Seán Moncrieff: We would prefer to destroy the world rather than stop being ourselves

As soon as it was clear that the proposed changes to the Constitution were to be roundly defeated, social media exploded with users keen to provide their analysis as to why it happened. This is just a selection:

It was a rejection of NGOs; particularly the National Women’s Council of Ireland.

Because people don’t trust the media after Covid.

Because the media kept interviewing Michael McDowell.

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Because the media was pushing a Yes vote.

Because the Government was doing the European Union’s bidding.

It was about erasing women.

It was a rejection of proposed Hate Speech Bill.

The voters rejected wokeness.

The Government misled the public.

The No campaign misled the public.

It was a poke in the eye for Panti Bliss.

Because Elon Musk bought Twitter (X) and allowed free speech again.

Because migrants are flooding into the country.

You’ll notice that a lot of this isn’t about the referendums specifically, but an attempt to place the result in a wider societal and political context: almost as if they have one eye on history, on future academics looking back and proclaiming that an anonymous person on X was spookily prescient about how events would unfold.

Of course, those historians might judge that a lot of this is nonsense. Some of it looks like nonsense now. On social media, few people seem to have a fear of appearing foolish: which is odd, given that the stupid stuff we might occasionally post online is there forever. The internet – to use a highly contested word – is durable.

It is close to impossible to switch off, which is why that ill-judged tweet from 10 years ago is still out there somewhere

But perhaps such posts give a more complete picture of what people are like now. In the pre-digital era, books, articles and letters had to be given some degree of thought before they were committed to paper, which would have made them more coherent, but also presented a more flattering portrait of the author. The illogical outbursts, the flashes of intolerance, the tasteless jokes, the casual cruelties would have all been edited out. Now you get everything with very few amendments. Few people admit they are wrong. Social media seems to imbue its users with an iron certainty.

Yet in the real world, people are still people. They still struggle with doubts and fears, and internal contradictions. They understand nuance. They are friends with people they don’t agree with. Perhaps without noticing, the internet projects an almost irresistible cultural force on the people who use it; which is most of us: on how we present ourselves to the digital world.

Because the internet isn’t one system, but thousands of them interlinked and backed up with redundancies, it is close to impossible to switch off, which is why that ill-judged tweet from 10 years ago is still out there somewhere. But imagine it did happen.

Apart from the worldwide financial catastrophe and the devastating effect it would have on just about every industry, it would also, I suspect, personally impact millions, even billions of people. The sudden absence of an online presence would be like part of their essence as a human being ripped from them. And in many cases, it would have been the part they liked the best: the one that doesn’t stutter or gets nervous in groups. On the internet, it was where they most recognised themselves.

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It’s only a few decades old, but our reliance on the internet is almost total: financially, structurally and emotionally. Our shopping, our jobs, our hates and loves, our considered views and our intemperate outbursts are stored in servers around the world: servers that consume enormous amounts of power. Our metaphorical hot air, turned into the real thing.

Will the internet last forever? It can be turned off in individual countries. It eats electricity: the self-identity for many people would dissolve without it. We would prefer to destroy the world rather than stop being ourselves.