Member-only story
The Dorian Gray deception
Distorted self-images in the social media funhouse
“Vanity is the quicksand of reason.” — George Sand
History hasn’t yet captured all the ways that today’s technology and AI have changed us. It’s like technology has been a wild fire, altering the very heart of what makes us human. In the future, when people look back at our time, they might find it strange. Even though technology was supposed to bring us closer together, it seems to have pushed us further apart instead. Future generations will read about all the information we had right at our fingertips and wonder why there was so much confusion and why people felt so disconnected from each other.
They’ll also think about how we could talk to anyone around the world instantly, but somehow, we lost touch with making real, deep connections and understanding each other better.
In this historical reflection, they will likely explore how the tools meant to improve our lives sometimes seemed to diminish our shared humanity. This will prompt a reconsideration of what it means to truly connect — not just through digital means, but with our genuine selves and the natural world around us.
