you're just kicking in doors

this is rhetorical – since clearly a lot of people find this sentiment relateable

the truly painful fact is that the internet provides an opportunity to craft a “personal fable” for everyone; it is now both highly personal and highly anonymized. you are a brand in a sea of brands. 

adolescents are self-conscious because of an “imaginary audience,” something that was, in the 1960s, a false concept. but today, if you use social media regularly, you actually do have an audience. what is the effect of this? probably drags the brain more into self-conscious ego-centrism; makes people more susceptible to trends; maybe this is what makes “internet discourse” so vile, because it’s so terribly egocentric + responsive to its own audience.