Why Play By Adeline Atlas (SOS: School Of Soul)
Dec 17, 2025
TWELVE
SPECTATORS
Let's talk about another major effect of mass media. Aside from everything I've already just told you, it is also turning people into passive spectators rather than active creators in their lives. Overstanding how this is happening is crucial for taking back your power and creating in your life.
The system conditions us to be spectators, not creators, of our lives. What does a spectator mean? Let's look at the definition: Spectator (noun): a person who watches a show, game, or other event, especially a sports event.
How does the media make us spectators? Let's dig a little deeper. What is a spectator sport? It's a sport that involves spectators, which are people who watch it. When we watch sports on television, we don't always watch them live. We watch them with highlights and replays. Think about how so much of the media is presented this way. The news is all highlights and replays. We all just sit back and watch it. It's not at all interactive. The information is broadcast to us for us to watch and consume.
Where else do you see this style of messaging happening? Yep, you guessed it: social media, especially places like Instagram. Instagram has become the master of keeping you fixated on consuming highlights and replays! By hooking you on the scroll, social media platforms are literally turning you into a spectator who's driven by your human instinct of curiosity.
This next analogy is going to rock you. Staring at your smartphone at night is the same as sitting at a casino in Vegas, feeding coins into a slot machine. Vegas is all designed around game theory, and they have figured out something called the "maybe effect." The MAYBE effect is this: I think that IF I pull the dial again, I'll maybe get something good next time. I think this because one time, I got something good, or I heard or saw someone else get something good. I keep pulling the lever in anticipation that I, too, will maybe get something good one time. What is really happening is we are feeding off a dopamine hit or high that is triggered by the idea of "winning." The brain likes the sensation that dopamine gives it, so it keeps seeking more of it. You keep trying your luck at the machine or keep scrolling Instagram stories to get to that next high. Think about it. Close your eyes for a minute and imagine these two scenarios. There is really very little difference between the two in terms of your behavior in these situations. This, by the way, is just a small sampling of how game theory is being applied all around you. When you look around, it's everywhere – being used ON you.
You are being played. Social media platforms have hacked human behavior to figure out how to profit off of it and off of you! They know you're going to keep scrolling and that they're going to be able to keep feeding you targeted ads or sponsored content.
You’ll become an expert on how social media is playing you in Volume: Digital Soul and Volume: Drain Me, but the point right now is to see there are factors at play turning you into a spectator. Until you open your eyes to this, you can't change it. The real first step right now is awareness.
