It's easy to point fingers at landlords, Big Tech, the government, or "the 1%." In many cases, the criticism is valid. But we don't often acknowledge our own role in keeping broken systems running. Rent, social media, transportation, and wages aren't just top-down problems. They're also reflections of what we collectively accept, fund, and repeat.

Rent and housing: we keep feeding the fire

Yes, rent is absurdly high. Developers set aggressive prices, and landlords take advantage of scarcity. But we also:

• Save up, often painfully, for down payments on apartments we know we can't sustain
• Sign leases anyway, driven by location, status, or fear of missing out
• Normalize burnout and overwork to "keep up" with costs
• Use retail therapy or lifestyle "treats" to manage that burnout, and fall further into financial stress

If we truly want rent prices to correct, people have to stop applying for apartments they can't afford. That's not victim-blaming. It's a reflection of collective power. No demand, no price justification.

Social media: we are the algorithm

Yes, tech companies manipulate attention. Yes, their goal is to maximize engagement. But:

• We create the content
• We post the photos
• We like, share, swipe, and scroll
• We say we don't want to see "shallow" content, but we interact with it constantly

Platforms reflect what people choose to amplify. Social media is not inherently bad. It becomes what people give attention to:

• Use it for cooking, art, travel, education, or organizing, and that's what grows
• Use it for clout, validation, and envy, and that's what grows

The real algorithm is us.

Transportation, wages, and inertia

When subway fares rise or service deteriorates, people complain. But then:

• We keep riding
• We stay silent when labor unions strike
• We show up on time to work anyway

Same goes for wages. If no one challenges the system, it stays stagnant.

If everyone walked to work, carpooled, or worked from home and slowed the system down, employers, cities, and transit agencies would have no choice but to respond. But most of us fear disruption. So we comply, and the system coasts on predictability.

The truth: it's not just "them"

Big corporations, landlords, and old-money families are opportunists, not omnipotent.

• They exploit trends, behaviors, and weaknesses
• They plant seeds of insecurity and consumption, sure, but we choose to water them

Real change isn't about waiting for billionaires to grow a conscience. It's about people becoming more communal, more intentional, and more disruptive when necessary.

Final thought

The systems around us aren't immovable forces. They're fragile ecosystems held together by habits, compliance, and fear. If people changed their relationship to housing, tech, labor, and money, even slightly, the system would have no choice but to adapt.

But until we stop feeding it, it won't starve.