Dr. Todd Rose

And it turns out in private, it is actually dead last.

So illusions don't get bigger than that.

But you can think about just the practical consequences here.

If we're all under this illusion of fame, then advertisers and TV producers, when they want to signal success, they sell us fame back to us because they think that's what we want.

And then we look at those commercials and storylines and say,

Well, obviously people care about fame.

Why would they sell it to us if we didn't?

And so we're stuck in this illusion.

And I'll say one more thing about this, that the practical consequences of collective illusions are that this generation's illusions tend to be next generation's private opinion.

And in the case of fame is exactly what we're seeing.

So my colleagues at UCLA have been studying middle school kids for, for quite a while.

Like what are they internalizing from society and from media and,

And up until a few years ago, the dominant theme every year was character related.

I want to be a good person, want to be honest, want to have friends.

A few years ago, it changed to I want to be famous.

And it hasn't changed back.

Now kids say things like, I want to have a million followers.

And you're like, at what?

And they can't tell you.

They just want to be famous.