Yes, we in fact live in a Brave New “Pushbutton” World, with 1984-like elements. Here is why.

Let’s look at the services we use — the main problem being the instantaneousness of them — there is no longer any delayed gratification, no satisfaction from having to wait to get things. Only thing that remains is artificial stimulation — everything has a psychological equivalent of sugar in it and you are able to get it right this moment. We wanted to attain happiness so much that we forgot that it is inside us and have mistaken it for the little ego driven emotional peaks that the sugary bits of dopaminergic satisfaction provide us.

Facebook is a prime example of all of this. It being written with the goal of psychological manipulation right off the bat makes it the most prominent of all of the sociological threats we face today. Former Facebook Vice President even spoke out about his guilt from having built Facebook this way — they’ve never meant to create this monster, as he himself says:

I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. That is truly where we are. The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works: no civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem. This is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem.

A social network designed to be hyper-efficient at connecting people, only to have exactly the opposite effect — yes, one may feel that his shared images, stories and other life events are keeping the feeling of loneliness at bay, when in fact they are just fueling the problem. A like? A comment? Here is your dopamine spike — feel good for a minute, then back to baseline. Now now, a friend of yours posted an awesome looking selfie with friends, enjoying warm climate somewhere abroad? Of course you give it a like. And then you start feeling a little bit bad that you are not there with them. People mistake top of the iceberg for the whole iceberg. (or should I say zuckerberg? (sugar peak in German) /s). Social media, Instagram included, are filled with people only posting the best version of themselves — amazing pictures of them in even more amazing places, but that is not who they are — it is only the Persona, an ego image. A mask. And people mistake it for the whole authentic being. On top of it all, substituting verbal and physical communication in person with texts and smileys kind of feels like a torture for your soul. Have you noticed that the more you feel alone, the more likely you will fish for likes or even spend more time chatting online? There is that instant gratification in action. And let’s not forget the Facebook wiretapping your phone’s microphone to personalize ads just for you or the Cambridge Analytica data-selling scandal.

You are not your ego, you are not your thoughts, and as a wise man once said