Perhaps it would’ve been yet another screen but this time, wider and in the living room where I’d have to fight for the remote with my brother before I could get the channel I wanted or more times than not, settle for what he’d like. Before I had a phone, I don’t really remember what I’d use to decompress. Screens are familiar objects considering technological advances, my parents would disagree while they bury their heads in facebook and send AI videos of poor drainage systems in Nigeria— like videos couldn't be recorded quite literally anywhere in the country to serve the same purpose.
That being said, in my experience and probably yours, a phone is an integral component of our lives even if we wouldn’t like to admit, at least I wouldn’t. Although, Studies have shown more people are intentionally withdrawing from screen time because of perceived inability to control adverse effects on psychological welfare. This digital fatigue isn’t unique to the West, a growing number of Gen Z users are deleting apps, muting group chats, or even switching back to ‘palasa’ phones to escape the pressure. A 2021 study in the Journal of African Media Studies noted that Nigerian university students reported heightened levels of anxiety, depression, and information overload linked to persistent phone use. While people try to pull away from the screen, others pull inwards and land right onto our screens in a bid for either pay or fame.
Considering the facts, myths and figures reeled in about influencer earnings, every individual who’s willing, maybe even not— the business owner who is in search of sales, is putting in pressure to create content and put on their performance for the screen. I consider it overwhelming and now, my phone that once served as a decompressing device is causing me anxiety, seperate from the depression-inducing feeling accompanied with sitting face deep in my hand-sized screen. Everywhere, all at once, Everyone’s opinion is present, persistent and repetitive. Ideas do need to be expressed, said and offered into reality but what is the requirement to express one’s opinion even?
The vast majority want to become content creators. It's an easy check. Who doesn’t love to get it easy? On the other hand, people who do not want to get the job done themselves actively scout for young, digitally fluent talent, to exploit on some occasions. This usually looks like hiring Gen Z social media managers or interns to become the literal face and voice of a brand, without proper compensation, credit, or equity in the growth they drive. The result is a masked labor economy where visibility is exchanged for virality, not value. Duolingo, which became notorious for turning its owl mascot, Duo, into a chaotic Gen Z personality—dancing, thirst-trapping, and trend-hopping all under the guidance of young creators behind the scenes. Similarly, plastic surgeons like Dr. Miami have rebranded their clinic as entertainment hubs on TikTok to simplify complex surgical procedures into digestible memes and trendy sounds.
This “attention economy”, where engagement equals income, is part of a larger digital structure where emotion is monetized. Outrage, particularly, sells. And if you’ve ever felt personally attacked by something you read online, you were probably the target of the product being sold. Social media companies like X (formerly Twitter) are well aware of this. Algorithms now prioritize content that triggers strong emotions like anger, confusion, or annoyance, because those reactions keep users engaged longer.
Social Media app creators and management teams have learnt the need to spark a reaction out of you so they shove it in your face— The more annoyed you are, the more time you spend on the app—the more valuable the app gets. At the end of the day, social media is a business. When you open a new X account, you’re often met with an overwhelming feed of right-wing influencers, inflammatory takes, and copy-paste tweets that look eerily familiar because they’ve likely gone viral before in slightly different forms. While apps like Instagram and TikTok realise that showing you things you interact with will keep you on your page, Twitter in its more text reliant form, offers feed to make you exhaust your character limit. If content is constantly cute and wholesome stuff on the timeline, interaction is left at a like, retweet or perhaps a short comment and hopping off the app is done with ease. However, a tweet that sparks emotion, preferably anger causes multiple threads and longer time periods on the app.
Even Brands have long since moved past simple advertising and now speak with distinct “personalities” online, often designed to mimic the wit and relatability of a real person. This shift, driven by the need for engagement, gave rise to companies adopting “savage” personas that thrived on sarcasm and provocation. Wendy’s, for instance, became infamous on X (formerly Twitter) for roasting users and rival brands— a strategy that once made it the most talked-about corporate account online. According to a 2017 report by Adweek, Wendy’s engagement soared by over 365% after its viral roast campaign, prompting countless other brands to mimic the snarky tone. But while virality can feel organic, most of these posts are meticulously curated—often passing through several layers of approval before going live. What may look like a casual tweet could very well be the outcome of three strategy meetings. The risk here is that once something becomes a trend, failing to execute it perfectly is often worse than not attempting it at all. When brands try to replicate cultural moments or internet lingo without authenticity, it tends to backfire leading to ridicule or backlash. A 2023 Deloitte study on digital brand presence highlighted that 63% of Gen Z consumers can tell when a brand is being performative, and they’re more likely to disengage when content feels forced. And because brands operate at scale, their “misses” are magnified: with large followings comes heightened scrutiny, and once a misstep is posted, even just for a minute, screenshots are taken and circulated fast, making deletion futile.
According to a 2021 MIT study, false or emotionally charged content spreads up to six times faster than the truth. Ever since Elon Musk did us the disservice of creating paid content creation through blue tick registration which was initially an easy process, it’s been, what I would refer to as an attack on humanity, particularly my eyes because I wish I could unsee some words that have been typed on the internet that brew anger in me. Users such as societyhatesjay, kussman amongst others create a phenomenon popularly known as ‘banger boys’— a community of young men on social media creating content associated with misogyny, religious and cultural stereotypes, homophobia, and all round bigotry— a by-product of the Twitter money-making frenzy farming for that emotion— My rage, the exact factor being sought after to generate views for pay and gain and so is yours. The timeline has become less like a digital town square and more like an unregulated market. Now, every hot take is primarily hustle.
Adeife Adeoye, a Nigerian “creative-preneur” and founder of Remote WorkHER, who publicly shares how she built a multi-million‑naira online empire made a tweet in which this line would be pulled from: “If you’ve not made money online yet, it’s either you’re lazy or you don’t know what you’re doing.” Further reading that access to wealth causes oversimplification. Making money that’s such a heavily layered activity, even as a concept, is being recognized as just a numbers game where dismissal of talent, resource access, opportunity, network, mental health, privilege—all matter. That kind of framing gaslights people facing real barriers and ignores the realistic experience behind nine‑figure earnings. It pressures everyone to hustle harder, pretend effort equals absence of struggle. If you hadn’t cracked the algorithm by next week? Adeife says you’re the problem. And the worst part? That mindset is sold as motivational, but feels like public shaming wrapped in aspirational packaging.
Tiktok, on the other hand, offers a different approach in my experience. On my for you page I witness at least 5 people reiterating the same point from the same view in a 30-minute scroll, bar for bar, with words changing— a continuous cycle of the same conversation. Perhaps I should get off my phone but also, I would like to assume that it is because each individual witnessed these concepts in conversation causing their need to prop up a phone and express themselves in a bid to either join the discussion trend whether to simply express opinions or gain traction for monetary gain, or to just do numbers.
Although, I won’t say the reiteration of thoughts is a current phenomenon, learning about human behavior related theories, we know of a hand-pouring amount of scholars saying the same thing in different ways like the behavioural change models which all talk about how human beings are affected by society, their perception and personal gain, all in different wordings, but the accessibility of the information differentiates then from now. The presence of the conversation is never ending and yet more unfulfilling each time it is raised or maybe fulfilling to some extent I suppose, your voice is to be heard by someone and maybe, it’s not me on some occasions.
We often talk about the power of self-expression— how everyone “deserves a voice.” But what does it mean when every voice must be optimized for engagement? When every thought is prepped for virality? When silence feels like failure? The democratic promise of the internet has, in many ways, morphed into a dystopian demand for constant performance. Expression is unintended for articulation and catered to visibility.
Initially, at the peak of the internet, the emotion generated after reading words were organic— the words were written from a place of genuine interest and the emotion from the audience wasn’t particularly targeted to gather such. I do know this is still present but the majority counters the “authentic”. As an internet and general talkative myself, I cannot say spoken words are not essential for people to relate to and feel seen, what else is the world wide web for?
