In the app world, the seven deadly sins have found new digital avatars

The seven deadly sins, or cardinal sins, are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth.

 

Pride (superbia in Latin, hubris in Greek) is considered the original and worst of the seven deadly sins — the most demonic: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Greed, avaritia, is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs. Wrath, ira, is uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and hatred, sometimes leading to vengeance. Envy, born of vanity or vaingloria, is the sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of another, sometimes leading to the urge to inflict pain upon others. Lust, luxuria, or lechery, is intense longing leading to unbridled sexual desire. But it can also denote other forms of unbridled desire — such as for power or money. Gluttony, gula, is the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything to the point of excess. Sloth, acedia, is the absence of interest in, or habitual disinclination to, exertion — a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancour, apathy, and a passive, inert, or sluggish mentation leading to laziness, idleness, and indolence. 

In the digital age today, the seven deadly sins have taken on distinct contemporary avatars — Instagram (pride), LinkedIn (greed), Twitter (wrath), Facebook (envy), Tinder (lust), Zomato (gluttony) and Sloth (Netflix). 

Let us start with lust. Tinder is so “evilly satisfying”. When it comes to finding a mate, Tinder’s right swipes appeal to the simplest of our cognitive shortcuts: Are they nearby? Are they available? Are they attractive? If so, swipe right. For short-term hook-ups or daily lust, Tinder is perfect. Tinder has caused a “dating apocalypse”. With more and more people becoming increasingly disinterested in conventional relationships and more comfortable with technology in their personal lives, the allure of swiping has become too evilly satisfying to quit. 

Now to pride. Instagram is often described as a “highlight reel” of people’s lives, focusing on their best moments rather than the everyday realities — users actively craft their profiles and posts to project a desired image of themselves. Instagram has triggered the gradual emergence of the new beautiful woman — a cyborgian face that is young, with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones, catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes, a small, neat nose, and full, lush lips. “It’s the Instagram Face — an unrealistic sculpture that looks like it’s made out of clay,” as The New Yorker puts it. 

If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang, which is what Facebook is today. Facebook is like being in a play where you make a character, not play yourself. Users who feel jealous of their friends’ status updates, photos, and life events often deal with it by exaggerating their own accomplishments, posting unrealistically pretty profile shots, and sharing over-the-top status updates. These, in turn, lead other Facebook friends to feel jealous and inadequate — the boomerang — something researchers have also dubbed an “envy spiral.” 

Gluttony and Zomato are kind of synonymous. The 24x7 food delivery app has opened up possibly every restaurant, every cuisine, and every eating aperture to both access and excess. Graze or gorge — gastronomy is becoming daily gluttony, compromising the “wellth” of all. Gluttony is a lust of the mind, and Zomato is helping lubricate it. 

 

LinkedIn can help you find a job and promote yourself, but it may also leave you questioning your own career trajectory. That is where self-doubt kicks in. Low self-esteem hits home. And the greed for more — a bigger title, a better compensation, more peer appreciation and applause — gets triggered. The early symptoms may be manifested in frustration and dejection over the success of others but lack of contentment leads to FOMO, hence greed. 

Sloth is an offence against time, a sin against our potentiality, a sin against ourselves — a failure to get out there and grab what we deserve and what we can achieve. Netflix, with its abundant repertoire, nullifies all that we are capable of doing, or must do. Bridgerton, Stranger Things, Emily in Paris, Wednesday, Dahmer, Yellowstone, Squid Game, and Money Heist — Netflix content is riveting and relaxing, but also ruining. 

 “X”? Twitter is toxic. Home to online abuse, hate speech, and harassment. Home to trolls. It started with a utopian vision of creating a space for genuine public discourse, but that is now long gone. It is now more about hate, divisiveness, and zilch moderation. 

The moot question is whether a digital business can be built from The Seven Gifts of Grace: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Piety, Fortitude, and Fear of the Lord. Or does sin sell better than virtue?

  The author is chairman of Rediffusion