You find a video of someone dancing yet another viral choreography. You take a look.
Then you jump to the viral video of the moment, which either makes you smile or provokes monumental anger.
You can’t resist the kitten video either.
You see the fashion influencer crying because she ran over her plant.
Another one shows you her ideal breakfast.
A coach promises to change your life in 3 steps and 1 minute.
A person gives a speech in favor of or against the politician in office.
A video of a “disaster” created with Artificial Intelligence leaves you wondering.
And in the midst of all that, you see a thousand motivational quotes of dubious origin.
Twenty minutes pass. Or forty. Or an hour. You don’t even remember what you saw, but you keep scrolling , as if hypnotized.
Social media, which should be a showcase to the world and a way to connect with our friends, has become a distorting mirror where everything profound is crushed, everything interesting is simplified, and everything human is measured in “likes”.
It’s not by chance, it’s the result of a system designed precisely for that: so that you don’t think too much and spend as much time as possible in that soporific state of banal stimulation.
The business of distraction
Journalist Cory Doctorow summed up the phenomenon of decline that social networks are experiencing in one word: “enshittification”.
Doctorow explains that digital platforms start out being positive for users, then they are optimized for content creators, and finally they end up serving only the interests of shareholders. In other words: everything that was useful, fun, or human is flushed down the toilet in the name of profitability.
At first, social media attracts us with the promise of visibility, connection, and community. But very soon, it begins to squeeze creators dry, limiting their reach and forcing them to pay for ads or make increasingly extreme videos to reach their audience.
The result is inevitable: the content becomes banal and decadent because the goal is no longer to communicate and connect with people, but to survive in the algorithm.
In fact, it’s not that people have suddenly become stupid. It’s that the algorithm has become smarter. It learned that human attention is a finite and therefore extremely valuable resource. That’s why it rewards videos, stories, and posts that can keep us engaged a little longer.
They’re not interested in our well-being or providing a service that helps us connect, grow, or learn, but only in keeping us connected because while we watch yet another video, someone is making a lot of money.
From looking so much, we stop seeing
They tell us that social media connects us. But what it really does is anesthetize us with increasingly banal content that ends up silencing truly relevant news, truly important dramas, or developmental information.
There comes a point where sensory overload becomes emotional numbness. And that’s the real problem. Not so much the banality of what we consume, but what we lose along the way.
By looking so much, we stop seeing what matters.
By getting so indignant over trivialities, we lose the strength to fight for what is important.
By searching so hard for connection, we ended up more disconnected than ever.
By giving so much opinion, we stop thinking.
By sharing everything so much, we end up with nothing of our own.
By spending so much time on screens, we miss out on life outside.
Because when we spend too much time staring at screens where everything glitters and seems incredibly intense, real life – with its silences, its waiting, its setbacks, and its imperfections – begins to seem boring. And at that point, we’ve already become addicted to childishness, we’ve grown accustomed to living in “scrolling mode.”
The banality of the banality of the banality… ad infinitum
The danger of banality is that it spreads. Social media doesn’t stay within the screen; it seeps in. It infiltrates our way of speaking, shapes what we value, distorts our thoughts, and changes how we relate to one another.
At first, it seems like just innocent entertainment, but little by little, this passive consumption of childish content permeates our lives. We start thinking in short bursts, feeling in brief bursts, and living as if reality were a TikTok video.
And without realizing it, digital banality becomes a kind of psychological virus that “lobotomizes” us. It infects our attention, distorts our priorities, and atrophies our capacity for deeper thought. What once moved us now bores us. What once shocked us now barely raises an eyebrow. What once made us reflect now only distracts us.
The result is a kind of chronic emotional shallowness: we feel a lot, but superficially. We jump from one emotion to another like changing the channel. Sadness, anger, or empathy no longer mature; they simply activate and deactivate with the scrolling.
Psychologically, this comes at a huge cost. Living surrounded by constant stimuli leaves us exhausted. Our attention, that resource that once sustained reflection and patience, atrophies. We want everything now, but nothing truly fulfills us. Immediacy stimulates us, but it doesn’t nourish us. It keeps us distracted, but it doesn’t allow us to grow.
Because when everything becomes a spectacle, the profound becomes invisible. In fact, a study conducted at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology found that ephemeral online content stimulates superficial processing, which in turn affects our ability to retain information.
These researchers explain that exposure to such a large quantity of banal narratives also generates a high cognitive load, which leads us to simplify the task and pay less attention. By extension, we begin to apply this superficial mindset to other news or content that truly deserves our attention.
Neuroscientists at Stanford University agree. They found that after using social media, not only do we have to make a greater cognitive effort to solve tasks, but key areas for memory and response inhibition also function less effectively.
Break out of the loop
Detoxing isn’t easy, simply because social media is designed to be irresistible. But there’s a difference between using it and letting it use us. And that difference lies in reclaiming something as precious as our attention.
Now banality has a platform, so perhaps the greatest form of resistance is to prevent ourselves from being swept away by the river of immediacy. To live consciously in a world that wants us distracted. To skip over the junk content and recover what can bring us value. To use social media with purpose, pause, and discernment. With awareness.
References:
Aitken, A. et. Al. (2024) The Effect of Social Media Consumption on Emotion and Executive Functioning in College Students: an fNIRS Study in Natural Environment. Res Sq; 5604862.
Maran, A. & Raj, J. (2024) Memory Retention and Cultural Resonance: Exploring the Impact of Ephemeral Digital Narratives. Studies in Media and Communication; 12(3): 277-291.
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