Despite trying to convince users that they are hyper-connected to each other on a global scale, social media has instead plagued users with chronic and inescapable loneliness. The main function of social media has evolved from a tool to communicate with friends and family into [insert any gargantuan global corporation here]’s favorite platform to push advertisements disguised as fun, silly content. Very conveniently for those companies, our generation’s developing and impressionable brains began to create our first social media accounts right as this shift started to happen. After lying about our ages and logging on for the first time (Insta still thinks I was born in 1932), we were met with creators who were marketed as hotter, cooler, and overall better than us, which imbued in us a sense of insecurity and self-consciousness. 

Rather than viewing celebrities as inspiration for our own creativity, we were sold the idea that we had to imitate exactly what these celebrities did to fit into society. If you didn’t fit in at school, the solution was not to join clubs to make like-minded friends. It was to buy Popular Influencer #1’s merch or do makeup like Popular Influencer #2. Oh, and don’t forget, if you didn’t watch Popular Influencer #3, you were condemned to be a permanent loser. Our idolization of these “superior” celebrities, influencers, and creators further disfigured our perception of reality by amplifying parasocial relationships, connections marked by a fan’s false sense of intimacy felt towards a celebrity who isn’t even aware of that fan’s existence. Parasocial relationships have existed in some capacity throughout the course of civilization, via political figures, deities, or artists (e.g. Genghis Khan did not give a flying fuck about his biggest supporter in the same way Mitch McConnell doesn’t). But online personas were uniquely able to construct facades of friendship by talking in a seemingly familiar and approachable way to their millions of viewers, drastically increasing the presence and impact of parasocial relationships in Gen Z’s daily lives. And while many still use social media as originally intended–to communicate with our non-parasocial friends–the genuine human connection has in large part been replaced by faceless transactions of typed text displayed on lifeless sheets of aluminosilicate glass. 

As if our online interactions weren’t fake enough, a deluge of artificial intelligence has infiltrated these platforms, diluting what little humanity is left on the World Wide Web. While just a theory, the Dead Internet Theory proposes that a majority of social media “users” are AI bots rather than humans. Even if that isn’t true, people are intentionally choosing to talk to AI chatbots anyway. If you don’t have any friends, Snapchat’s ‘My AI’ feature has got you covered! Launched in 2023, Snapchat automatically added an AI chatbot as a friend for all accounts, allowing users to exchange snaps and DMs with it as if it were another real Snapchat user. Baby Osamaa’s 2023 song “AI,” one of creative director Mehetabel’s inspirations for this shoot, encapsulates this experience perfectly: “I talk to AI cause I can't trust / Talk to AI when I had enough … Talk to AI when I feel sad.” I guess tech companies thought that the solution to the loneliness epidemic they created was to create fake friends to accompany users that are somehow even more devoid of humanity?

Perhaps an even worse outcome of AI though is its threat to art. One of the biggest defenses of developing AI promoted by tech companies and their oligar–I mean CEOs–is that AI will replace mundane and repetitive work, cutting costs for businesses and allowing humans to pursue more complex and creative work. So then why have those same corporations started using AI-generated art and music in their advertising? Last year, Coca-Cola’s annual holiday commercial was made with generative AI, leading to some uncanny ass polar bears, while Red Lobster crafted an entire ad campaign based on AI-generated songs about, of all things, biscuits. Artists who once made a living animating commercials or writing jingles for companies are now being outcompeted by lines of code powered by some mysterious server that will work for free and with more obedience than a service dog. AI is not only working to remove humanity from communication, but from art and the creative world as well. 

I do have hope, however, that our generation will be the one to most successfully combat the AI art takeover. Alongside all the issues that online culture has inflicted on our generation, it has also emboldened us to be the most creative generation yet. The Internet has opened the vast world of art to the masses, revealing different art styles and subcultures that we would have otherwise been unaware of. Gen Z artists have the entire history of our planet to draw inspiration from, influencing our culture to be unique and eclectic yet diverse and accessible. Styles like subversive fashion and Afro-futurism exemplify this exchange; subversive fashion highlights the wearer, challenging norms and incorporating a high degree of individualism, while the legacy of Afro-futurism is a testament to the interconnectedness of the Internet. Additionally, we are hyperaware of social issues plaguing our societies. We grew up with more access to information and the news than presidents had a few decades ago. The impacts of wealth inequality, climate change, and racial discrimination have been presented to us through social media, leading to an increase in social consciousness and activism. 

The future of the Internet admittedly does look pretty bleak. With the concerning increase in power held by tech billionaires, there is much to worry about regarding the online platforms crucial to communication in the 21st Century. With the new presidential administration taking power, tech CEOs are getting on their knees and altering the way information is spread on their platforms. Free speech is being curtailed as any dissent can be labeled as violating guidelines, while fact checking is being removed in a time where it is needed the most. As the generation raised alongside the social norms of the Internet, a lot of the responsibility of combatting this harmful utilization of innovation falls on us. However, it is also worth celebrating the vibrancy infused into our culture because of our online interactions. Even with the rise of AI art, Gen Zers still strive to develop creative skills and are influenced by a wide variety of artistic inspiration that could’ve only been exposed to us via the Internet. Social media has also led us to care more for each other and our planet.

Despite living in the gray, we are trying to reincorporate radiant greens, blues, and pinks back into our world. For better or for worse, we are kids of the Internet.