Tribalism and the Internet
Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2019 5:30 pm
The internet has created an interesting stage for human tribalism. With the blogs and forums that have popped up a person can find a virtual tribe or set of virtual tribes which closely align with their values and interests. These virtual tribes can be more closely aligned with a person's interests than the physical tribe(s) which they belong to. This creates oddly contradicting emotions of feeling both less and more lonely.
There are places on the internet for just about any fandom. Reddit has subreddits for just about anything. From athiests to christian apologetics and from Disney to Big Mouth. Anti-vaxxers can find consolation with other anti-vaxxers while the rest of the internet gets vaccinated. You can find a forum to talk about your car with other owners of the same car. Most of the people on these forums probably only share a few things in common with you, but with half a dozen forums you can feel completely understood, one facet of your personality at a time. These forums can be a safe haven and make you feel like you are finally not alone, like NOM.
In your physical tribe it can feel like no one really understands you anymore because those people aren't as closely aligned to your values and interests as your conglomeration of virtual tribes, even if the people in your physical tribe are a decent overall match to you. In your interactions with your physical tribe you might feel less understood, and less understanding. Being able to further explore yourself with your virtual tribes also helps you grow away from your physical tribe if they are not interested in the same things.
But you still spend a large amount of your attention with your physical tribe. So while you feel less alone due to your virtual tribes, you grow further away from your physical tribe which makes you feel more lonely as you and the people around you every day care less and less about the same things. As Jung said, "Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible."
Is it better to not have these virtual tribes so we stay closer to the people around us in our physical tribe? Or as you discover how different you are from those near you should you cut ties and go find people who are more like you? If neither of those then how can a person optimize their happiness while straddling this connected world we live in?
There are places on the internet for just about any fandom. Reddit has subreddits for just about anything. From athiests to christian apologetics and from Disney to Big Mouth. Anti-vaxxers can find consolation with other anti-vaxxers while the rest of the internet gets vaccinated. You can find a forum to talk about your car with other owners of the same car. Most of the people on these forums probably only share a few things in common with you, but with half a dozen forums you can feel completely understood, one facet of your personality at a time. These forums can be a safe haven and make you feel like you are finally not alone, like NOM.
In your physical tribe it can feel like no one really understands you anymore because those people aren't as closely aligned to your values and interests as your conglomeration of virtual tribes, even if the people in your physical tribe are a decent overall match to you. In your interactions with your physical tribe you might feel less understood, and less understanding. Being able to further explore yourself with your virtual tribes also helps you grow away from your physical tribe if they are not interested in the same things.
But you still spend a large amount of your attention with your physical tribe. So while you feel less alone due to your virtual tribes, you grow further away from your physical tribe which makes you feel more lonely as you and the people around you every day care less and less about the same things. As Jung said, "Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible."
Is it better to not have these virtual tribes so we stay closer to the people around us in our physical tribe? Or as you discover how different you are from those near you should you cut ties and go find people who are more like you? If neither of those then how can a person optimize their happiness while straddling this connected world we live in?