Hunger – Have you ever seen a zombie in a movie eat someone, belch, rub their belly, and lean back fully satisfied? Nope. Zombies consume with a continual lust for more. Enough is never enough. Scrolling. Scrolling. Scrolling. Keep them zombies scrolling. Buying. Buying. Buying. Keep them zombies buying. Hoarding. Hoarding. Hoarding. Keep them zombies hoarding. Why do we accept greed and gluttony as societal norms? Why do we believe that our primary job as humans is to consume?
Rapidly Contagious – One bite is all it takes. It is amazing how fast social media overtook the world. We are so inundated with social media that people are no longer aware they are using it. People say they are not on social media, but what they usually mean is that they do not use social media like other people. Have you noticed that when people say “Now, I’m not on social media” that it is usually followed by them telling you about something they saw on social media? Do zombies know they are zombies?
Hoard Mentality – Group think. Echo chambers. No voice of reason. Just a bunch of zombies heading off a cliff. Isn’t it amazing how outraged people get just because other people are outraged? Why are we so mad? Why must everyone be passionate about the same things? Why don’t we enjoy diversity of thought and perspectives? Why do we assume that we are correct about everything when we know we have been wrong so much in the past? Why do we follow leaders we have no business following?
Is there a solution? Yes, but it is drastic. Stop. Just stop.
“If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:15 NIV)
