Brand Me, Break Me: The Confused User’s Guide to Digital Collapse (A College Essay Prompt)

In addition to teaching Critical Thinking, I also teach Freshman Composition, and this semester I’m working with student-athletes—specifically, football players navigating the brave new world of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals. These athletes are now eligible to make money from social media, which makes our first writing assignment both practical and perilous.

Essay Prompt #1: Brand Me, Break Me: The Confused User’s Guide to Digital Collapse

Social media is a business. Social media is also a drug. Sometimes, it’s both—and that’s when things get weird.

In the docuseries Money Game, we watch college athletes play the algorithm like it’s just another playbook. They build brands, negotiate deals, and treat their social feeds like a revenue stream. Let’s call them Business Users—people who understand the game and are winning it.

But then come the Dopamine Users, the rest of us poor souls, scrolling and posting not for profit, but for approval. In Black Mirror’s “Nosedive” and “Joan Is Awful,” we see social media mutate into a psychological carnival of rating systems, fake smiles, and avatars of self-worth. The result? A curated self that has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with anxiety, desperation, and an ongoing identity crisis.

And then there’s the tragicomic third act: The Confused User. Think Untold: The Liver King. Here’s a guy who tried to be a Business User but collapsed into parody—lying, self-deluding, and publicly unraveling. The Confused User believes they’re optimizing for attention and success but ends up optimizing for ridicule and collapse.

In this essay, use Money Game, “Nosedive,” “Joan Is Awful,” Untold: The Liver King, Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” and Sherry Turkle’s TED Talk “Alone, but Connected?” to respond to the following claim:

Social media can be a profitable business tool—but when it becomes a substitute for self-worth, it guarantees isolation, mental illness, and eventual collapse. Understanding the difference between Business Users, Dopamine Users, and Confused Users may be the only way to survive the algorithm without losing your mind.

You may agree, partially agree, or disagree with the claim—but either way, take a position with clarity and nuance. Analyze the psychology, the economics, and the wreckage.

And remember: this is a critical thinking exercise. That means no TikTok therapy takes, no AI-generated summaries, and no mushy conclusions. Think hard, argue well, and—above all—write like someone who’s seen the glitch in the matrix.

Sample Thesis Statements:

1. While social media offers entrepreneurial opportunities for Business Users, the vast majority of people are Dopamine Users unknowingly trading mental stability for validation, making the platform a psychological trap disguised as empowerment.
   
2. The Confused User, exemplified by the Liver King, represents a cautionary tale in the digital economy: when brand-building and identity collapse into one, social media success becomes indistinguishable from self-destruction.
   
3. Social media doesn’t inherently damage us—but without a clear distinction between economic strategy and personal validation, users risk becoming Confused Users whose craving for attention leads not to fame, but to ruin.
   

In a world where your Instagram handle might carry more currency than your GPA, this isn’t just an academic exercise—it’s a survival guide. Whether you’re gunning for a sponsorship deal or just trying not to lose your sense of self in the scroll, this essay is your chance to interrogate the game before it plays you. Treat it like film study for the algorithm: read the plays, understand the players, and figure out how to stay human in a system designed to monetize your attention and, if you’re not careful, your identity.