Spinning Freedom, Unreachable Hearts

Imagine a sculpture in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, a country brushed by the cold Baltic winds. A giant steel man and woman slowly but endlessly approach each other. Just as you expect them to warmly embrace, their bodies pass through one another, leaving an empty space between them as they drift apart again. This eternal motion carries both longing and loneliness.

This sculpture symbolizes the infinite yearning and support for ‘freedom’ reclaimed through song by Estonians who suffered for decades under the shadow of a powerful neighbor. A movement that never stops, never gives up. It is a sublime ideal in itself.

I couldn’t shake the thought that this unreachable movement strikingly resembles our own reflection today. We too once welcomed a dazzling ‘freedom’ that seemed to save the world. The era of social media opened by Facebook and Instagram, a new world where information and ideas flowed across borders and time without limits. We firmly believed we would connect more broadly, understand each other more deeply, and finally become one community.

2. The First Excitement of the Digital Agora

Do you remember the excitement we felt in the early 2010s? People called social media the ‘digital agora.’ The cheers of citizens filling Egypt’s squares spread worldwide via Twitter, and we celebrated humanity’s arrival at a true era of communication beyond oppression. The small voice from my room reached someone on the other side of the globe, gained empathy, and created a massive wave—a miracle witnessed. That freedom was infinite possibility itself.

But we didn’t know that beneath that dazzling square, a shadow was growing to hold us back.

3. The Cracked Dinner Table

The story goes back to an ordinary holiday evening at my home. A table set with steaming braised short ribs and fragrant japchae. The laughter of family reunited after a long time filled the room warmly. The conversation naturally turned to the recently announced real estate policy. Then it happened. My usually cheerful uncle took out his smartphone with a serious face unlike usual.

“You still don’t understand the world. Everything in the media is a lie. There’s a post by a real expert in this Facebook group I joined, and if things go on like this, we’re all doomed!”

The screen he showed had sensational titles like ‘Shocking Revelation!’ and ‘The Truth the Government Hid!’ with several graphs of unknown origin. I cautiously spoke based on what I had confirmed through various articles and reports.

“Uncle, but some parts of that seem different from the facts. Official statistics say we can expect positive effects in the long term.”

At that moment, the warm atmosphere at the table turned cold. The smile disappeared from my uncle’s face. “That’s all data made to brainwash you! Do you think the tens of thousands in this group are all fools?” The conversation was no longer a policy debate. It was a war between ’those who see the truth’ and ’those brainwashed.’ We were in the same space, but actually living in different worlds created by our smartphones.

4. Several Scenes That Divide Us

It’s not only dramatic conflicts like the dinner with my uncle. The transparent walls created by social media quietly break down even our ordinary relationships in various ways. These are familiar scenes you might have experienced.

• First scene: The ‘Like’ overshadowed by a friend’s success Do you know the subtle sense of deprivation when you see a childhood best friend’s SNS? Their feed is full of edited ’life highlights’ like overseas trips, fancy restaurants, and promotion parties. Comparing it to my shabby reality struggling with overtime, I find myself feeling closer to jealousy than congratulations. I force myself to press the ’like’ button, but a chill lingers in my heart. We know more about our friends than ever, yet paradoxically, we grow further apart from their real lives.

• Second scene: Hollow comfort, lonely nights When you bravely post about a really hard time, comments like ‘Stay strong’ and ‘I’ll pray for you’ pile up along with dozens of likes. But have you experienced the emptiness of a night without a single call or message? My pain is briefly consumed on friends’ timelines, and people seem to think they fulfilled their ‘duty of comfort’ with a finger tap. In the illusion of connection, we become more thoroughly alone than ever.

• Third scene: A decade of friendship ended by ‘unfollow’ Have you ever unfollowed a friend of many years because of differing political or social views? Once we talked all night about life, but now their posts make us uncomfortable or even angry. We label those with different thoughts as ‘people we can’t understand’ and cutting ties becomes the easiest solution. Instead of trying to persuade or understand those with different views, we simply ‘delete’ them in the digital world.

Behind all these scenes is the invisible hand called the ‘algorithm.’ This attentive but cunning steward shows only what it thinks I like, trapping me in a comfortable ’echo chamber’ and reinforcing ‘confirmation bias.’ As a result, we judge and categorize others easily based on fragmented images edited by algorithms rather than seeing their diverse lives and thoughts as they truly are.

5. For the ‘Noisy Dance’ Called Democracy

So what should we do? Can we break down these invisible walls and approach each other again?

I believe the answer lies in the courage to endure discomfort and the resolve to become travelers. Small discomforts like deliberately tuning into different channels instead of the usual ones, taking ten seconds to breathe before replying with a counter-comment to a friend with opposing views, and humility to admit that sometimes I might be wrong.

Democracy is not a quiet, beautiful harmony. It is a noisy, lively market where different voices mix and sometimes clash. Restoring that healthy noise. Refusing the fate of forever passing by each other like the Tallinn sculpture, stopping the rotation for a moment, and awkwardly learning a new dance together.

Perhaps that is the only way in this great era of freedom to protect democracy and our broken relationships.