I think only in a few cases do the signaling externalities consume 100% of the benefits of some activity. (Really I don’t think it’s true even for the swiss watch example.)
Polishing up social media posts can have both useful components, since better posts are better for the reader, and a zero-sum component. In this case the positive effects are also external to the post-writer, so I agree that it’s actually unclear whether you end up with too much or too little polish.
I think only in a few cases do the signaling externalities consume 100% of the benefits of some activity. (Really I don’t think it’s true even for the swiss watch example.)
Polishing up social media posts can have both useful components, since better posts are better for the reader, and a zero-sum component. In this case the positive effects are also external to the post-writer, so I agree that it’s actually unclear whether you end up with too much or too little polish.