Attention, Identity, and the Social Media Experiment

Three months ago I downloaded TikTok to promote this podcast.This seemed like a reasonable decision at the time.What followed was an unexpected behavioural study in attention, identity, comparison, and the quiet pressure to become a more consumable version of yourself.In this episode I talk about social media addiction that doesn’t feel like enjoyment, the strange psychology of scrolling, why seeing thousands of curated lives changes how we see our own, and how platforms subtly encourage us to simplify ourselves into recognisable characters.Somewhere along the way I may have also created a small digital cult.We’ll discuss dopamine loops, attention fragmentation, style pressure, body comparison, and the strange experience of leaving loud rooms full of people… only to sit alone in a quiet room full of people on the internet.This is not a warning.It’s a field report.