Moving from a higher level to a lower one is essentially a form of dimensionality reduction. The shift in products and services within a society from a higher level to a lower one reflects a process of that reduction, signifying a transition from a higher-level society to a lower-level one. Is such a scenario possible in modern China? Under the pervasive influence of the internet economy, this is indeed possible.
For example, for professionals and audiophiles engaged in audio-related work, a portable voice recorder is an indispensable tool. Its recording capability and playback quality must reach a certain standard for professional use. In this industry, there are only a few truly high-quality recording device brands globally. Among them, the most famous is Sony, which specializes in providing high-quality recording equipment.
Sony once released the PCM-D100 recorder in 2013, which was highly acclaimed by professionals and enthusiasts alike. This somewhat old model may not be immediately user-friendly due to its relatively low level of intelligenization, but once users become accustomed to it, they quickly appreciate the subtleties of Sony's recording devices.
The recording effect of the PCM-D100 is excellent. One can hear various sounds through the monitoring headphones, each with its own distance, height, and depth. The sounds are very delicate, in which they are recorded and presented in a three-dimensional way, rather than being mixed in like a typical recorder. Audio technology expert Wang Zhaoxi pointed out that Sony is already a pioneer and standard bearer in the audio field, creating the concept of high resolution (hi-res) from both recording and playback perspectives. He mentioned that high resolution originated from a technical concept of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) but was commercialized and marketed by Sony and the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), and came to be widely used in the market. The PCM-D100 recorder is considered an important product of Sony's hi-res strategy. In addition to upgrades in appearance and recording quality, compared to the older model PCM-D50, which only supports MP3 and WAV, the PCM-D100 can play a wider range of music formats. Hi-res has been dubbed as the "small gold standard", dominating recorders and high-quality music players.
However, these high-quality professional recorders are similar to traditional high-end SLR cameras, which have been squeezed out by online audio and video in recent years. In the past, some simple, or even rudimentary products have become popular among enthusiasts due to the widespread presence of the internet economy. Conversely, high-quality SLR cameras with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of pixels have become niche products, with only few patronizing them, and now they have little commercial value.
Such phenomena are actually quite common. For example, the physical audio quality recorded on CDs far exceeds the compressed digital audio quality provided by the internet nowadays. However, who still uses those old CD players? In the era of "fast-moving consumer goods", how many people still care about the elegance of hand-sewn suits? Elon Musk has revived electric cars that existed in the 19th century and has captured a large portion of the market from mechanically intricate fuel cars. Perhaps, in not too long, the Mercedes and Lexus cars that remain today will only be collectibles for a few niche collectors. In today's internet society, online traffic has generated enormous consumer power. It not only consumes products in terms of increments but also destroys a large number of products in terms of stock. In the era of online traffic economy, what value does an outstanding economist's speech create in the internet society? Can it surpass that of a celebrity with millions of supporters?
The internet society has now dictates that "online traffic is king", and with that, it determines the "toxicity” of such an economy.
How should we understand such complex trend and change? All in all, the online traffic economy is determined by the size of traffic. In this economy, demand from the bottom and lower-end segments of the society is usually significant, but this wave-like, large-scale demand tends to be of low-end nature, thereby determining, driving, and possibly leading to the commodification of social products and services. Under such social context, high-end products and refined arts find it challenging to compete with mass-market products and low-end arts, even including erotic ones. This is a characteristic of the current era driven by the internet economy and online traffic economy, thus promoting the polarization of society.
In order to gain an upper hand in scale and user traffic, internet companies and platforms are competing with each other, even resorting to mass-producing vulgar and low-quality content to attract users. Regardless of the original intention, the ultimate result is the elimination of high-quality products and refined culture that do not contribute to traffic as much as possible. This economic and social ecosystem seriously challenges the traditionally cherished stable, genuine, and rigorous social and cultural system, constructing a "traffic-first" fast food culture, where vulgarity becomes the decisive mainstream. This leads the entire society into a dimensionality reduction, transitioning from high dimensions to a low one, from "urbanization of rural areas" to "ruralization of urban areas" and essentially creates a reverse development.
Is it possible for high and low to coexist, and appreciate each other? This requires support conditions from different stages of social development and cannot be formed simply by imagination and advocacy. Niche, high-end products and their brands are insensitive in a society pursuing online traffic. The advantages brought by the internet economy and online traffic cause them to be “lofty”, far away from mainstream society. For such high-end brands and products, they have lost their ability to lead, innovate, and, of course, create value. Sony's audio products are successful because of their quality and reliability, but they rely solely on word-of-mouth among experts and support from niche communities. The problem is that as a result, they will become increasingly niche in the future and will ultimately be completely defeated by similar low-end products that become popular due to traffic.
This phenomenon of online traffic economy can actually be understood the inferior prevails over the superior. This is a characteristic of the extreme polarization of internet society, where goods and services with disadvantages, flaws, and problems become mainstream, while those that should have disappeared due to flaws show greater damping and even a trend of resurgence as they approach the end. Therefore, recognizing the extreme polarization of internet society as a frightening trend and avoiding serious developmental imbalances is a major challenge for the future. Objectively speaking, in internet society, the neutralization of economic policies and the existence of classes or social strata may help to restrain the trend of extremism and may even contribute to the long-term development of the socio-economic landscape.
Final analysis conclusion:
In the internet society, where online traffic determines everything, it is a society of dimensionality reduction, and such a traffic economy is a "toxic" economic model. It does not always drive society towards progress; many times, it leads to regression
