Group pictures, viral videos, and blockbuster hits.

Why is it that in a world with so much to choose from and so many avenues for self-expression, we constantly feel like we aren’t valued unless we’re anonymous? Why do we feel like we have to be like everyone else to matter?

To fit in?

What is that security we feel when we are a part of a group? Is that belonging, or is that groupthink? We post pictures of us in a group so that our Facebook friends think we’re popular.

What is the point of anything that goes viral on the Internet? To get us all on the same page so that encounter at the watercooler is punctuated by human interaction rather than silent stares?

Why do we feel like we have to listen to the same songs as everybody else, or even watch the same movies? Netflix, iTunes, Spotify, Songza, Rdio all exist for our pleasure, but we constantly feel compelled to have an answer to “What did you think of Transformers 4?”, to which “I didn’t watch that movie” is not an acceptable answer, because someone else in the group will invariably throw you under the bus by chiming in with “how do you know you didn’t like it if you didn’t watch it?”

How about, “I just don’t really like explosions or morphing robots or racist jokes?”

Unacceptable. Everyone must like explosions and morphing robots and racist jokes.

Every café around the world looks like Stumptown or Blue Bottle, every bookstore looks like Barnes & Noble, and every website looks like it was made with Bootstrap. Organizations and startups are not immune to the anonymity bug.

We are all anonymous, and yet we hate it when “the masses” get on board something. We say, “oh, another bandwagon” and yet the next day you decide to get on Candy Crush, or Flappy Bird. Because you have to, in order to feel valued as a member of society.

Because not knowing what happens to Joffery Baratheon or Tywin Lannister or Sansa Stark is a crime. You have to know.

Not knowing if Germany is going to win the World Cup is a sin.

Every time a new app comes out which promises us greater personalization, we get really excited. But Spotify is based around listening to playlists curated by the company, and Netflix is based around binge watching House of Cards or Breaking Bad, because it’s what users do after they get bored of the “radio” or the “customized genres”.

When will we decide that being who we are doesn’t hurt everybody else?