The Cost of Engagement: Why Likes and Comments Have Lost Their Value

Let’s be honest, we all like being liked. That tiny red heart or blue thumbs-up gives us a jolt of validation. It feels like someone, somewhere, just said “I see you.”

But what started as harmless affirmation has quietly become a psychological trap.

Social platforms, especially those dressed up as “professional networks”, have learned to weaponize this need for validation. They’ve built entire engagement economies around our dopamine responses. Every post, every like, every view, every comment, carefully counted and ranked, not to celebrate our ideas, but to keep us hooked.

The Performance of Professionalism

LinkedIn, for instance, was supposed to be about credibility and connection.
Now, it’s a stage.

People post for applause, not for impact.

Content is written to trigger engagement, not to share insight. The platform rewards emotional bait: plagiarized content, AI slop, exaggerated success stories, over-curated reflections, humblebrags thinly disguised as authenticity.

Meanwhile, genuine expertise, the quiet, nuanced kind, gets buried because it doesn’t provoke clicks or heart emojis fast enough.

The system has been gamed.

You can literally hack your way to influence with the right mix of buzzwords, hashtags, and predictable sentimentality.

Vanity Metrics, Real Consequences

Here’s the paradox: we call them “vanity metrics,” but their impact is anything but vain.

When your sense of worth starts depending on numbers that fluctuate by the hour, it’s not just your feed that’s being optimized, it’s your self-esteem.

Low engagement? Maybe people don’t respect you.

High engagement? Maybe you’ve finally made it.

This constant feedback loop conditions us to measure value in visibility, not substance. And it’s taking a mental toll.

Psychologists call it social comparison theory, our tendency to evaluate ourselves based on others. In the age of infinite feeds, this comparison never ends. Every post becomes a mirror, distorted, addictive, impossible to look away from.

And it’s not just emotional harm. The “fake it till you make it” culture, amplified by platforms like LinkedIn, has turned performance into a professional survival strategy. People are faking expertise, credibility, and competence to stay visible in the algorithm’s eyes.

The result? Shallow thought leadership, recycled wisdom, and in many cases, bad advice with real-world consequences. It’s not just misleading individuals, it’s polluting entire industries.

And the worst part? Even when we know it’s artificial, it still bothers. Because deep down, we all want to be seen for who we are, not for how well we perform in the social media circus.

The Illusion of “Engagement”

Engagement metrics are meant to signal attention and interest. But what do they actually measure?

A like could mean “I read this,” or “I didn’t, but I like you.”

A comment could mean “Great point!”, or “I want visibility in your network.”

When everything becomes a performance, even our interactions lose their meaning.

Platforms like LinkedIn thrive on this illusion because it fuels their business model. The more we chase engagement, the longer we stay, the more ads we see.

Your validation is their revenue stream.

Reclaiming Meaning: The Case for Weighted Value

But what if every interaction carried real weight?
What if a like wasn’t just a reflex, but a reflection of genuine agreement or appreciation?

On most networks, likes are free, therefore, meaningless.
On LinkedIn, a single tap can inflate someone’s perceived authority, even if the post says nothing of value. Engagement becomes a currency without cost, and therefore without integrity.

Pravodha flips that logic.

Here, you can only spend what you earn.

Every “like,” “bookmark,” or contribution costs Repo Points - a reputation currency you accumulate through meaningful participation: when others engage thoughtfully with your ideas, when your insights are bookmarked, or when you spend real time in discussion.

It’s not a popularity contest; it’s a credibility economy.
Your influence grows through contribution, not performance.

By attaching tangible value to digital interactions, Pravodha restores the integrity of recognition. A like means something again, not because it’s scarce, but because it’s earned.

This model doesn’t punish engagement; it elevates it. It transforms attention into appreciation, and performance into participation.

Building a Healthier Digital Ego

Let’s be real, we’ll never stop craving validation. It’s human nature.
But we can choose what kind of validation we build our digital lives around.

Do we want fast, empty reactions that make us feel momentarily seen?
Or slower, more meaningful recognition that actually reflects what we stand for?

When you strip away the vanity metrics, you start seeing something powerful: Engagement can be more than a dopamine hit. It can be evidence of contribution towards building a community you can be proud of.

And maybe that’s what the next generation of professional networks should measure, not how loud you are, but how much you help others grow.

In the End…

The real “hidden cost” of engagement isn’t about time lost scrolling.
It’s about meaning lost chasing metrics.

Pravodha exists to change that, to make every like, bookmark, and conversation matter again.

Because when recognition has value, participation has purpose.

What Can You Do?

Stop performing. Start contributing.

Join Pravodha, the professional network that values insight over influence.

Pravodha gives you back control of your professional network by putting you, not algorithms, ads, or vanity metrics, in charge of your professional network and career.