Unexpected Consequences of a Highly Connected Society
South Korea as a leading indicator
Like all living systems, cultures cannot remain static; they evolve or decline. They explore or expire.
– Buzz Aldrin
An interesting thing happened in the 1990's. As the consumer internet was just coming into being, South Korea made a directive to connect its entire population to the internet. They succeeded wildly in this endeavor. They were the first country to connect almost their entire population to the internet and are typically ranked as the top country in ICT rankings which measure telecommunications prowess (The US is currently ranked 15th). South Korea also has the highest internet speeds at very low prices. Additionally, 97.6% of citizens own a smart phone.
Besides being a point of envy, why is South Korea's internet connectivity interesting? Because recently South Korea has been leading the world in a lot of unexpected societal behaviors that seemingly stem from having all of its citizens highly connected. Due to this high degree of connectivity, South Korea tends to be 5-10 years ahead of the rest of the world in terms of the effects of a highly connected society. For instance, did you know that:
South Korea had the alt-right invade their political scene about 5 years before the US?
South Koreans have the highest rates of cosmetic surgery in the world?
South Koreans line up at 4am to buy existing luxury goods despite having one of the largest household debt rates in the world?
Let's look at each of these to understand how internet connectivity helped drive these different societal trends. Remember, this isn't a commentary on the actual trends. Instead, we our trying to observe and understand cultural oddities that might arise from a highly connected society. What are some of the unexpected effects.
Alt-Right
In the US, recent events, such as January 6th Capitol Attack, have made people acutely aware of the alt-right. The internet provided a way for like-minded individuals to readily find each other, enabling these groups to emerge and grow. While this type of group may be new in contemporary US politics, it is by no means the first time an alt-right group has appeared in a society. In fact, a modern version of the alt-right first came to prominence in South Korea about a decade before the same happened in the US.
T.K. from Ask A Korean writes a great piece about the alt-right in South Korea, which first existed in the late 1990's and started gaining major traction around 2007, and preceded the alt-right in the US. It is a fantastic article that points out all the parallels in tactics and events that happened both in the US and South Korea despite being separated by years. He states:
Recall that Korea is the world’s first wired society. Korea had cyberbullying and doxxing before the rest of the world even knew what cyberbullying and doxxing were. Korea had the world’s largest social network service long before Facebook entered Mark Zuckerberg’s imagination. So it shouldn’t surprise you that Korea had the world’s first alt-right, long before there was such a word “alt-right,” because it is impossible to conceive of alt-right without the internet. Ilbe users were the world’s first alt-right, in that it foretold central characteristics of all the alt-right movements that would come. To put it diplomatically, they were disaffected young men who, disillusioned by the establishment politics, sought refuge in the idealized version of the past.
This alt-right was born in a website called DC Inside. T.K. continues:
The “new right wing” traces its origin to the website called DC Inside. Established in 1999, it was originally a message board to discuss the latest trend in digital cameras. [...] Reflecting its origin as a digital camera site, DC Inside had numerous “Galleries”—a themed message board in which people gathered to talk and, more frequently, engage in the earliest form of internet message board flamewar seen by the humankind. [...] You might recognize this type of site—it’s Reddit, with Galleries being Subreddits. Reddit was once described as the “dark, unruly id of the internet,” but DC Inside was the OG of that description, as DC Inside is at least six years older than Reddit.
What we see when we create communities where anyone can find their tribe is that even extreme views can find those that hold similar thoughts and values. The alt-right is no exception and it precipitated in part due to the availability of digital communities. There are a lot more parallels with what has happened in the US and I recommend reading T.K.’s article for the full details.
Cosmetic Surgery
Cosmetic surgery isn't anything new. What is new is that rates of cosmetic surgery in the US jumped up substantially during the pandemic. The rates increased by as much as 30-50%, with some surgeons stating their business had doubled. Many people attribute this fact to people living and working through Zoom and other forms of video communication. With people spending so much time seeing themselves on video, they wanted to change what they saw. That is as people were living more digital lives, their desire to change their appearance increased.
So, if you're following the idea of this essay, it should be no surprise that South Korea actually has the highest rates of cosmetic surgery per person in the world, to the point that South Korea is frequently called the "plastic surgery capital of the world". Nearly 25% of women aged 19-29 have undergone plastic surgery. In fact, cosmetic surgery is a common gift in South Korea with all stigma having been removed.
So here's the unexpected effect. As you spend more time as a digital citizen, you're much more likely to be looking at images of yourself. You're looking at images of other people and comparing yourself at a much greater pace than when you're face to face. This induces some part of a highly connected society to want to make changes in their appearance. It makes sense then that South Korea, being the first wired society, has seen these effects first. However, it should not have been unexpected that during the pandemic the rates of cosmetic surgery would increase in other countries as well. We knew we were being forced to be more digitally connected during the pandemic and should have been looking for unexpected effects in places of high connectivity.
Hyper-Luxury
Let's turn our attention to a trend in South Korea that might come to the US based on emerging social pressures. South Koreans line up in the early hours of the morning to buy very expensive luxury items. This isn't for a new release of something like the opening of a highly anticipated movie, the latest Apple electronic, or hot pair of sneakers. These are expensive sought after luxury items that are sold on a daily basis. People will line up to buy out the store. What's going on here? The Teller Report finds the following:
"I can't buy a house anyway, so I want to buy Chanel" [...] “With the surge in house prices in Korea, the 2030 generation has fallen into a sense of loss that they will never be able to buy a house. Instead, they are spending their money on things they can enjoy now,”
South Korea has the largest rise in income share for the top decile and the second largest rate of increase in income inequality. At the same time, South Korea has the lowest fertility rate of any country. This confluence of factors - a shrinking population, with a fast-widening wealth gap, and a high comparison society have made individuals focus on finding happiness in the here and now without planning for the future. Instead, people are focusing on material goods, specifically high value luxury goods. It should be no surprise then that South Korea also has one of the highest household debt loads as a percentage of GDP. While hyper-consumerism is nothing new to the US, it would be an odd sight to see people waiting in line at 4am just to buy a Chanel bag that is available on a normal day. However, as housing becomes more unaffordable, wealth gaps rise, fertility rates drop, and general hope and planning for the future reduce, expect unforeseen consumer behaviors to emerge.
Pathfinding the Future
Remember, there isn't a lot that is truly new in the world, especially from the way people interact. What's old is new again. Even if an event or societal trend is new to you, there's a high likelihood that it has occurred in either the past or another place. Therefore, if you want to educate yourself about what's likely to happen in the future, it makes sense to figure out what has happened previously, regardless of where it occurred. Examining South Korea is a great place to understand leading indicators about the future because it has something everyone else is approaching - a highly connected digital society.