Am I normal? Internet searches to find oneself
A Google study proves a paradox between the desire to find one's peers... and to reassure oneself, while platforms would push for a proletarianization of users. Everything is political.
First newsletter of the year! I wish you all the best, good health, and daily joys - big or small.
It's an exciting study that Google reveals on its French blog "Futur du Marketing." With Diversidays, an association for equal opportunities that advocates for digital as a diversity accelerator, Google has explored the search trends of the French on topics such as racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and ageism, etc.
The conclusions? According to Lucile Le Goallec, we are facing a paradox between the French who increasingly ask themselves, "Am I normal?" (+65% search interest in 2023 vs. 2019) and a clear manifestation of identity markers (age, interests, beliefs, commitments, etc.).
A trend that follows the same rhythm globally and will likely accelerate in the coming years.
Seeking (re)assurance
The parallel with the health world can shed light on this trend, in a climate of growing anxiety accelerated by COVID-19.
"Health anxiety" - or anxiety disorder related to illness, a more open and less negative synonym than hypochondria - gathers nearly 100,000 members on Reddit. Search queries reveal our most secret, taboo intimacies, or concerns. Like irrational fears that manifest at the slightest trouble: a simple cough leads us to perceive the beginning of cancer as we frantically type on our smartphones and browse from site to site.
This "health anxiety" operates on the principle of reciprocity: by searching for common symptoms, people can find others like them who have been through it. A way to reassure oneself by posing a true-false diagnosis that replaces some of the gravitas of doctors.
Beyond the world of health, gathering in niches communities is vital for platform users. Just as in the theater, a spectator would have difficulty speaking publicly in front of strangers, likely feeling a sense of embarrassment. It is in more precise, more private conversation groups that people would share information sincerely. And consequently, opening up to strangers on very personal topics can, under the right conditions, seem simpler than in front of lifelong friends.
While we are witnessing a form of increased aggression in public digital spaces, being able to feel and express deep emotions (understand: not just another list of personal development on Linkedin...) without being tackled has the air of an achievement. In France, the Black Elephant network organizes virtual parades, pushing members to expose their vulnerabilities, their feelings. When in France, nearly 10 million citizens live in a form of chronic loneliness, or in the United States, 15% of men and 10% of women declare having no close friends, giving back places and opportunities to speak sincerely becomes a highly political issue.
Fiction and exaggeration, the new normal?
In addition to loneliness and anxiety, another lever explains this identity crisis. According to the Washington Post, taking the example of year-end recap videos (understand: video montages seen everywhere on TikTok and Instagram, aiming to summarize the past year in an entertaining and aesthetic way), we would witness a normalization of... the fictionalization of our lives. Contents tagged #yearontiktok have generated over 43 billion (!) views according to Vogue Business.
What's that?
Tools like CapCut, freely available to users, shatter artistic and technological entry barriers. Anyone can easily replicate a montage seen from a professional content creator, an influencer. This "templating" or "TikTokization" would romanticize our lives, celebrate the joys of daily life in the Wes Anderson style. Except that, after seeing content so beautifully made, often presenting fabulous images, some users might find their daily lives quite dull. Am I normal for not having a photo of a sunset from an eco-resort at the end of the world on my smartphone?
We were already talking about it a few months ago: users could become the driving forces of a "user proletarianization" movement, as specified by Silvio Lorusso, who wrote an essay entitled "Liquidating the User" for the excellent Tèque magazine.
The factory representing all the functions of creating and crafting content for TikTok or even Instagram.
Expressing to gather, and creating "one's" normal
A more optimistic vision aims to question the massification of content creation means; is it not, on the contrary, a tremendous opportunity to occupy the digital space and let others know that we are not alone? With a revival of private or semi-private groups, especially among younger audiences, we could hope to return to the origins of social networks and even chat rooms; a more chaotic side with emerging uses, but this time with simpler-to-master publishing tools. WordPress had allowed since 2003 a simplification of blog article writing, making site creation accessible to everyone. CapCut and others would offer new ways to exploit oral, visual expressions. As often, according to Metcalfe's law, "the utility of a network is proportional to the square of the number of its users" but also to the added value of the features provided by the platforms.
The ranking of the week: AppStore
In the United States, the ranking of the most popular applications on Apple's App Store sets the tone for current uses. CapCut is thus the second most popular application in December 2023, ahead of YouTube or even Gmail, but behind Temu, a marketplace comparable to Shein.
Amazing links
After cyberbullying, cyber-kidnapping. A weak signal that is likely to explode in the coming months. Read it on Gizmodo.
January is the time for lists and rankings. EnVi media asked me who, for me, was the "Fashion Power Player 2023."
How to mourn someone never met? Lucie Inland delivers an exciting investigation for Slate (in which I am fortunate to have my essay quoted).
...see you soon! Don't forget to share, comment, "like"!