futurist frequency
futurist frequency
Social media & mimetic desire: are your desires your own?
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Social media & mimetic desire: are your desires your own?

If you’ve ever wondered why every second person is running marathons & wearing adidas sambas, this episode is for you.

Natalie draws on her experience as a former marketer to explain the psychological & philosophical mechanisms that drive desire – and influence all decisions that we make, from how we express ourselves, to certain lifestyle choices, and even our life path. 

Chapters

00.00: big chungus

00.30: monthly love letters

01.11: are your desires your own? or something borrowed?

01.37: my litmus test for gauging whether i’m overstimulated and need to touch grass

02.00: social media makes everyone looks like CLONES 

02.15: what sambas and run clubs have in common

02.50: rene girard, mimetic desire & desire as a social process

03.49: the false assumption that we want things independently of others

04.39: how any society coping with abundance, and not struggling with scarcity, will suffer from mimesis

06.20: “clean girl aesthetic”

07.00: gatherer instinct, but for beauty products

07.40: WE EXIST WITHIN A CULTURAL CONTEXT!!!!!

08.49: i am not immune to mimetic desire and neither are you 

09.48: how to distinguish between desires you’ve borrowed & desires that will truly fulfil you

10.57: the importance of developing your own values & philosophy that guide your decision-making

12.10: social media & how it makes us obsessively aware of what other people have & want & how this is eroding people’s sense of self

12.35: taking ownership of your desires & 5 chimp theory

Cover art: “Envy. Reading in the park” by Ignacio Diaz Olano

Recommended reading: “Wanting: the power of mimetic desire in everyday life” by Luke Burgis

Futurist Frequency is a tech & wellbeing podcast that helps you disconnect from technology to reconnect with yourself. With several years experience working within the technology industry, Natalie breaks down key tech trends that are shaping our societies, culture, and collective wellbeing, so that we can use technology more mindfully.

Ask Natalie an anonymous question to answer on the podcast / newsletter –  https://forms.gle/9oe9Bi11S6vBKKyV8 

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