Individuality in society

[onlything]

Yesterday I went for an exhibition in one of the museums in the city. One of the showpieces was a video booth showing the changes that happened in people over the years in a kind of social experiment. For every person, there were two 10 to 20 second videos: the first one from when they were children/young teenagers and another about 10 years or so later when they were already adults. Every person was asked to behave in a way that depicts who they are or who they feel they are.

'Children' parts(looking between ages 8 to 15) of the video were quite diverse. Playful at times, making funny faces, singing songs, playing, some being a bit shy or lost in thoughts - you know like kids behave. Very lively, not exactly loud but all slightly overwhelming at times like only children can be.

'Adult' parts were... the same. No, really. They may have had different appearances but they behaved in such similar ways it was simply disturbing. The same way of looking at the camera, the same angle, the same kind of smile, this little polite smile everyone seems to wear, or lack of thereof, the same kind of make up even. No playfullness, no individuality, just looking at the camera like lifelike dolls. I'm not joking. It was kind of freaky, how little of them had something similar to the child they used to be. I think I saw a person, maybe two people that had a similar or the same kind of smile, the warm and real one, and eyes as when they were children.

How much society influences people into loosing the individuality everyone is born with? How much does everyone has to mask? They call it growing up but it looks more like fading away. I'm aware that videos of this kind can be easily manipulated but it's not the first time I realised it, previously having seen it while comparing people I used to know as children and who they are now.

Is it even possible to truly retain your individuality? Is there even individuality in the society cherishing only the rat race and profits that can come from it?

I'm trying to give the world and people a chance. To understand it and find something to appreciate, something positive but every time I look, I only feel like taking another step back.

 

[Progster]

I think that adults aren't likely to act who they really are in front of a camera, and if you really want to see them as they are, you need to film them when they are unaware of the camera filming them, when they are doing some sort of activity or at work to see how they normally interact with other people. But yes, there is a kind of uniform, people tend to look similar, wear similar clothes, have a similar hair style, have similar tastes. It might really be who they are, it might not, people try to keep up appearances, blend in, go with the flow, keep the status quo and don't do things to set them apart from others. I've noticed that, for example, when I go to a restaurant, how similar people look and behave to each other.

There's another similar project in progress called Seven Up - the individuals filmed in that project come from different backgrounds and do seem to be different... I can't say they are all the same, though they might be fairly typical examples of people who come from a particular background (some went to public schools and university, others left school early and started work).
Up Series - Wikipedia

 

[Judge]

This thread reminds me a political science professor who believed that societal conformity can be so strong and pervasive that it can potentially dictate forms of reality to people in mass numbers.

Where he theorized the possibility that the voices schizophrenics heard weren't imaginary. But rather that everyone else had been programmed to conform in channelling them out.

Lots of information about social conformity in general:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/conformity.html

 

[onlything]

I think that adults aren't likely to act who they really are in front of a camera, and if you really want to see them as they are, you need to film them when they are unaware of the camera filming them, when they are doing some sort of activity or at work to see how they normally interact with other people. But yes, there is a kind of uniform, people tend to look similar, wear similar clothes, have a similar hair style, have similar tastes. It might really be who they are, it might not, people try to keep up appearances, blend in, go with the flow, keep the status quo and don't do things to set them apart from others. I've noticed that, for example, when I go to a restaurant, how similar people look and behave to each other.

There's another similar project in progress called Seven Up - the individuals filmed in that project come from different backgrounds and do seem to be different... I can't say they are all the same, though they might be fairly typical examples of people who come from a particular background (some went to public schools and university, others left school early and started work).
Up Series - Wikipedia

It's not only the restaurants. If you just go through the street, your workplace, favourite park - wherever you go, you will see the same types of people everywhere. The differences so small that it's not surprising that it can be quite difficult for me to remember people or their faces out of the specific context. If you discount the differences in the colours of skin, hair, shapes of noses, eyes, length of eyelashes and similar, you will see the same patterns in everyone. They're so similar, so predictable. Even people that behave in their own ways just stop after some time. If you observe closely, you can see a few types of people. They walk the same, talk the same, behave the same. At times, it feels like they're talking objects or dolls, this is how similar they are.

This thread reminds me a political science professor who believed that societal conformity can be so strong and pervasive that it can potentially dictate forms of reality to people in mass numbers.

Where he theorized the possibility that the voices schizophrenics heard weren't imaginary. But rather that everyone else had been programmed to conform in channelling them out.

Lots of information about social conformity in general:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/conformity.html

Now that's one fascinating but quite creepy theory. Still, what always baffled me in the conformity 'business' is that overall people either don't realise what they're doing or they don't mind becoming like everyone else. Even if you ask, they will only be baffled about the things you're questioning. When you look at humanity, it's so similar to beehive that it wouldn't be exactly surprising if there existed a hive mind of some kind that humans instinctually created and towards which they conform to. And when you see everyone behaving in the same way, it's even easier to reconsider different controversial cospiracy theories, even if they are purely in the region of fiction.

I just always found it baffling, I suppose, and the more world I see and the more people I meet, I realise that behind these little artificial cultural and not only differences, people behave in the same ways towards the same kinds of desires. As a kid I really thought that it was just the thing in my city, the maybe it was just the country, just the continent but I've seen so many of them since then and, well, it's all the same. I can only be glad that I can still appreciate the small differences I do see but it's such a waste when you observe how a creative, hopeful mind turns into... this.

Every loss of an individuality is a waste. You look at the kids that become teenagers and adults and they just fade away with time.

Sad.

 

[Judge]

Now that's one fascinating but quite creepy theory.

BTW, the class taught by this professor was "authoritarian mass movements".

It gets even creepier if you examine the studies of Yale professor Dr. Stanley Milgram regarding how people tested in a confined test of how they obediently react to authority. (Sidestepping any argument over whether his controversial research was genuine or not.)

https://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html

 

[TheFreeCat]

Either way is a loss. If you do not submit, you can be ostracized. Only very wealthy people who can buy friends can be eccentric and accepted.

 

[Pats]

The childhood fades away in looks and actions - but do they really fade away in heart?

 

[OlLiE]

the complexity of the mind,
the 1000 and 1 parameters, variables and external influences in one's life,
the tools you have received to deal with them through parent's (lack of) upbringing

per definition, everyone is an individual entity
with some people you may just have to dig past what you see and assume to find it

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

People retain their individuality, they just learn what is a socially acceptable way to behave, especially in front of a camera. The individuality comes out with people you trust and care for, or in appropriate setting such as at parties (expect lots of adult individuality and silliness tonight, it's haloween after all). That same expression shared my the adult is probably an expression of self conscious awkwardness.

 

[Theta.G]

How much society influences people into loosing the individuality everyone is born with?

100%. When you are born your mind is a blank slate. Everything you see, hear, taste, smell or see becomes you. The freedoms in childhood, the "individuality" they exhibit are usually reflections of their parents and whatever kids shows / books they let them watch repeatedly.

Live away from the world, no society just you your family in the woods or something. When your kid grows up he then he will have kids and true freedom of character and personality can begin. It would take several generations before the chain is broken though. Someone that free cannot be brought up by someone that was consumed and raised by "this" world. You would unknowingly impose millions of conformist ways.

( i recall watching a documentary about a baby girl abandon in the woods a pack of wolves took her in and she was brought up as a wolf. walked and ran on all 4's and everything.)

...What is a human without a programmer / guides?

How much does everyone has to mask?
We become the mask... one way or another. If one was brought up in modern society.

They call it growing up but it looks more like fading away. That's... staggeringly accurate...

Is it even possible to truly retain your individuality?
Yes... but what will you sacrifice for retaining your individuality and would it be worth it?

Is there even individuality in the society cherishing only the rat race and profits that can come from it? Well... there's certainly way more than China. Or some other asian cultures.

 

[Progster]

People tend to think in memes or stereotypes and act them out, and these memes collectively form a culture. People who think outside the box are those who don't think in memes (or less often).

Like those coachloads of tourist who come here from the city to visit the waterfall. They all have ski poles, walking sticks, hats and excessively large rucksacks, not because they really need this equipment to visit the waterfall which is very close to the main road, but because that's what the meme says, this is what they have seen in pop culture movies and TV: people who go walking have walking sticks or ski poles. A local would never have a ski pole to go the waterfall, excessive and totally unnecessary.