Why Is the Internet So Exhausting? Blame Your Crowdsourced Bosses

Mar 27, 2022 7:00 AMNo, you’re not always “the product” on social media; sometimes you’re the raw material. Or the employee. Welcome to “sousveillance capitalism.”

You are the product on social media. It is often used to explain why social media is free. That is just scratching the surface. The idea of intangible goods, bound up in the self, didn't start with the internet, but with the 20th century. The internet's deepest libidinal needs are the day's villain, hero, romance interest, or incomplete story. Sometimes we get to be West elm. A sudden surge in viewers for your channel or a witty remark may cause you to be confronted by thousands of people who are invested in what you say and do next. Why is it this way?