This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
Good morning.
Morning.
Good morning.
Oh, and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.
In the 1998 movie the Truman show, an insurance adjuster slowly discovers that his entire life is a sham.
His wife, his best friend, his neighbors, they're all actors playing roles in a reality show conceived by a mad television producer.
When he figures this out, Truman Burbank starts dreaming about escape.
But he finds hes trapped.
Even the traffic seems coordinated to prevent him from leaving town.
Locked at every turn.
Beautifully synchronized, dont you agree?
Youre blaming me for the traffic?
Should I?
On todays show, we explore the idea that many of us are living in our own private version of the Truman show.
Unlike the movie, our prisons are of our own making.
They are the fictional worlds we create for ourselves.
On social media, you're kind of curating.
Your life, just these very specific moments, the best of the best that you're putting up there with no context.