Evils of the Envy Engine

I grew up in the TV era. And in that time we all were fed daily does of the idealized jello-mold suburban life, filled with pool days, shaggy dogs, smiling moms and aloof but caring dad figures who’d smoke pipes, pat us on the head patronizingly, and always come through in supporting our dreams. It was Ozzie and Harriet, and The Thing we all Aspired to Achieve.

Laughable now. Thing is, today’s internet is based on the same damn Envy Engine.

Sometimes its food, perfect, Instagrammable, iconic and always being eaten by Those People You Will Never Be.

Sometimes it’s the destination; and here, people want the summit but without the hard climb. The easy victory. the Ten Things Successful People Do Before 5AM That You Must Do NOW (you slacker, you).

Other times its Zen-porn full of Voluntary Simplicity, Marie Kondo, frugality and zero-waste. Or its Penitence Porn from people like Gary Vaynor who work hard, then work hard, and then tell you (you slacker) that there are no easy answers and you better just STFU and work hard.

And all of these things are driven by the Envy Engine that is the internet. The same twisted need to compare ourselves to unattainable and artificial ideals. Just a different day/time/technology loop.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Constantly compare what we (do not) have to what others have?Why do we crush ourselves with such consumerist crap? Ever thus...

Bertrand Russel once wrote this passage regarding the folly of comparison: "Yes....this is a sunny day, and it is springtime, and the birds are singing, and the flowers are in bloom, but I understand that the springtime in Sicily is a thousand times more beautiful, that the birds sing more exquisitely in the groves of Helicon, and that the rose of Sharon is more lovely than any in my garden.' And as he thinks these thoughts the sun is dimmed, and the birds' song becomes a meaningless twitter, and the flowers seem not worth a moment's regard.

Maybe we’re not so different from the goats on the proverbial hill, all trying to be at the top. Maybe social media has not (as has been thought) totally ruined our planet. Maybe social media is just an incredibly, ruthlessly efficient Envy Engine, which has supplanted TV in the war for our eyeballs. Maybe it's just the latest thing. No more, no less.

Or maybe not.