Thread by @david_perell

I wrote about The Social Media Trap.

People change their behavior when they know they're being watched.

24/7 access to social media has over-socialized us.

We now lack the courage to take risks and the audacity to dream big.

perell.com/blog/social-me…

Trapped by the judgment of our peers, we stop taking bold actions.

We censor ourselves.

Over time, the shouts of intuition turn into whispers, and soon, quiet.

The self is silenced, the crowd screams, and yet, we hold our ear to the cacophony of judgmental noise.

Social media has turned us into objects of criticism.

We've created our own Big Brother.

Self-surveillance is a tradeoff.

Under the critical eye of social media, people are more likely to follow the rules but also take fewer risks — which creates a stagnant society.

"Where we had once been free to be ourselves online, we were now chained to ourselves online, and this made us self-conscious."

— @jiatolentino

@jiatolentino The Social Media Trap makes us complacent.

Since we have to justify risky career moves to our friends, it’s often easier to follow the well-worn path, do what everybody else is doing, and guarantee the approval of our peers.

As @eugenewei says, we are like public companies now.