Originality: Everyone likes to think they are unique and special, but the sad truth is that billions of people have come before us and billions will come after. Yet individual humans are still special. What makes people unique is experience, the place where new ideas and concepts are born. Experience is what shapes the world of every individual, and a person’s views and values often reflect their individual experiences.

With the world being more connected than ever and ideas being shared online in a matter of seconds, people are generally well-educated on topics like politics and current events. Yet the connections provided by the internet have also led to mass consumption of brainless content that is seemingly endless. Think about it — how many TikTok or YouTube creators make nearly identical videos because they are profitable and safe? The dumbing down of ideas to appeal to the masses is nothing new. 

Within all forms of entertainment, there will be products created with mass appeal in mind. An example of this is the recent craze surrounding superhero movies. As long as the masses want superhero movies, there will always be more. Something similar is happening on social media, where content is pumped out by the millions every hour. With so much content, the development of online trends is nothing surprising. These online trends result in thousands of users creating similar content to be a part of whatever the current trend is. While these examples might lead to the assumption that social media is killing originality, they can also be examples of how the internet has allowed for more ideas and concepts to reach more people than ever before.

What one chooses to do with the content presented to them is impossible to predict. Some might copy the content and claim it as their own, while others could be inspired to create something original. The determining factor in what one does is largely through the experiences they have gathered throughout their life. So there will always be new ideas as long as humans are around, and those who choose to consume and copy will also be around. These truths reflect the special and unique aspects of everyone to ever walk the earth.