In this blog post, we will look at how the imaginary order created by the Internet affects human group behavior and social side effects.
In 2011, there were many protests in the Middle East to achieve democratization, including the Egyptian Revolution and the Algerian Revolution. These protests led to the fall of several dictators, which foreign media described as the “Arab Spring.” These protests are a prime example of the results of humans flexibly cooperating with each other. It can be said that only humans on Earth are capable of showing such organic, systematic, and collective movements. This ability of humans has led to numerous changes throughout history, which has enabled the development of humanity beyond mere survival.
In ‘Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow,’ ‘Yuval Noah Harari’ described why only humans can cooperate flexibly, saying that the most representative reason is the belief in imaginary order. In the old days, religion or law was the imaginary order. Belief in religion or behavior based on the enforcement of law have been seen a lot since ancient times. However, in recent years, a much wider variety of imaginary orders have emerged. For example, supporting your favorite sports team can be linked to the imaginary order of the team winning, which is a collective action of supporting the team. This is not limited to sports, but is expanding to various social and cultural phenomena. Political beliefs, economic ideologies, and even consumer brand loyalty can be maintained by imaginary orders.
I think the Internet is a big reason why there are so many imaginative orders. The Internet is currently the largest information distribution platform. As information distribution becomes more active, various imaginative orders can be proposed, and it also becomes much easier to take collective action. In fact, the Internet itself is a space made up of electrical signals, and it cannot be considered an imaginative order in itself. In other words, the electrical signals that make up the Internet are just a medium that contains information of various imaginary orders. Therefore, the information and imaginary orders generated through the Internet have the power to greatly influence the reality in which we live.
So, the Internet has led to more collective human behavior. We should use this phenomenon in a way that benefits humanity. As I said earlier, it is fine if the collective tendency of humanity is used in a way that benefits humanity, such as in a revolution or a democratization movement. However, if it has a negative impact, it can have a major adverse effect on society. For example, a situation may arise in which fake news or misinformation spreads, promoting hatred or prejudice against a specific group. This shows that imaginary orders spread through the Internet can cause real problems in reality.
In fact, this collective tendency has recently been the cause of suppression of diversity and uniform thinking among the entire human race. A typical example is the witch-hunt and incitement against celebrities in the media. This situation is the result of individuals not taking information critically and being swept away by the social atmosphere. The development of the Internet has made it easy to obtain information, but as a result, people have become less critical of the information they receive. In other words, some reactions lead to the belief that those reactions represent the overall public opinion, and the phenomenon of following those opinions occurs. This phenomenon well reveals the problem of modern society, where individuals are unable to maintain their own center amid the flood of information and are easily swept away.
Portals like Naver in Korea provide users with information such as articles. And when an article is posted, there is a comment box where netizens can share their opinions. However, there is a system of upvoting or downvoting in this comment box. I think these systems are the main culprits that prevent diverse thoughts and make the whole society have uniform thoughts and ways of thinking. When you present an opinion that is different from the thoughts of the whole society, you are subject to a lot of criticism on the Internet, which I think is one of the reasons why diverse thoughts are suppressed and the whole society has a uniform way of thinking. In fact, this can also be used to incite people. For example, it means that the whole society can be manipulated into having a biased way of thinking by manipulating the number of people who agree or disagree with a certain political event.
I also think that social media such as Facebook is the reason why our society has become uniform in its way of thinking. Due to the nature of social media, we are easily exposed to various information. This has led to many people uncritically accepting information that comes into their eyes without evaluating it with a critical eye. As a result, it can be seen that many users have a uniform way of thinking due to information on social media. This reflects the psychology of modern people who are easily swayed by mainstream opinions and lose their way in the sea of information.
As such, we have already seen through various examples that not accepting information on the Internet in a critical manner can lead to negative consequences. In order for us to live in a society with a positive impact, we must adopt a critical attitude toward information and respect diversity. In addition, there is a need for ongoing discussions and research on how our social, political, and economic structures can manage and adjust the imaginary order and resulting group behavior that is spread through the Internet.
