While internet culture inspires new creativity and draws communities together to discuss important political or cultural news, the condition of being chronically online has begun to reshape modern lifestyles into a grind for content. In recent years, society has existed under the notion that if something did not happen online, it did not happen at all, and worse, that it did not matter.

Instead of compulsively displaying our lives and activities online, we should refocus our attention to ourselves and the enjoyment we reap from pursuing hobbies, attending events or simply participating actively in the tangible life around us.

The internet has grown substantially since its publicization in the 1990s, from about 6 percent of the population being on the internet in 2000 to about 68 percent in 2025. This staggering increase in online engagement worldwide reflects the shift from real-world spaces to online communities, especially during the global COVID-19 shutdown.

During and after this time, many people, especially youth, had nowhere to go besides home and school, leaving them devoid of a third location like malls, cafes or arcades for socializing. With this access to real-world places terminated, people flocked to online spaces to socialize, be inspired and express themselves.

With more time online, everyday people suddenly experienced a rapid influx of stimuli and input in the form of music, opinions, ideas, products, communities and cultures across the globe. Among this influx were the newly popular influencers making a living through posting just about anything on social media. As opposed to pre-COVID-19 content creators — who maintained a level of disconnect from their viewers — influencers during and after COVID-19 garnered more parasocial fans through showcasing their daily routines, personality and hobbies as a relatable, familiar face on short-form social media. Though more brief than early YouTuber content creators, these short-form posts are often more invasive to the creator’s life and more tempting to watch and replicate as a viewer.

With the ego boost of gaining viewership and the monetary allure of being an influencer, everyday people began posting elements of their lives — from their breakfast to their hot takes, their talents to their hobbies — meant for a public audience.

Although very few people actually become famous or monetize their social media content, internet algorithms and social pressures continually encourage everyday users to share their lives for social validation from peers and even strangers. In chasing views and engagement, a mental shift occurs from engaging in activities for enjoyment — with posting as a means of sharing that passion — to doing so solely to generate frequent content.

Rather than engaging in life for in-the-moment enjoyment, people begin redefining an activity’s worth on the basis of the post’s online engagement performance.

Personally, as an avid crocheter, I have been disappointed by my projects when the posts I curate about them do not perform as well as my other projects. Despite my initial contentment with it and the many months or years invested in the project, it feels as though something about it wasn’t appealing or valuable after it didn’t perform as I expected. Moreover, when considering new art, crochet or crafting projects, I often think of them not only as something to do tangibly but also as an online activity, and often, the latter dictates the value of the former.

With this way of thinking, everyday people grow more susceptible to doing things like shopping, crafting or even putting an outfit together for the sake of a video, following trends they do not resonate with, rushing through multiple activities to have frequent posts and over-consuming or using internet slang, all to be more appealing to the social media marketplace.

On top of this rush to become seen or relevant online, internet communities and engagement with them usher people into particularly narrow-minded, argumentative and hateful spaces like comment sections, Reddit threads and hate accounts.

In this funneling of people into rapid online discourse and nonstop opinions, it is easy to lose all connection to one’s personal beliefs. At the same time, it is easy to feel attacked or guilty for holding any beliefs besides those of the communities you are reading through.

In many of these spaces, users create an echo chamber where one opinion is the only correct perspective to hold, flattening any room for alternative beliefs or constructive criticism. While this discourse may be about something as simple as a celebrity’s behavior at an award show, comments erupt into a controversy or cancellation attempt, bullying those who do not assimilate and adding to the hate train. This can leave users frustrated, unconfident and confused, changing their behavior and mindset to match the consensus — one that may be immediately overturned in another comment section.

Beyond the privacy and other dangers of existing online that are not discussed here, the often immature, hateful communities and pressure to live one’s real-world life to serve a digital one are methodically eating away at a person’s capacity to hold nuanced perspectives, experience personal joy and work toward self-satisfactory productivity.

With this deep-rooted temptation to live online chronically, existing in any other way seems daunting and negligible, but without the watchful eye of strangers online and the constant overturning of trends, living in reality leaves room for the freedom to choose, personally, what is desired and to pursue it. On a large scale, we need to back away from how internet spaces perceive us and focus on our relationships with ourselves — we do not need to justify our lives to others to prove they matter.

Live in the moment, pursue hobbies and attend events for the journey, not the final result or photo opportunities. Most importantly, do not become ignorant by stepping away from online news, but give yourself space and peace from the stubborn, often hateful discourse and the overwhelming amount of stimuli. By taking that distance, we can find that existing online is not necessary to prove that we lived.

There is no need for proof or to justify our lives to the world — just to make and hold onto memories for ourselves.

Allison Bonaventura is a sophomore double-majoring in comparative literature and anthropology. 

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.