2021-05-30
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I happened across quite an insightful blog post trilogy about
social media. It's a long, but a rewarding read.
https://emperorponders.blog/2021/05/16/everything-is-social-part-i/
https://emperorponders.blog/2021/05/19/everything-is-social-part-ii/
https://emperorponders.blog/2021/05/22/everything-is-social-iii/
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Here's a quote:
When you look back with nostalgia to past entertainment or
communities, it's not just because things were better back then.
Indeed, many were much better but, granted, a lot was garbage too.
Yet even things that now are objectively good seem tainted somehow,
lacking in spirit or authenticity. That can be quite literal as
the product might have been designed by marketing studies chasing
trends and fads. But the taint also comes from the Community,
the Commentators, and (some) Content Creators.
Your nostalgia is for a different kind of social and
psychological context, one with fewer mediators, where marketing
forces were hidden rather than in your face and disguised as
organic fan engagement. You look back with fondness for a time
where the 'community' just your friends, a couple of magazines
you read, and perhaps the letters you sent to those magazines;
when there was no Community in the modern sense, no constant
self-branding, hustling, and grifting, nor any need to manage
or engage with the Community or with its myriad of gatekeepers,
corporate influencers, and 'conversations'. You look back,
ironically, to a time when you could be left alone, when
the distinction between consumer and producer was clear, when not
every little act, behavior, or idea was social, and, therefore,
observed and ranked, a social pattern that benefits sociopathic
individuals.
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