teddit

new large-scale study from MSU evaluated need for uniqueness among 1M+ people from 2000 to 2020. findings + commentary:

1. people who took the survey in 2020 report much lower need for uniqueness (top left), meaning more people want to blend in vs. stand out. 

could be that social media has led to cultural homogenization with the pursuit for virality trumping originality. ultimately, huge arb opportunity if you do want to stand out.

2. the most dramatic difference from 2000 is willingness to defend beliefs publicly (bottom right).

this is not surprising given social risk of speaking out has increased (cancel culture, losing a job) and expression of beliefs now seems more about signaling group identity / tribalism (performative).

3. the desire to not always follow the rules had the most variable trend (bottom left; down-up-down-up).

researchers have no explanation, but '13-'15 was when twitter, fb, ig started introducing lots of "guidelines" + algo (trends up). '16 was trump, brexit (trends down).

helping build farcaster | surfing @ venice, ca | eating @ gjusta / gjelina | “lucky me, lucky mud”

What is the scale of the move down / what is the y axis even