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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Rachel Aroesti

‘Have I been influenced, or is this actually me?’ How personal taste fell out of fashion

Illustration of rows of pale sheep with downturned coat hangers for mouth, holding mobile phones in their hooves, among them an image of one sheep with bright-red wool and an upturned coat hanger for a mouth, wearing shades and a scarf

What are you into? What floats your boat? What music, films, clothes, art, books – anything, really – do you actually like? Do you find these questions more difficult to answer than you would have done 10 years ago? How about 20? You do? You’re not alone.

It has become impossible to ignore: personal taste has been seriously debased – if not completely destroyed – by technological advancement. We know the internet has radically altered the way we form our opinions and beliefs. Now we’re waking up to another sobering truth: it has wrecked our capacity to form our own preferences.

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