In a capitalist society, the more money you make, the more you are considered a winner. Money is that easy, instant signal that denotes personal worth, status and, ultimately, “winnerhood.”
By that metric, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose company smashed Wall Street expectations this week by announcing $47 billion in second quarter revenue, is the planet’s biggest winner. His company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, proudly announced that 3.48 billion people now use at least one of its apps on a daily basis.
Three and a half billion people are using your products every day. How is that not the ultimate sign of success?
I love success. I admire success. So why is it that Zuckerberg’s success leaves me kind of cold?
Maybe it’s that since the COVID lockdowns of 2020, I’ve been somewhat obsessed by the notion that people are isolating physically more and more.
Last year, the US Surgeon General released a report about the deep sense of loneliness that many Americans are experiencing. The report, “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” found that approximately 50 percent of adults in the country are feeling lonely, and that people of all ages are spending significantly less time with others.
I’ve seen it in a different way in my own little world and community. More and more people are getting used to the comforts of home, where virtually everything they need can now be delivered straight to their home. Whether they end up lonely or not, they are more physically isolated. Why go through the rigors of socializing when you can just stay home and watch Netflix?
In this new world of radical convenience, then, any product that encourages 3.48 billion people to stay fixated on digital screens will leave me cold. This is not a critique of capitalism; Zuckerberg has every right to entice every human being on earth to engage with his digital apps.
Rather, it’s just a reflection on the things I admire. These days, I admire anything that brings people together, in person, in real time. Is it silly to bring up something so obvious, so natural?
But let’s be candid about the wonders of technology: For all the miracles it has brought us, including live Zoom chats with friends and relatives halfway around the globe, it has separated us physically.
If we don’t push back on the digital convenience and make the extra effort at human connection, physical isolation will become our default position.
In my own life, whenever I escape my digital screens to sit down with a friend at Pats or Pico Café, when I invite people over for a Torah salon, when I look around our Shabbat table at real faces and real people, when I leave my indoor training machines and schlepp to the gym, when I attend a fundraiser or other community event, when I do a shiva call or visit someone at the hospital—well, how can I put it without sounding trite? I feel human? I feel alive? I feel real?
Maybe it’s a sign of our “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” that I would need to write about the value of something we’ve been doing for thousands of years— showing up in person.
So, while I’m impressed by the $47 billion Zuckerberg’s company made in the second quarter, and the 3.48 billion people who use his digital apps, it still leaves me cold, reminding me mostly of our physical isolation.
I’m looking for an app that could encourage those 3.48 billion people to spend more time with other people, in person, away from digital screens.
Whoever can create that app will be a true winner in my book.
In the meantime, we have Shabbat.
