Fame's curse?

"What hath God wrought?"

These words, from Samuel Morse in 1844, were the first long-distance telegraph message ever sent. They marked the start of an era of racing developments in instant mass communication which led, eventually, to the social media of today.

Welcome to the TikTok age. It has become known for its moreish short-form clips and fickle turnover of teenaged internet superstars. The latest in its life-cycle is Annie Bonelli, an 18-year-old student with a facial scar which many on the internet are convinced is a fake.

Hordes of internet sleuths, satirists and moral arbitersA person who judges something, or who has authority to settle a dispute. furiously harass Bonelli under almost all of her videos demanding to know if the scar is real and providing "evidence" that it is not. Meanwhile, the influencer has gained 800,000 followers.

Whether or not Bonelli's scar is real, it exemplifies this principle: outrage is a formula for fame. The online market is increasingly being cornered by youngsters going to extreme lengths for clicks.

Some are lamenting a bygonePast. era when fame was linked to virtues rather than exhibitionism. But this has always been a tricky claim: artists have relied on controversial and outlandish stunts to make their names from time immemorialA time so long ago that people no longer remember it. .

Oscar WildeAn Irish writer famous for his witty remarks and plays, such as The Importance of Being Earnest. walked the streets of Victorian England with a lobster on a leash. Lord ByronAn English poet (1788 - 1824) known for both beautiful short lyrics and entertaining epic poems. kept a pet bear at Cambridge University. A series of Russian SovietRelating to the Soviet Union, a powerful group of communist republics, the biggest being Russia, that existed from 1922 to 1991. writers went so far as to take their own lives hoping that their tragic deaths would memorialise their works - mostly without success. If TikTok is the new art form, faking a traumatic facial injury may be no more than an inventive creative eccentricity.

But some say this is far more dangerous. For them, Bonelli is one of many benefitting from an "outrage economy". Social media algorithms boost content which gets traction, indifferent to its moral or artistic worth. More often than not, it is content that provokes anger. Society, many think, is trapped in an endless cycle of provocation and retaliation.¹

The example of Bonelli is relatively harmless, but these cycles of fury and reaction can sow the seeds of serious division. And some tech bosses profit from the polarisationWhen people tend to flock towards extreme opposite points of view. Some think that polarisation is bad for politics, because it makes co-operation between people on opposing sides of a debate less likely. Others welcome it, however, because it offers voters clear alternatives in elections..

It is a principle that applies not only to social media, but to traditional media in the internet age too. To stay competitive, organisations post headlines which induce rage and fear - and more clicks. Journalist Andrey Mir has warned of the effects of this "post-journalism" - "extreme polarisation driven by news media monetising anger in order to survive".

It is a far cry from the equalised media promised to us by the founders of the World Wide Web. Moreover, journalists have linked increasing internet polarisation to issues as diverse as ethnic violence in Ethiopia to QAnonFollowers of QAnon believe a Satanic conspiracy removed President Trump from office. conspiracy theorists.

The leap between "scar girl" - as Bonelli is referred to on TikTok - and these political divisions is perhaps unjustifiably large. But some say it exemplifies a bare truth: the internet is eating itself alive for our attention.

Yes: Obsessing over whether a scar on the face of a teenager is real is neither normal nor healthy. The internet was supposed to push humanity forward, but at this point it is stunting and dividing us.

No: It is normal to seek fame through controversy. Some people will always go to extreme lengths for money and attention - this is by no means a unique feature of the internet age.

Or... It would be unwise to make grand theories about society or the internet based on the behaviour of bored teenagers on an app which nobody takes too seriously.