Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Watch the full Commitment episode on the Solved podcast: https://mrk.mn/tc7phn0t. A philosopher in 1846 predicted your Instagram feed. After a tabloid roasted him for months, Kierkegaard wrote some of the sharpest criticism of media ever put on paper. He named the thing that happens when everyone is connected to everyone: leveling, the quiet pressure to never stand out. Drew and I get into why the 19th century looked more like today than the 20th did, and why young people now barely dance, drink, or ask each other out. He called his shot 180 years early.
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction: Kierkegaard's Battle with the Press
00:01:02 The Personal Attacks: When Intellectual Debate Turns Ugly
00:01:52 Turning Pain into Philosophy: The Present Age
00:02:26 The Accountability Problem: Anonymous Opinions Without Consequences
00:03:09 The Phantom of Public Opinion
00:03:56 The Journalist's Trick: Manufacturing Consensus
00:04:40 The Infamous Quote: Prostitute vs Journalist
00:05:09 Leveling: How Media Destroys Individuality
00:06:27 The Commitment Problem: All Talk, No Walk
00:07:08 Social Media: Kierkegaard's Nightmare on Steroids
00:08:18 The Internet's Broken Promise
00:09:25 The Death of Dancing: Modern Examples of Leveling
00:10:26 The Global Homogenization: When Everywhere Becomes Nowhere
⇨ Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: go.markmanson.net/msub25ez
⇨ Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get started at go.markmanson.net/8owt1jc4
FOLLOW MARK
Mark's IG: instagram.com/markmanson
Solved IG: instagram.com/solvedpodcast/
Twitter: https://x.com/markmanson
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markmanson/
#MarkManson #Solved #Kierkegaard #SocialMedia #Philosophy #Culture #Commitment
Watch the full Commitment episode on the Solved podcast: https://mrk.mn/tc7phn0t. A philosopher in 1846 predicted your Instagram feed. After a tabloid roasted him for months, Kierkegaard wrote some of the sharpest criticism of media ever put on paper. He named the thing that happens when everyone is connected to everyone: leveling, the quiet pressure to never stand out. Drew and I get into why the 19th century looked more like today than the 20th did, and why young people now barely dance, drink, or ask each other out. He called his shot 180 years early.
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction: Kierkegaard's Battle with the Press
00:01:02 The Personal Attacks: When Intellectual Debate Turns Ugly
00:01:52 Turning Pain into Philosophy: The Present Age
00:02:26 The Accountability Problem: Anonymous Opinions Without Consequences
00:03:09 The Phantom of Public Opinion
00:03:56 The Journalist's Trick: Manufacturing Consensus
00:04:40 The Infamous Quote: Prostitute vs Journalist
00:05:09 Leveling: How Media Destroys Individuality
00:06:27 The Commitment Problem: All Talk, No Walk
00:07:08 Social Media: Kierkegaard's Nightmare on Steroids
00:08:18 The Internet's Broken Promise
00:09:25 The Death of Dancing: Modern Examples of Leveling
00:10:26 The Global Homogenization: When Everywhere Becomes Nowhere
⇨ Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: go.markmanson.net/msub25ez
⇨ Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get started at go.markmanson.net/8owt1jc4
FOLLOW MARK
Mark's IG: instagram.com/markmanson
Solved IG: instagram.com/solvedpodcast/
Twitter: https://x.com/markmanson
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markmanson/
#MarkManson #Solved #Kierkegaard #SocialMedia #Philosophy #Culture #Commitment
