Commentary
2025 has been, to put it mildly, chaotic. The year has been a continuation of technological disruption and its social consequences, alongside the ongoing effects of climate change and global instability, all of which impact us.
Against this backdrop, one behaviour stands out as especially tone-deaf and harmful: the growing culture of social-media bragging and humblebragging.
If I were the supreme ruler of all things social media, I’d take inspiration from the government’s requirement that cigarette packages and advertisements display prominent health-risk warnings about the harmful effects of smoking by mandating a visible warning before logging on to any social-media site, when posting or commenting. It’s worth considering why such a warning feels appropriate….