Social Media & Human Evolution
(Scene). — David Bott and Ron Lalonde, both experts in well being research and its practical application, talk about the evolution of social media as well as social media and your mental health, explored more in our film.
Transcription:
David Bott — Evolutionarily, connection with our tribe—fitting in—was our biggest survival technique. It made sense that when we were living in tribes of 50 or 100 people, that we should be self-critical. We did need to monitor our own behavior. We did need to make sure we looked normal and sounded normal and spoke normal and behaved normally. That's a survival strategy. Because if we don't, then we get kicked out of our tribe and we die. Social media has really tapped into that desire for us to feel normal, to fit in, but it also connects to our deepest anxieties. And that is, are we fitting in? Are we normal? Are we okay?
Ron Lalonde — I think we have to look at the fact that there's two sides of relationship. One is the idea that I just don't want to be left out. I don't want to be outside the group, outside of the norm because it's lonely and scary out there. And that's where I wouldn't be able to thrive and survive.