Belonging is a foundational element of our lives. Psychologist Kelly-Ann Allen defines belonging as "a subjective feeling that one is an integral part of their surrounding systems, including family, friends, school, work environments, communities, cultural groups, and physical places" (Allen et al. 88). Nicola Bacon, founding director of Social Life, explains that belonging is dynamic, "changing over time and impacted by our complex and intersectional life experiences" (34). Our personal competencies, opportunities, motivations, perceptions, and the complex interplay between social and environmental contexts converge to produce our trait-like sense of belonging (Allen et al. 90). Through my experiences at home and abroad, I have come to understand belonging as a universal human need that takes different forms across cultures.

How have the algorithms of an attention-based economy altered our sense of belonging? Despite this unprecedented interconnectedness, what have we lost? Boundaries between work and leisure, family, and friends have become increasingly blurred. Lives both on and offline have become intertwined, making it difficult to discern what is authentic, what should or should not require our attention or concern, which social and parasocial interactions matter most, and how we seek to influence and be influenced.

In a study of Chinese secondary school students, Sun Wenkai and his colleagues found that interpersonal alienation and learning burnout were strongly connected to social media usage (197). Students who felt alienated were more dependent on social media, slept less, and performed more poorly in school than those with an interpersonal support system. Sun suggests that fulfilling the need to belong via social media can exceed the desire for self-improvement (Sun et al. 199). However, the attention-driven algorithms of social apps may encourage dependency by failing to provide the fundamental nourishment users desire.

Challenges to belonging extend beyond online culture. Neoliberalism has shaped our sense of disconnection through public policy. Harvard philosopher and economist Michael Sandel argues that market practices have transformed our civic practices: "Markets are not mere mechanisms. They embody certain norms. They presuppose—and promote—certain ways of valuing the goods being exchanged" (128). This form of cultural discourse stresses self-reliance while signaling that we should place our identity within social and economic forces. Notably, self-commodification asks individuals to view relationships in terms of their transactional potential while gauging personal accomplishment by market success (Khamis et al. 201). These aspects of neoliberal policy and internet culture incentivize an identity centered around materialism and personal accomplishment while exploiting Western ideals of rugged individualism to promote market competition. Nevertheless, as markets become increasingly constrained and public services are privatized, many struggle to attain personal security under such conditions. Bacon explains: "When we feel that change is not working in our best interests, that it is restricting, rather than increasing, our options, then our sense of belonging in the future is threatened" (32).

The good news is that we are built to belong. George M. Slavich's social safety theory explains that the human brain and immune system have evolved to seek safety through the company of others. "What matters most is a stable sense of social inclusion, belonging, and connection to others who are friendly, emotionally supportive, and dependable...there is a large literature showing that this tendency to connect confers substantial benefits for human health and behavior" (276). Our need for belonging, then, is not merely social but fundamental to our well-being.

If the attention economy and market culture have encouraged us to see ourselves as increasingly separate, perhaps the answer is not to abandon individualism but to consider how it might be redirected. Individualism’s emphasis on personal agency could be extended beyond personal and economic achievement toward a greater appreciation of diversity as a source of collective strength. Our individuality might, in this sense, become a basis for interdependence. I propose collective individualism: an approach in which personal differences are understood as potential contributions to the collective. In a culture increasingly fractured by competing demands for our attention, collective individualism may offer one way to reconsider individuality not simply as a source of separation, but also as a possible source of connection and belonging.

Works Cited

Allen, Kelly-Ann, et al. "Belonging: A Review of Conceptual Issues, an Integrative Framework, and Directions for Future Research." Australian Journal of Psychology, vol. 73, no. 1, 2021, pp. 87–102, https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2021.1883409.

Bacon, Nicola. "Belonging: What Does It Take to Transform a Neighbourhood into a Community?" RSA Journal, vol. 169, no. 1(5592), 2023, pp. 32–35.

Khamis, Susie, et al. "Self-Branding, 'Micro-Celebrity' and the Rise of Social Media Influencers." Celebrity Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, 2017, pp. 191–208, https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2016.1218292.

Sandel, Michael J. "Market Reasoning as Moral Reasoning: Why Economists Should Re-Engage with Political Philosophy." The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 27, no. 4, 2013, pp. 121–40, https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.27.4.121.

Slavich, George M. "Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior." Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, vol. 16, no. 1, 2020, pp. 265–95, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045159.

Sun, Wenkai, et al. "The Role of Interpersonal Alienation in the Relationship between Social Media Addiction and Learning Burnout among Chinese Secondary School Students." Children's Health Care, vol. 52, no. 2, 2023, pp. 196–219, https://doi.org/10.1080/02739615.2022.2068552.

Pictured above
Walker, Coire: Photograph of Self in front of the Berlin Wall. 13 Aug. 2022. Author's personal collection.