The Dangers of Abstracting Individuals in a Divided Society
The Dehumanizing Effects of Social Media and Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1800s Solution
We have chained our souls to the plates of glass we carry in our pockets. We have forced the two-dimensionality of these rectangles onto our realities. In the names of justice, progress, and freedom, we tap away on our keyboards, battling it out with strangers across the web. We send hate comments, posts, dms with bloody fingerprints. In the name of kindness, we lacerate. In the name of respect, we condemn. We tweet things we would never tell someone in person. And yet somehow, these handheld barriers of glass allow this. How does “saving humanity” justify hatred? What about this simple separation condones our behavior?
The negative effects of social media are new to no one. Over the years on the podcast, I’ve spoken with numerous authors and researchers about its demolition of our attention spans, design-driven addictiveness, and, of course, its tendency to promote the loudest and most vicious voices. (I’ve linked these episodes to this footnote1)
Social psychologist and NYU Stern professor Dr. Jonathan Haidt has pushed social media’s negative impact on the mental health of adolescents and teenagers to the forefront through his 2024 book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. On top of his book, he and fellow writers at the After Babel Substack write prolifically on this topic.
In one After Babel article entitled, “On The Degrading Effects of Life Online: How social media makes us worse people,” writer Freya India argues that these apps not only hurt our mental health but also encourage and enable us to dehumanize others.
India writes of dating apps:
“It’s terrible to be treated like some disposable product but worse, I think, to watch yourself shopping for another person, to know you’re judging them on the most superficial standards that you would hate someone to judge you on, to act in this psychopathic way where you’re paying premium to access “Your Top Picks” of human beings. People always say dating apps make them feel weird and I think this is why. It’s not always mental health. Sometimes it’s a deeper sense that this is wrong; that this is inhuman.
However, this problem, like many we see in the modern world, is not new. The tendency to abstract individuals from their humanity is a long-standing tradition across history. And like many old problems, the solution is also old.
Writing amidst the tumultuous 1800s, Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky detailed the sharp change in philosophies from old, religious, Eastern Orthodox Russia to young, progressive, “enlightened” Russia. This new generation of Russians–adopting materialism, atheism, and nihilism–began remaking their motherland in the image of France and other Western countries which had embraced Enlightenment thought.
As he witnessed this dramatic shift in culture, Dostoevsky became concerned. He encapsulated his fears in his stories, playing out the effects of this radical change through the lives of his characters. He observed that as the youth of Russia became more and more obsessed with creating the ultimate idealistic society, they became less concerned and even dismissive of the people they shared society with.
Having once been a revolutionary himself, he understood the allure of these ideas and sympathized with those trapped in this paradox. This sympathy allowed him to create shockingly realistic characters–the Karamazov brothers, the Underground Man, Raskolnikov–who would haunt the halls of literature for centuries.
His psychological stories often debate evil and responsibility. What causes men to commit atrocities? He considers not only the effects these acts have on the victims but also–and especially–the victimizers. His characters are tossed into settings where injustice runs rampant. Many of them are embroiled in turmoil of their own making. Dostoevsky does not restrict the world’s frequent brutality. Murder, crime, despair, and existential dread are recurrent subjects.
Throughout all his stories, a central theme is clear: ideas have consequences. Personal philosophies have ramifications. If you deal in dreams of idealism and neglect the individuals right before you, you can justify murder. Be careful how you simplify people. Beware how you categorize them.
Social media enables us to compress souls to superfluous qualities: their wealth, likes, style, followers, etc. We distill people to their tweets and bio hashtags and treat them “accordingly.” Online, we are just as binary as the code that powers the platforms. And, yet, we don’t have to be.
Within his dividing society, Dostoevsky discerned a solution. Or, more adequately, Dostoevsky lived a solution. In his magnum opus, Brothers Karamazov2, he presents the pathway.
In a conversation with Zosima, the elder monk of her monastery, a woman struggling with religion states that some days she loves all humanity and sometimes dreams of sacrificing her life to join a serving sisterhood. The monk responds that he once heard something similar from a doctor.
The doctor told him:
“I love mankind, but I am amazed at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular, that is, individually, as separate persons…I become the enemy of the people the moment they touch me. On the other hand, it has always happened that the more I hate people individually, the more ardent becomes my love for humanity as a whole.”
Zosima calls this general love, “love in dreams.” In reality, it means nothing and is thinly concealed attention-seeking. It is this same “love in dreams” that promotes the moral posturing and slam-dunk sophistry seen on social media.
The opposite of love in dreams, Zosima explains, is “active love.” Active love is particular, not general like its imaginary counterpart. It is sacrificial, repetitive, and often unrecognized. It is done, not shone.
Active love is a lifestyle, not a feeling. The tired mother getting out of bed late at night to comfort her crying child is demonstrating active love. The burned-out nurse diligently caring all week for his patients is demonstrating active love. The stressed server dealing professionally with a rude customer is demonstrating active love.
Dostoevsky’s solution for his separating society is sacrifice. His message to Russia (and to us) is clear: descend from your abstractions and notice those around you. A photo-negative to evil, active love affects the recipient and the giver. When it is done at scale by many, it changes communities.
Descending from our abstractions is a matter of disconnecting from our devices. By lifting our heads from our screens, we can shatter the shackles and reconnect with reality. “Changing the world” begins with simple acts of day-to-day love within our towns.
Aiming for the Moon episodes on social media
Effect on attention spans:
82. Why We Can't Focus: Johann Hari (NYT Bestselling author of "Chasing the Scream," "Lost Connections," and "Stolen Focus")
25. Why and How to Stay Off Social Media From a Man Who Helped Build It: Tim Kendall (Former President of Pinterest, Former Director of Monetization @ Facebook, and Current CEO of Moment)
Addictiveness:
18. Behind the Screens: Dr. Adam Alter (Bestselling Author of "Irresistible" and "Drunk Tank Pink" and Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business)
Promoting vicious voices:
80. The Perception of Political Polarization and How to Fix It: Dr. Chris Bail (Author of "Breaking the Social Media Prism," Duke Professor, and Director of the Polarization Lab)
Influencers:
120. The Influencer Industry - The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media: Dr. Emily Hund (Author of "The Influencer Industry")
Brothers Karamazov is set in a small town with a monastery, an icon of old Russia, on its outskirts. It is the tale of the three Karamazov brothers: the young monk Alyosha, the passionate sensualist Dmitri, and the atheist intellectual Ivan. With the influx of Western thought, many of the townspeople began questioning their traditions and beliefs. Is faith a source of knowledge? Can one be moral without God? What is one’s societal responsibility?
These questions quickly descend from cerebral speculation to hands-on practice after the brutal murder of the brothers’ father attracts St. Petersburg officials and lawyers–the center of sophistication–to the town. These officials bring with them their modern manners and beliefs, many of which conflict with the customs of the locals.
Brothers Karamazov is a fabulous read filled with ethical dilemmas and captivating characters. Besides being intellectually stimulating, it is a striking murder mystery while also having moments of hilarious comedy. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it.
I’ve linked the award-winning translation I used to the underlined title. Also, here is part one of the incredible YouTube audiobook I also listened to.
From your post, it appears that there is a deep connection between love and humanity. Would you agree that loving affirms something about humanity, that it is a sort of constitute to humanity and “personhood”? On another note, I want to acknowledge how much I appreciate your eloquent activism on behalf of teenagers like us.