Why is it people are so attracted to drama these days?
I have my own theories on why, but it seems that back in the day, adults at least would try to avoid being involved in drama, and now the reverse is true. I suspect that a lot of it has to do with social media incentives and conditioning for attention-seeking behaviour, but I also think that there is more to it than that also.
I reckon that the current culture and the way we spend our lives, is making us more disconnected from each other, and this leads to us feeling increasingly irrelevant. And the lowest point in the fence to feel relevant, is to be involved in drama. And the emotional responses to drama can provide the fodder to evoke emotions that make people feel connected to to thers, even if they are not at all. And in a similar vein to irrelevance, is that many people are constantly looking to escape their life, to avoid the daily grind, and online drama gives them a place to do this, as well as provides all of the emotional triggers to release dopamine or adrenaline, creating a push and pull effect that is addictive.
And then of course, there is the sense of control, especially online. And this might be tied to the desire for avoidance too, where if in real life there isn't a sense of purpose or self-direction, it can be obtained by engineering or being involved with drama. The people who seem to get emotionally attached to the various digital drama-scapes, seem to be the ones who also have the least amount of control in their personal lives.
Drama is attractive and addictive.
And in a global culture and economy that has put such a big emphasis on attention, and reduced the will for developing skillsets, drama is the easiest way for people to participate. The problem is of course, that attention-seeking behaviour where the incentives encourage the negative, facilitates a race to the bottom. It feels like "not too long ago" people aspired to be better, to compete on improvement. However, over the last few decades the incentives of the economy and culture has led to a competition for who has the worst life, who is the biggest victim. The awards and rewards don't go to the best, they go to the ones who can market themselves as the most tortured.
And then of course, there are the people who want to make themselves relevant by getting involved in drama that they are not actually impacted by. Dramatic situations provide instances to gain "morality points" so that people can feed their saviour complex, and feel relevant in a life where they often feel powerless. This means that they can become good people in their own eyes, even though it doesn't matter if they are right or wrong on any topic or situation. And then of course, there is the ability to feel like they are "punishing" the other side for something - whatever side they don't like at that moment.
I feel like the entire digital landscape is designed to maximise drama and rage for attention. It drives engagement, gets people polarised, makes them slap angrily at the keyboard, throwing in ALL CAPS for dramatic effect. And more often than not, the most outspoken, the most "passionate" are the ones who don't actually understand much of what is going on in the situation, they just jump in to get their narcotics hit, like the drama addicts they are.
Not much is "new" when it comes to human behaviour, but there is more weight on publicising ourselves now. I think this ties into the pushed concept of "personal branding" which has always existed through reputation with those known to us, but has been extended massively to include strangers. We have been encouraged to generate a digital profile of ourselves as an extension of who we are, even if it doesn't actually align with well, who we are. This profile we have been conditioned to care about, then becomes a Kewpie doll that can be used to manipulate and influence us, and others who interact with it in some way.
I rarely get involved with the drama these days, which is why I stay out of most public Discords, as they are filled with the dram-seekers and those who have far too much time on their hands, and far too little relevance in their lives. It ties me out and saps my mental and emotional energy, and since I don't have that much to spare, I'd rather use it more effectively elsewhere. I like that Hive is public and people have to commit to their thoughts in the moment, but there are also a lot of attention-seekers in the race to the rock bottom, rather than a race to the unlimited top.
I guess we all have our addictions.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]