Have you watched the movie the Truman Show? It’s from the 90’s I watched it when I was young-er 🙂 and watched it again the other day.

It was entertaining because of the comedian Jim Carey the main character, we didn’t have the internet like we do in 2024, social media, YouTube and smart phones that have taken over our lives, it was an original concept and way ahead of its time.

It’s about a man that was bought as a baby by a corporation for the purpose of creating a show centered entirely around his life that airs 24/7 on TV, even when he’s sleeping. He’s unaware that he’s part of a TV show since birth and everyone on the island are actors his mother, wife, best friend everyone. He starts figuring out things are not quite right as he grows up when a number of events happen. 

Now in 2024 I ask the question, are we in The Truman Show because of social media and the internet? With our desire to document our entire lives (called vlogging) which inturn becomes entertainment for other peoples lives. Clout and attention have become the Crack of the internet age. 

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy watching women restock their immaculate fridges and make 10 different types of ice cubes in winter. Watching them clean their immaculate homes where they have draws full of stuff more than in my entire house. Some of it’s entertaining and a time-pass to decompress from your stressful day-to-day and everything looks so perfect. Is this what we’re aspiring to be perfect? An idealised version of ourselves with idealized lives. These are questions that have been on my mind for a while. 

I’m not exempt from the addiction it causes. We all put our best foot forward in the world or try to but on social media it’s magnified, edited, photoshopped has fake backgrounds and fake interactions to make it all seem so real but it’s not quite. Has this behaviour become normalised in society or is it bizarre and abnormal and why? 

Can we hug someone without pulling out our phone and uploading it to YouTube for reactions, follows, endorsements, sponsorships and money from followers in Kazakhstan? Are we human beings or brands making money? Now we’re interacting with the walking talking brands (humans) whereas before we watched/looked at it. This shifts dynamics in a strange way because it’s a person but you don’t know if it’s a genuine interaction or if they’re selling a dustbuster, nobody likes that. 

Are we acting like in the Truman Show portraying a character of ourselves trying to convince the internet and the world (Truman) that this is the real me? What’s the purpose of it? Money and career are the main one’s for sure and it can be a glamorous career. Influencers are invited to the latest red carpet events and sent lots of free products, they make a very good living off of it too but at what expense and consequence when your private and personal life is public entertainment and consumption. Before work and personal lives were separate but it’s become blurred with social media.

You’re always thinking about creating content too, everything is content, it’s difficult to be present, when and how do you switch off? And a lot of people are not talking to each but AT each and talking to their followers instead. How do we connect as humans? Which we need to do.

Why does follower count matter and is it a status? Does it make you more important because you can influence/reach more people? You’re certainly more important to the companies because they advertise their products to more people through you but there’s tons of competition.

Also, what are the consequences of putting young children on the internet for the world to see? to have cameras in their face from a young age constantly. The child has no autonomy if it wants to be on camera for the internet and used as entertainment.

A scene from The Truman Show where he was starting to realise things are not right, he was talking to his wife about it, she turned around and started advertising hot chocolate from a paid advertiser (to distract him), he asked her bizarrely who is she talking to. This is so apt today where we’re seeing influencers advertising products amidst a live streamed genocide in Palestine on social media. it’s completely out of touch with reality, it’s black mirror and surreal. One post you see a bomb being dropped the next a woman advertising lip gloss, is this not insanity personified? How on earth do you navigate this without going insane?

So much of our lives have become The Truman Show displaying our most intimate and important moments weddings, pregnancies, holidays, births, crash crashes. Social media has killed privacy and we feel like we have a connection because we are watching someone’s life but we don’t know that person.  

I saw a video of a car crash, a young male YouTuber who is pretty popular that went viral for crashing a McLaren supercar, a 300 thousand dollar car he was allegedly driving dangerously in the rain while texting. His friend in the passenger seat was live streaming, when he crashed his friend was injured with blood on his face, the driver had to be pulled from the car through the window and still continued to live stream and wasn’t as concerned about his friend’s well being seen as he had blood on his face as he still told him to film him. This is warped behaviour and a generation that has always had access to the internet unlike my generation who lived life in the great outdoors. Nowadays we compete to show we’re in the prettiest location whilst still glued to the phone in that location.

Are we needing to go more extremes for views because content gets boring quickly and has a very short shelf life with so much competition. it’s just not something I would think to do in a car crash.

I’m seeing more ‘real life, real homes’ content from people who are sick of the idealised content and maybe we’re moving more towards that.

These are just some of the thoughts I’m having when I’m on social media and where are we heading in 2025, let me know your thoughts in the comments about how you experience the internet and social media, thanks.

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