I've been saying that here since social media started. Narcissism and voyeurism is mental illness. By my observations, I'd say the majority of the people in the world are mentally ill. Why do they require validation to feel good about themselves? I never had a smart phone, never used an "app", never took a selfie, never used facebook, twitter or any other of the government spyware out there. People are inherently stupid.
The reasons for this behaviour are very simple and are rooted deep within us since the beginning. It all has to do with survival and reproduction mechanisms. Members of species that live in larger groups are more likely to survive and mate than outcasts. Humans are social creatures. Same goes for us. We are programmed to think that validation is a good thing. Which is. But there's no upper limit. The more the better.
But where does it end? We peak physically at a certain age and from there it's only downhill. I'd like to see what happens to those people when younger generations take their spotlight. Likely drugs, booze, suicide ...we've seen this in entertainment, bodybuilding etc.
same goes for us, muscles don't last, invest in something that you can enjoy in the older days, like your health, family, friends, finances for example.
I think we haven't seen nothing yet regarding social media and public mental health. The worse is yet to come
