It's written in a hyperbolic way, but I don't think your characterization is right. The author isn't saying everyone is an asshole, he's saying the systemic forces are mostly aligned in a predatory direction, and that part is absolutely true. I have a good time on Instagram despite the ways the platform is structured.

>This so exaggerated

No, it's just what's happening online.

>If you think some of the people you know are assholes, that's fine. If you think all of them are assholes,

Wrong thread? Doesn't seem to correspond to anything in the article.

I don't think everyone is an asshole exactly but something is wrong with more and more people and you see it everything from how people drive to the degree to which so many things seem more adversarial or feel like part time jobs.

There are two competing ways of looking at this.

1. If everyone you know is an asshole about some particular thing, then you're probably the asshole. Think politics or design.

2. Everybody is an asshole some of the time for some reason. Because the internet connects and exposes us to so many people that even if someone only acts like an asshole very rarely said connectivity and algorithm boosting ensures you get exposed to it.

I wish I knew more assholes. It's the imbeciles that I keep running into.