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"Love Island USA" is a game show about finding true love and testing that connection.
Despite the premise of the show, most of the contestants have failed to make strong connections.
They seem too preoccupied with perception, reflecting our culture of social media and surveillance.
If you want to understand how constantly carrying a camera in your pocket has affected the way we think, behave, and fall in love, watch "Love Island USA."
On Tuesday, the 26th (!!!) episode of season seven aired on Peacock, meaning the original cast members have been secluded in an open-air Fiji villa for about one month. Based on how the show typically progresses, by this time, there should be several strong connections between the islanders, couples for the viewers to root for and, eventually, to vote for as joint winners of a $100,000 cash prize.
This season has made a negative impression for various reasons, chief among them being an apparent lack of sincerity. The islanders seem hyper-aware of their role as entertainers and competitors, much too preoccupied with how they're being perceived by an invisible audience to be truly honest and vulnerable with each other.
Can we blame them?
It's not only that cameras are pointed at the islanders from every angle, in every nook and cranny of the villa, during every minute of the day — it's that reality TV has reached the point where viable cast members are already accustomed to those exact conditions.
Love Island USA returned to Peacock on June 7.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
It's painfully clear that living in an age of constant surveillance has taken its toll on these twentysomethings. This season, the cast's ages have ranged from 21 (Vanna) to 29 (Zak), though most hover in the 23-27 range. Their lives have been defined by the advent and proliferation of smartphones; the rise of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok; and with these gadgets and platforms, a new kind of celebrity known as the "influencer." These days, some genre of content creator is one of the most commonly cited dream jobs for Gen Alpha kids.
Speaking as someone who came of age in a post-9/11 world, who happily forked over my personal data to Mark Zuckerberg when I had yet to hit puberty, my generation's expectation of privacy ceased to exist pretty quickly. But when a person grows up idolizing those who found fame by broadcasting their personal lives, the value of privacy is also lost.
Amaya Espinal is one of the few islanders not afraid to show real emotion
Amaya looks shocked during an episode of "Love Island USA."
Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images
Inside the villa, this expectation is dialed up to maximum levels. With the exception of Amaya Espinal — who is so raw and sincere that her willingness to express emotion has been repeatedly mocked by her castmates — the Gen Zers on "Love Island" seem to be putting up a front because they probably are; it comes as naturally to them as posing for a photo or curating a dating app profile.
This inevitably makes it difficult for the islanders to forge genuine intimacy, especially in the fires of reality TV. As April Eldemire, a licensed marriage and family therapist, previously told Business Insider's Julia Pugachevsky, vulnerability and open communication are keys to a lasting relationship. "You have to go in with open eyes," she said.
However, this doesn't necessarily make the islanders "fake." It makes them products of an environment that billionaires and tech companies created — and a tragic mirror for the rest of us.
