Ballard: Social Media's Digital High-Rise Vivisection

Philosopher Bry Willis, who writes fiction as Ridley Park, shares an excerpt from "Ballard Was Already Logged In: Social Media as Digital High-Rise – Philosophics," presents a philosophical critique of social media, arguing that author J.G. Ballard presciently described its pathologies through his fictional works, particularly High-Rise and Crash. The author contends that Ballard's themes of isolation, curated identity, and destructive feedback loops mirror the contemporary experience of social platforms. It posits that social media platforms function as "autonomous systems masquerading as communities," fostering performance over genuine connection and mirroring the structural disintegration seen in Ballard's fictional buildings. The author also draws parallels between the "libidinal economy of attention" on social media and the compulsive nature of events depicted in Ballard's Crash. Ultimately, the piece asserts that Ballard's fiction serves as a "diagnosis masquerading as fiction," revealing the autobiographical nature of what we perceive as digital dystopia.https://ridleypark.blog/2025/06/22/ballards-high-rise-when-brutalism-meets-behavioural-collapse/