This Dining Metaphor Nails The Insane Reality Of Social Media

It's time to see these platforms for what they really are.

Chances are that, at some point in your life, you have dined in a restaurant.

Whether that’s a generic Tex-Mex joint or something high-brow like Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, the experience is more or less the same: you walk into a building, get sat down at a table, order your choice of food, then it’s delivered to you and you eat it, pay and leave.

If this sounds like news, you’re reading the wrong Substack. You need to escape whatever Hell you live in. Do a word search for that. You’re welcome.

Moving on: Facebook is very much like a restaurant. It’s a location (on the Internet) you visit in order to consume your choice of content (the metaphorical food), consume it for a period of time (maybe check your screen time), then you eventually leave and go somewhere else.

There’s This Subtle Difference Between The Restaurant & Facebook

You already see the similarities, this is an easy metaphor to work with. But the difference is that the restaurant makes the food and does all the work. Facebook doesn’t.

When you order food at a restaurant, it is up to them to have the people and supplies to fulfill that order. This requires more thought and care.

But Facebook doesn’t make anything. If we were to stick with the restaurant metaphor, then you’d see that all Facebook does is provide the building or, more accurately put, provide the platform.

The digital cooks, wait staff, bus boys and more are all content creators working for free.

Hopefully you’ve worked in the service industry and can fully comprehend how nuts this is. Could you imagine waiting tables during a six hour shift for free?

But, on Facebook, these metaphorical restaurant workers are indeed compensated in a way. Not with any kind of promissory note the bank would accept, but with digital Monopoly money in the form of likes, views, hearts, shares, comments or whatever.

Meanwhile, Facebook rakes in the actual billions of dollars that are acceptable currency at any bank in the world.

So why the hell do we do this on social media? Hold on, there’s more:

If something goes wrong at a restaurant, it’s their responsibility. You get food poisoning? The onus is on the restaurant. Did the over-stressed waitress finally snap, chew you out and pop the finger in your face? The buck stops with the restaurant.

In contrast, if you get radicalized by a Voo Doo practitioner, that’s not Facebook’s fault. If Flat Earth Theory somehow makes a comeback, that’s not Facebook’s fault. If someone uses the platform against you (i.e. doxing), that’s not Facebook’s fault.

Why do we allow this? Why do we willingly participate in it? Is it because Facebook provides something that’s wholesome and contributes positively to our lives?

Or is it because we’re hooked on its dopaminergic appeal? Is it because we can’t walk away from it in the same way a heroine addict can’t crawl out from behind the dumpster and have a fresh, drug-free start on life?

Over To You

I know that I’ve picked on Facebook a bunch here, but the same metaphor would apply to TikTok, Instagram, X, Snapchat and whatever else.

Imagine if Quentin Tarantino made a movie based upon how many likes he thought it would get on <insert whatever social platform>? It’d be a different movie, and he wouldn’t be Quentin Tarantino.

This whole thing is very Neil Postman, in that the medium influences the end result, that classic “the medium is the message”.

These subtle differences in the digital landscape have a profound effect on our lives, and perhaps this metaphor has helped you see that.

If you feel that I missed something, or maybe I’m being unfair, or you simply have a relatable experience to add, then please do so in the comments below.

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