Monocropping — the practice of only growing one crop, whether it’s corn or soybeans or potatoes season after season — is ruining American farmland, depleting essential nutrients from the soil and decreasing the taste and heartiness of our food supply. 

Our ancestors, by contrast, practiced crop rotation — planting corn one year, beans or wheat the next — maintaining soil health through diversity.

But then, it was a different time. Smaller farmers were the norm, whereas today much of our agricultural industry has been consolidated to mega corporations that care first and foremost about churning out supply.

There’s a bigger lesson here. Planting only one crop across a large area is efficient in the short term, but it makes land vulnerable to pests, disease or collapse because of the lack of variety.

If monocropping is bad for our food and our health, then its counterpart — monoculture — is just as bad for our brains and individuality.

What we mean by monoculture is when mass media, consumer trends or dominant ideologies create a uniformity of issues and ideas being discussed in the mainstream, which reduces individuality and alternative viewpoints.

Much contributes to this phenomenon, but one of the main drivers is the seemingly endless feed of “content” on social media.

While we may think TikTok and Facebook open the doorway to more diversity of thought than ever imaginable, that may just be an illusion. These platforms feel like a marketplace of endless choice, but algorithms filter what we see, and while they can expose users to niche content, they often reinforce mainstream views or popular creators. Many Americans identify as moderates, but we’re often exposed to the loudest voices on either political extreme, exacerbating the growing sense of polarization.

Of course, the reason the algorithm is so successful is that it taps into an ancient human desire — to fit in. We want to understand what everyone thinks and feels and to match it, so we can be part of a group.

There’s comfort in that. 

But a funny thing is happening alongside this trend. This constant exposure to curated content online doesn’t just shape opinions — it may be reshaping personalities themselves.

Evidence suggests that this is more than theory. Internal Facebook research from 2016 revealed that its recommendation tools drove the majority of extremist group growth. Studies of TikTok and YouTube show that algorithms narrow exposure, making feeds more homogenous over time. And Pew Research finds Americans increasingly clustered into partisan camps, with fewer holding a mix of political views. The illusion of infinite choice online masks a narrowing of exposure to new ideas — millions scrolling different feeds, but being nudged toward the same few ways of thinking.

Your daily feed doesn’t just influence your opinions — it can seep into your very personality. Research indicates that younger generations — the ones with the most exposure to technology — are becoming, of all things, less agreeable.

The Understanding America Study, which tracks how Americans think, live and make decisions, shows troubling shifts. Younger adults in particular are less conscientious, agreeable, extroverted and open to new experiences than past generations, while neuroticism — marked by anxiety and emotional instability — is rising. 

The traits that help us cooperate, work hard and stay emotionally balanced are slipping away.

Sharing memes is no substitute for cultivating original thought or genuine relationships. Too often, it becomes a shortcut — a way to signal belonging without the harder work of thinking for ourselves or knowing others deeply. Why invest time getting to know other people and letting them know you when you can signal whether you’re good or bad by simply sharing a post? 

These shortcuts aren’t just corrosive for the individual, but also the collective, making us more willing to turn on anyone who holds a view (or shares a post) counter to what the hive mind rewards.

This in our view is the insidious threat social media and rapidly growing AI capabilities pose to society and culture. Sure, there are legitimate fears about the robots taking over the economy, but what about the prospect of outsourcing our thinking to machines. 

Individuality is good. Curiosity, too. These things foster creativity and compassion, and they make the world more interesting.

There’s no single policy solution here, and addressing this phenomenon isn’t something we can outsource to politicians — in fact, we’d wager that the people running campaigns and PR teams like the ability to orchestrate movements and narratives with the click of a button. 

We put the problem — and the responsibility — back on the individual. It’s incumbent upon us all to resist the temptation to exist primarily in the mindless vacuum of the internet. 

Reels and tweets are, more often than not, a distraction from the real world, which is happening all around you rather than on a screen. 

This Labor Day weekend, put down the phone. Take a walk. Talk to your neighbors and see the good in them. 

Just as crop rotation restores vitality to the soil, diversity of thought and connection restore vitality to our lives. Self-awareness and community are marvelous antidotes to the barrenness of conformity.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/31/editorial-hivemind-ai-tiktok-facebook-conformity/