Recently, instead of the saint, the more controversial figure of the “influencer” has swooped in to fill this need for human patterns. Online influencers present, in dazzling color and intimate detail, who they are, what they desire, and how it would feel to inhabit their world. Girard scholar Luke Burgis frames the consequences this way: “While we tinker with design changes (‘human-centered design’ etc.) that might make our apps less neurologically addictive, we have overlooked our real addiction: to our neighbor’s desires. We are addicted to mimetic models.”
After the advent of social media, the internet moved from being a useful tool in the age of email and the AOL/Yahoo Homepage to becoming an omnipresent veil through which we look at our own experiences. The new applications tapped into a deep human demand for seeing and being seen by others, completely reshaping the internet into a massive engine for mimesis. Never before has it been so easy to find kindred spirits, explore hidden facets of humanity, learn new things, and be inspired or thrillingly horrified.
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