Eusocial Bonding
So if you spend any time on the internet during this time of mass quarantines, you’ll have seen your fair share of weird stuff. Everyday social media has some new fad to kill time that is absolutely bonkers.
And then, there’s A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony
If you’ve managed to avoid hearing about this, let me gleefully recount the most fascinating thing to happen on Facebook outside of their many horrifying bungles, sleazy business practices, and tacit endorsement of human rights violations.
A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony is exactly what it sounds like. People join the page, and pretend to be ants. They post ant-oriented content (everything from screenshots of people thinking the page is weird to literal pictures of ants attempting to do something with pleas for help), and comments to that content in single word answers, usually in the format of B I T E or P U L L. It’s a surreal look into the sort of things people will do to find entertainment when they have none.
And the group has nearly 1 million members.
I honestly cannot explain why or how it has so many members. There really isn’t anything more to it than what I’ve described, and yet it has a RAPIDLY expanding membership full of people who are engaging in good faith with the premise. The moderators can stop off topic posts from being made, but there isn’t a lot the can do about comments as hundreds of thousands flood each image so quickly that it can actually crash your web browser if you try to watch one long enough. And yet EVERY comment that I’ve come across follows the same format. While some do get silly (one word pop culture references are common), they are always relevant to the image at hand.
I have a few theories for why this page has become popular; the silliness of the premise is enough to draw people in, the wholesome content is accessible to just about everyone, and it gives a measure of catharsis in a world where we have little outside agency being just a few. But the thing I think pulls the most weight is the simple social bonding that it gives everyone that participates.
Decisions in comment threads are not complicated. One word responses tend to be more than enough to input your opinions on the ‘task’ at hand, and all opinions are welcome. A single person can dissent from the group without being ostracized or condemned for their actions, and some dissent that gains enough traction can even become the standard for future people in the group. All voices are heard and considered by the collective, and those with merit are adopted. It’s a simple system, that encourages participation but doesn’t discourage simply following the majority. It’s something that people need in this time of political and social turmoil: an amorphous, pseudo-anonymous crowd of acceptance without expectation, with no emotional stakes in the events that happen.
As always, I want to thank my Patrons for helping me make these articles and the other things I make for them over at Patreon.com/BardsGambit
Special Thanks to:
AJ
John Beckelhymer
Katie Coker
Tyler Litton
Sara White
Thaddius Goldner
William Moton
Serenity Tomala
Brett Schoonover
Elliot Chapple
