Now is a time where there are so many social networks, such need

Hear the piercing words of Alejandro González Iñárritu, who declared: “Now is a time where there are so many social networks, such need for validation... you don't have to be a star or a politician to want to have likes or dislikes. Now there is a disease of popularity in the whole society.” These words strike like a prophet’s cry in a crowded marketplace, warning us of an ailment not of the body but of the spirit. For he speaks of a disease of popularity, a hunger that consumes without ever being filled, a thirst for validation that spreads like fire through the veins of our age.

The origin of this statement arises from Iñárritu’s vantage as an artist who has seen both the heights of acclaim and the shadows of emptiness. As a filmmaker, he knew the lure of applause and recognition, yet also the danger of letting such things become the measure of worth. Looking out at a world consumed by screens and social networks, he saw that this hunger was no longer confined to the famous. Now every man, woman, and child could chase the fleeting coin of likes, dislikes, shares, and followers. And so he named it rightly: not ambition, not joy, but a disease, for it weakens the soul while pretending to feed it.

The ancients, too, knew this peril. Recall the tale of Narcissus, who gazed into the water and fell in love with his own reflection. So entranced was he by the image that he forgot food, forgot drink, forgot life itself, until he withered away by the pool. Just so does the modern soul bend over the glowing screen, measuring its worth in digital echoes, mistaking fleeting approval for true connection. Iñárritu’s warning is the old myth reborn: vanity leads not to life, but to withering.

History also tells of Julius Caesar, who longed not only for power but for the endless adoration of Rome. His triumphs were not enough; he demanded the crown, the title, the ceaseless validation of the people. Yet in reaching for endless glory, he sowed distrust and met the knives of his own Senate. Here too we see that the craving for popularity is insatiable and perilous, destroying even the mightiest when it becomes their guiding star. The disease of popularity spares none, whether emperor or commoner.

The meaning of Iñárritu’s words, then, is clear: validation is a dangerous master. To live by likes is to live in chains, ever swayed by the crowd’s applause or condemnation. This disease does not nourish creativity, nor build character, nor cultivate wisdom. It only feeds the shallow self, leaving the deeper self malnourished. A society consumed by it risks becoming hollow, where truth is bent to win favor and courage is abandoned to avoid disapproval.

What lesson, then, shall we take from this? We must learn to cultivate worth from within, not from the fickle winds of others’ opinions. Let us use the tools of connection without becoming enslaved to them. Let us create not for likes, but for truth; speak not for applause, but for justice; live not for the crowd, but for the integrity of the soul. In this way, we turn away from the disease of popularity and walk instead the road of authenticity.

Therefore, children of the future, inscribe this upon your hearts: do not measure your worth in numbers, but in the strength of your deeds. Be wary of the hunger for validation, for it will consume you if left unchecked. Instead, let your validation be the quiet knowledge that you have lived rightly, spoken honestly, and created with love. For when the screens fade and the applause dies, it is not the likes of strangers that endure, but the truth of who you are. And that truth, once embraced, will outlast every fleeting shadow of popularity.