The Perpetual Relevance of Sontag's "In Plato's Cave"

Applying her theories to the social media landscape.

This post is paywalled because of the increased prevalence of trolls on Substack.

I’ve been on TikTok.

There, I said it. I’ve been on TikTok. A lot. A few days ago my editor sent me the comps for my book cover. Suddenly everything felt so real. Despite having worked on my book for nearly six years, I hadn’t accepted that it would actually end up out in the world. It’s a fucking memoir! I couldn’t be vulnerable in my work unless I told myself it would never be read— so that’s what I told myself. During long stretches of silence from my editor I had a mantra: it’s okay if it never gets published.

Well. It’s going to be published.

I got on TikTok, under a strange spell of self-marketing. I needed to be present on social media! To get followers! To assert my opinions and thoughts!

That was on Tuesday. Today is Saturday. On Wednesday I talked to my therapist about this, and we agreed that social media (TikTok specifically) is a good practicing ground for receiving responses to my voice and thoughts. The comments on my posts run the gamut from positive to negative, and I want to acclimate myself to being received. So, for now, I’ve decided to stay on TikTok. To try and have a healthy, sustainable relationship with social media.

This mimics the work I’ve done with my actual life. For a long time I hid truth of what I felt and desired because I was scared of not being liked. Being disliked and disagreed with was like a death to me. Now, after fifteen years of therapy, I’ve learned to tell the truth, to be clear about my boundaries, and I willingly voice my opinions, as well as my needs and desires.

But how can one have an authentic relationship with social media, when so much of it is artifice? I’m not sure.

a distorted figure absorbed by their phone.

Susan Sontag’s essay, “In Plato’s Cave,” has a lot to say about photos. Many of her arguments can also be translated to social media.

First, one needs to understand Plato’s allegory of the cave.