Everyone Is Microdosing Fame
The boom of the creator economy made everyone famous, but if everyone is famous, is anyone famous?
Published
Internet Nostalgia is a monthly column that explores eras of the world wide web and the way they impacted our day-to-day lives, psychology, and overall perceptions of the world around us.
We watch Instagram stories every night like it’s a Broadway play with no intermissions. We throw roses onto the stage with a simple heart emoji. Are we all celebrities in our own right? And if all of us are, are any of us?
Where did all this talk of fame start? To answer that, we shockingly have to go back to Alexander the Great (born 356 BCE), who was able to garner worldwide fame in the days when sending a message required a 12-year-old kid on a horse with a dream. Now, sending a message is as easy as clicking a button, so easy that a 9-year-old kid with a dream can do it while riding a horse.
Fame used to be reserved for warriors, royalty, and criminals. People who made such a fundamental change in the world they surrounded others had to know their names. Then came television and film, and fame begot whoever the hottest person on the screen was, which was a much-needed turn. Imagine only following Vlad Zelinsky and the King of England on Instagram. So boring.