Everyone and their mother knows about Coachella, the massive music festival in the deserts of southern California that is host to all the big names in music and art for two whole weekends. People come in from all over the world to attend this festival clad in clothes that now have their own category in the fashion world ("OMG that outfit is so Coachella"). I mean, it sounds great, right? Two weekends of stacked lineups of live music, delicious food, tons of people dancing in the desert of California and having a blast? On its most basic level, yes, it does sound awesome and like everyone should want to go, and for a while I wanted to, too, but as I started to look at Coachella a little closer over the years I realized that it's not exactly what I thought it was.

Over the years, as it has become more popular and more socially 'cool' to be a part of, Coachella has seemed to lose its grounding a little bit. In my opinion, a music festival is about the music. Yes, of course, the people that are in attendance are a large part of what a festival is, and hype around it is bound to occur especially if it's something as large in scale as Coachella, but the thing about Coachella is that it has become so significantly less about the music as it's grown. Yes, everyone gets excited when the lineup is released, but after about a week the attention turns to what celebrities will be in attendance and what they'll be wearing. It has become an excuse for the wealthy of our world to flaunt what they have all over social media for two weekends as they party in the middle of California, eating, drinking and fraternizing with others of the same status. Even certain brands that are going to be at Coachella invite celebrities to come to the festival in a form of sponsorship, and they host private parties prior to the festival day for only those invited. It all feels very "high school cool kid's invite-only party" to me.

I know a lot of people love Coachella and I'm not saying I don't. I do think it's a really cool time of year when so many great bands and performers can all be at one place doing what they love and letting so many people listen. I think it's awesome that it's promoting all sorts of art and not only music. I think the idea of Coachella is amazing and is something we need more of, but it is the enigma it has become over the years that is a bit problematic. With the societal show-and-tell it is promoting, the "who can post the most Instagrams from Coachella" competitions that it is breeding, the celebrity fashion show that it hosts every year, Coachella has become so much less about the music and the art and so much more about the rich and famous flaunting what they've got.

I mean, music is supposed to connect people from all across the spectrum together and cross societal lines and all that stuff, but what Coachella is promoting are some sort of Hunger Games' Capitol-esque vibes where the wealthy and high-society are flown out to California on private jets and given the parties, the drinks, the food and the nice hotels, where everyone else has to make massive travel plans to get there and stay in campsites with tents and buy the food that's on the festival grounds. It's a little scary when you start to see it that way. You start to think about what our society has become, and the immense value we place on materials and tangible things. It is less about what it feels like to be at a music festival standing in the desert listening to your favorite band while eating chili cheese fries and more about what that looks like, and about showing other people what that looks like, too. Our culture has become one of show-and-tell. We experience something and instead of embracing that experience for what it is in that moment, we document it and feel the need to tell everybody on the planet what just happened. Now don't get me wrong, I'm definitely guilty of this, too. I think everyone is with the nature of social media and the technology we have.

I think Coachella is a perfect example of why we need to step back from the lifestyles we lead and take a look at what we value. Are we really experiencing the moments we have or are we just having them to show everyone else? Do we place too much value on the tangible instead of the feelings or emotions or experiences themselves? Coachella is definitely not the only place this occurs, but maybe use this festival season to realize that sometimes the way we look at the world and the experiences we have should be reevaluated a little bit.