Greek-Roman philosopher Plutarch’s ancient advice for how to be happier online
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For many centuries, the writings of Plutarch of Chaeronia (c.46-119CE) were at the heart of elite humanistic education in the West. We can see the influence of his Lives of Eminent Greeks and Romans and the philosophical essays in his work Moralia in early modern authors from Michel de Montaigne and Francis Bacon to William Shakespeare.
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Many of Plutarch’s essays also have a practical focus that can seem very timely in our social media age. He writes about how to cool the desire to gossip and pry into other people’s lives and how not to be taken in by salacious stories.
He gives advice about how to avoid being triggered by others’ provocations and how to benefit from disagreement. He advises on how to speak about ourselves without boasting or self-advertisement, how to tell friends from conmen (or flatterers) trying to sell us something, and how to pay attention so our minds are not overloaded and scattered.
It almost seems as if Plutarch was peering into the 21st century and responding to the mental health challenges our commercialised social media is producing at scale.
The reality, as journalist Max Fisher outlines in his book The Chaos Machine, is that social media companies have identified the same psychological vulnerabilities Plutarch hoped to help readers to correct, recognising them as effective ways to “maximise user engagement”.
Change begins with seeing the problems
Plutarch belongs to the ancient Greco-Roman...