Where does the long road to success begin?

A path strewn with likes and sirens

Of the 8 billion people in the world, only a few tens of thousands will achieve international recognition during our lifetime. Set up as role models or commercial products, an entire industry depends on them. Statistically, our chance of becoming one of them is of the order of 0.00001, 1 ten-thousandth.

Even if for every 10 Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian or Lionel Messi we find 1 Hubert Reeves, in every case this recognition comes with media coverage. These stars know how to both choose their field of interest (music, sport, literature, business, etc.) and play the media game. Our appetite for their stories does the rest.

International recognition crowns talent, of course, but also the ability to deliver a performance. For those who aren't interested, or who don't seek it out - take Warren Buffet, for example - recognition comes more indirectly, but always through the media. He gives rare interviews, has written a few books, but it's mainly the media that have spotted him as an investor, at the top of the economic charts.

Researchers, most often unknown, have their moment of glory when they receive a Nobel Prize or a Fields Medal, and quickly fall out of the media spotlight. With a few exceptions, they are not very "entertaining". You have to consult scholarly journals to keep up with them, and even in these publications, the most recognized know how to highlight their results and generate interest.

A number of popularizers achieve popular success through a combination of rigor and stagecraft that make what are reputed to be dry subjects interesting. But for most researchers, their work is enough to keep their flame burning, regardless of public recognition. The same applies to most of humanity: the satisfaction derived from one's own activity provides the essential motivation.

Recognition as a secondary criterion

In every environment, recognition is closely linked to the interest aroused by a characteristic that stands out: original, remarkable, rare or difficult to achieve. By digitizing this recognition in terms of "likes", social networks make available an objective measure of the attention given, and can thus quench our thirst for recognition to their great benefit... with recognized addictive effects.

In a way, financial success is another form of "like": if you make a lot of money, you attract attention: paparazzi, tax inspectors, thieves, salesmen and those for whom money is a supreme value, but what about satisfaction? After the exhilaration of the big night, what's left in front of the mirror?

I am what I want to be

With 10 likes, some people are happy, while others with 100,000 views feel that their star is fading. Comparison with a previous result or with the competition ends up taking up all the space, to the point of questioning one's own scale of value: who am I if nobody recognizes me? We exist insofar as we can create an effect, but it's above all the consideration we give to this effect that counts.

For some people, helping just one person reassures them of their worth; many teachers change people's destinies, but won't really know it until years later; nurses save lives, and the value of the result is enough to establish their importance; and finally, others take pleasure in annoying those around them, which reassures them of their abilities. This shows that even if public recognition has something to do with the value of the result, it's the consideration that counts for the individual. We give it to ourselves. Depending on others to obtain it is an illusion.

Yes, public recognition can confirm our worth, but no, it's not enough to satisfy us. This is the essential lesson to teach young people in need of social networking.

Our effect is real, even if it isn't recognized, and that's all that counts in the end. Those who benefit from posthumous recognition can testify to this. Their achievements, courage, dedication and commitment to the pursuit of their goals, even if they didn't reach them, may never have been recognized in their lifetime, but they become sources of inspiration for all humans, far beyond their popularity. Pioneers, openers of possibilities, tireless seekers, they move us forward even if the media know nothing about it.

The road to the stars may be long, but the satisfaction of getting there is well worth the effort.

Illustration : Pexels - Pixabay

References

#StatusofMind - Social media and young people's mental health and wellbeing - Royal Society for Public Health
https://www.rsph.org.uk/static/uploaded/d125b27c-0b62-41c5-a2c0155a8887cd01.pdf

Social networks: between addictive mechanism and social cursor, what's the point of a "like"?
https://www.neonmag.fr/societe-politique/reseaux-sociaux-entre-mecanique-addictive-et-curseur-social-a-quoi-sert-le-like-535020

Students' aspirations for further education - OECD (2018)
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/les-aspirations-des-eleves-concernant-la-poursuite-de-leurs-etudes_5j90h4nhndjh.pdf

Celebrities

Taylor Swift - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift

Kim Kardashian - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kardashian

Lionel Messi - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messi

Hubert Reeves - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Reeves

Warren Buffet - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett