Here’s another hypothesis: Maybe Americans are down in the dumps because their perception of the “good life” is being warped by TikTok and Instagram.
Pundits who say say this probably never use social media much, or their social media usage is limited to Twitter. The vast majority of Facebook/Instagram/TikTok users are not famous or celebrities. Given the massive popularity of those platforms, we would expect the average user to be as successful as the median American, which is to say, a far cry from being wealthy or super-successful. Follow a hundred of so random people on Instagram or TikTok, and how many Google or AI employes are you going to find among them? Likely none, compared to Twitter , where everyone seems super-successful on there.
paulpauper•1h ago
Pundits who say say this probably never use social media much, or their social media usage is limited to Twitter. The vast majority of Facebook/Instagram/TikTok users are not famous or celebrities. Given the massive popularity of those platforms, we would expect the average user to be as successful as the median American, which is to say, a far cry from being wealthy or super-successful. Follow a hundred of so random people on Instagram or TikTok, and how many Google or AI employes are you going to find among them? Likely none, compared to Twitter , where everyone seems super-successful on there.