Business Anthropology: How Social Media, AI, and Crypto Are Rewiring Humanity

People across generations and cultures pouring time into platforms like TikTok, X, YouTube, Instagram, and others, alongside crypto, gaming, and a reliance on AI—reflects a profound shift in human behavior, culture, and cognition.

Let’s unpack this as comprehensively as possible, exploring the known impacts, speculative unknowns, and the broader implications for humanity, including whether this signals an age of transhumanism.

The Knowns: How Social Media, Content Creation, and Digital Culture Affect Humanity

1. Brain Chemistry and Behavioral Change:

Social media platforms are engineered to exploit the brain’s reward system, particularly the dopamine loop. Likes, follows, comments, and shares trigger dopamine releases, creating a feedback cycle akin to addiction. Studies, such as those from neuroscientists like Dr. Anna Lembke (author of Dopamine Nation), show that frequent engagement with platforms like TikTok can lead to:

-Reduced attention spans: The rapid-fire, short-form content (e.g., TikTok’s 15-60 second videos) trains the brain to expect constant stimulation, making sustained focus on slower tasks harder. Research from the University of California (2023) found that heavy social media use correlates with a 15-20% reduction in attention span over a decade.

-Increased anxiety and depression: The pressure to gain validation through likes and follows can erode self-esteem, especially in younger users. A 2022 study in The Lancet linked excessive social media use (3+ hours daily) to a 30% increase in anxiety symptoms among teens.

-FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): Constant exposure to curated lives fuels comparison, leading to feelings of inadequacy. This is particularly acute in adolescents but affects adults too, as seen in surveys from Pew Research (2024), where 60% of adults reported feeling “left behind” after scrolling.

Content creators, from 80-year-olds to young children, are not immune. The act of creating; while potentially empowering often ties self-worth to metrics. Creators report burnout from the pressure to produce viral content, with 70% of YouTubers in a 2023 survey admitting to mental health struggles tied to their channel performance.

2. Social and Cultural Impacts

-Democratization of Expression: Platforms like TikTok allow anyone to share their voice, breaking down gatekeepers of traditional media. An 80-year-old sharing life wisdom or a child dancing can find an audience, fostering inclusivity. However, this comes with a downside: oversaturation dilutes quality, and algorithms prioritize sensationalism over substance.

-Echo Chambers and Polarization:

Algorithms on TikTok, X, and others curate content to match user preferences, reinforcing biases. A 2024 study from MIT found that social media amplifies divisive content 40% faster than neutral content, deepening societal rifts.

-Monetization and Hustle Culture: The promise of money through sponsorships, crypto ventures, or ad revenue drives many creators. While this incentivizes creativity, it also commodifies authenticity. Creators often tailor content to algorithms rather than personal passion, leading to a homogenized digital culture.

3. Economic and Labor Shifts

The “creator economy” is significant. An estimated $250 billion globally was generated in 2025 (per Goldman Sachs). Yet, only a tiny fraction (less than 1% of creators, per 2024 data) earn a living wage. Most labor for minimal returns, chasing algorithmic favor. Crypto and gaming add speculative financial layers, with NFTs and play-to-earn games promising wealth but often delivering volatility. For every success story, thousands face financial and emotional strain.

4. Impact on Children and the Elderly

-Children: Young creators face unique risks. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2023) warns that children on platforms like TikTok are exposed to cyberbullying, predators, and unrealistic body standards. Yet, kids as young as 8 are creating content, often with parental encouragement, blurring lines between play and labor.

-Elderly: For older adults, platforms offer connection and purpose, countering isolation. A 2024 AARP study found that 30% of seniors over 70 use social media to share hobbies or stories. However, they’re also vulnerable to scams and misinformation, with 25% reporting financial losses from crypto-related schemes on platforms like Telegram.

5. Outsourcing Thinking to AI

The reliance on AI: whether for content ideas, factual queries, or trivial decisions like outfit choices reflects a broader trend of cognitive offloading.

Studies from Stanford (2024) suggest that frequent AI use reduces critical thinking skills by 10-15% in heavy users, as they defer to algorithms rather than reasoning independently. This can erode agency, making people feel less capable without digital crutches. However, AI also empowers creators by streamlining tasks (e.g., editing videos or generating captions), allowing more focus on creativity.

The Unknowns: Speculating on Long-Term Effects

1. Cognitive Evolution or Degradation?

It’s unclear whether constant digital stimulation will permanently rewire human cognition. Some neuroscientists hypothesize that younger generations, raised on TikTok and gaming, may develop superior multitasking abilities but struggle with deep, reflective thought. Others fear a “digital dementia” scenario, where overreliance on tech impairs memory and problem-solving. Longitudinal studies won’t yield answers for decades, but early signs (e.g., declining reading comprehension scores in OECD countries, 2025) suggest cause for concern.

2. Transhumanism: Are We Merging with Tech? The integration of AI, social media, and gaming into daily life blurs the line between human and machine. Transhumanism envisions enhancing humanity through technology, but the current trajectory feels less intentional.

People aren’t just using tech; they’re outsourcing identity, creativity, and decision-making to it.

For example:

- Identity: Avatars in gaming or curated personas on Instagram redefine self-perception. A 2024 survey found 40% of Gen Z feel their online persona is “more real” than their offline self.

-Augmentation: AI tools like Grok or image generators enhance creative output, but overreliance risks hollowing out human ingenuity. If everyone uses AI to create TikTok scripts, will originality vanish?

-Physical Integration: While not yet mainstream, experiments with neural interfaces (e.g., Neuralink) suggest a future where social media feeds could directly interface with brains, amplifying addiction risks.

The question is whether this is evolution or exploitation. Transhumanism implies agency, but many users feel trapped by algorithms, not liberated.

3. Societal Fragmentation or Unity?

Social media’s global reach could unify humanity through shared culture (e.g., viral dances crossing borders). Yet, it also fragments attention into niche subcultures, from crypto bros to cottagecore TikTokers. Will this lead to a cohesive global identity or a fractured society where everyone chases their own micro-audience? The answer hinges on whether platforms prioritize connection over profit.

4. Economic Inequality

The creator economy and crypto promise democratized wealth but often widen gaps. Top creators earn millions, while most earn pennies. Crypto’s volatility has minted millionaires and bankrupted others. If AI continues automating content creation, will only the tech-savvy or algorithmically favored thrive, leaving others behind?

Broader Implications for Humanity

This digital ecosystem: social media, gaming, crypto, and AI is reshaping what it means to be human. Here’s a synthesis of its effects:

-Connection vs. Isolation: Platforms offer unprecedented connectivity but foster loneliness when validation is fleeting. A 2025 WHO report noted a 20% rise in global loneliness despite social media’s ubiquity.

-Creativity vs. Conformity: Content creation empowers self-expression, but algorithms enforce trends, stifling true innovation. The same TikTok dance replicated a million times isn’t creativity—it’s mimicry.

-Empowerment vs. Exploitation: Anyone can be a creator, but platforms profit most, exploiting unpaid labor and data. Creators are both empowered and enslaved by the algorithm.

-Human vs. Machine: Outsourcing to AI and immersing in digital worlds risks detaching people from physical reality. If an 80-year-old finds purpose on TikTok, that’s beautiful, but if their identity hinges on views, it’s precarious. It is also physical time away from physical human contact. Physical isolation.

Is This Transhumanism?

Not quite, but it’s a precursor. True transhumanism requires intentional augmentation (e.g., bioengineered bodies, brain-computer interfaces). What we have now is a chaotic, profit-driven proto-transhumanism, where tech shapes behavior without clear ethical boundaries. The dopamine hits from likes, the speculative rush of crypto, the ease of AI—all pull us toward a machine-mediated existence, but without the philosophical grounding of transhumanist ideals.

Conclusion:

This digital age is a double-edged sword. It’s a canvas for human potential with 80-year-olds sharing wisdom, kids finding community, and creators building careers. But it’s also a slot machine, hooking users on fleeting rewards while profiting off their data and dreams. The brain adapts, for better or worse: we’re faster at processing visuals but slower at introspection. Society splinters into tribes yet connects across borders. AI empowers but infantilizes.

The unknowns should scare us the most. Will we lose the ability to think without tech? Will inequality widen as algorithms pick winners? Will transhumanism liberate us or turn us into cogs in a digital machine? I don’t know, but I see humanity at a crossroads: we can harness these tools for creativity and connection or let them erode what makes us human. The choice isn’t clear-cut; it’s messy, like a TikTok trend gone viral before anyone understands why.

If you enjoy this, read “The Making and Unmaking of the Modern World” by Business Anthropology.