BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
Art used to be something you’d develop and evolve. The use of social media has stripped the intimacy of the artistic process. I’m not saying it’s like this for everyone, but seeing too far behind the curtain really takes the mystique away from things.
Let’s make this simple in comparison. Say you’re a child who loves the shit out of Sesame St. You watch it, you learn from it, and you love the characters. Then, because you’re a fan, you keep track of it on other mediums like the internet. Before you know it, you’re watching factory children sew together the parts of your favorite stuffed puppet friends. You’re seeing that there is no sky on Sesame St and that it’s all a production studio. You see that there are hands in the butts of your favorite characters that make the mouths move. You find out there is a script of words written by people who your parents would never trust babysitting you. The lessons that are being taught are not organic fun, it’s a curriculum provided by researchers. It’s all a farce. The illusion is ruined. Why watch it when you know everything that goes into it? Even at its best, the knowledge you’d have would not be un-learned.
That’s how I feel about social media. The more I read from some people, the more magic that goes away. We’re all getting too familiar and too crossed up.
People are lazy. It’s as simple as that. People want instant gratification and they want it five minutes ago. There is no patience, no craft, and certainly no effort. Communication is not only a necessity, but it should also be considered an “art”. I’m not saying it needs to be overly creative or anything too thought out, but even the shittiest of artists don’t talk about their brush rising process or every stroke that goes into a painting. There is no “big reveal” anymore because we’ve been included on every step of the process.
I guess what I’m trying to pretentiously say is that ROUTINE IS NOT NOTABLE.
I enjoy knowing what’s up about the people I care about, but where does it end? We’re being let go behind the curtain a bit too much these days. The problem is that no one cares that you need to stop for coffee before hurrying to work. No one cares that you’re sleepy, but gotta stay up all night. No one gives a shit that you worked out today. If you’re really into exercise that is awesome and good for you. You have a leg up on the rest of the slobs out there. I work out at least five days a week, but who gives a shit? I also shower, brush my teeth, read, and sleep every day. Is THAT “post worthy”? No.
The things we do every day are NOT “post worthy”. Did something new happen? Did you hit a personal goal that you’ve worked towards? Did you think of a funny anecdote? A new realization? A rant? Something to vent? A new project to tell people about? Something make you smile? Hear a new song that you love and want others to check out? Wanna ask if anyone is going to see that new movie? Etc. etc. etc. etc. There is literally a million “post worthy” topics.
It’s sad to say, but people are casually becoming lazy attention whores. I’m not being irrational. You’re just being lame. If you don’t have anything interesting to say, then just shut up. No one wants to put in the time to live their life and make real moments that would actually be “notable”.
I won’t even get into the people who post a million memes, it’s more than that. The pictures posted online should be selective. There is no reason to share 100 variations of the same party with the world. I’m all for seeing new pictures of friends and loved ones. If it’s a person, a place, or a thing then I’m all for it. Then again, people ruin that too. Why do we need to see a picture of the plate of food in front of you? Is it really that cool to take pictures of strangers and post some kind of shitty comment about them?
And ladies, those “downward camera angles” are fooling no one.
I don’t need to cover the “meme people”. We all know them. I’m sure a lot of us can even admit it and say “some of my best friends are meme people”. These people need their own episode of “intervention” fa show! We’ll skip these people for now.
One area that I’d like to “go off on” is the people who post jokes. Funny jokes are always welcomed when they come in the form of an ORIGINAL thought. There are splooge sponges who are JOKE JACKERS. I’m talking flat out comedy thieves. I’ve seen more than a few people quote jokes and lines from famous movies, standup comedians, and even copied from memes. The problem here is they’ll do this WITHOUT the quotes. Then they’ll get comments from their dumb friends that’ll say things like “you should do comedy!” or “what will you think of next!” It’s cheap and scummy. How sad of a person do you have to be to do this? On the flip side, there are plenty of people who’ll drop a random one-liner and it’ll hit at the perfect time to make someone’s day. Then again, it all depends on who you’re “connected to” in the social media world. It’s easy to follow a ton of stand-up comedians and get quality humor coming through. If your dorky friend say something that’s a little too funny for their reading level I’d recommend copy and pasting their words into Google. Don’t be surprised if you get a “Did you mean hack comedy?” to pop up.
It would be easy to say “if you hate social media so much then just don’t use it!” That’s crazy. It’s like saying “if you don’t like drunk drivers then stay off the road!” Social media CAN be awesome. We CAN connect at our own leisure. There are plenty of things to nit-pic about social media, but the mere concept is amazing. The world is a few clicks away. It just sucks to have to filter through all the lazy attention whore posts to find any substance.
To close up this brain dropping of a rant, I’m going to ask you to do me a solid. Next time you go to post on a social media site, think a little bit before you type. Think a little harder before you hit “Send”. Is it REALLY “post worthy”? Is anyone going to give a shit? Are you THAT in need of attention right now?
That said, tell ALL your social media friends about THIS blog! ;-)
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