Through heartbreak, depression, anniversaries, life events and even boredom, you may not post every detail of your life online, but your life is surrounded by the online world anyway. In the life of a 90’s kid, we were raised on dial-up, then on flip phones, then on this modern addicting, self-attention seeking, and spying tool called Social media. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and other apps are simply the market’s answer to a generation that demands a platform and an audience. As a theater major, people always tell me that they could “never do that.” They find it difficult to act and to be in front of people… but that’s all I ever see from us 20-somethings and younger. It’s all just us posting about our lives, or us viewing others'. Performer and audience mingled into a collage of joy of and sadness, boredom, and attention grabbing. A single timeline can be combined to see political opinions, prayers being sent out to a grieving family, and a cat jumping away from a cucumber. Every emotion a human can feel is collected in a post for all to see and share.
I’ve never seen someone going through something who hasn’t grabbed their phone for either feedback or distraction. This generation is losing their ability to feel, replaced by their ability to watch. Held in the palm of our hands is the perfect coping mechanism to anything one may feel. Heartbreak? Post about your feelings. Stalk bae’s profile. Block, delete. Cope. Depression? Don’t leave the bed, live online. Bleed through the keys. Post lyrics and sad poetry. Cope. Lonely? Upload a selfie. Wait for likes and comments. Judge your self-worth on feedback and DM’s. Cope. Love? Make a MCM or WCW. Comment kissy faces and colored hearts.
All of it can be vindicated with a keyboard and good Wi-Fi signal. You need attention, you need entertainment, you need information or companionship. You need to be seen. You need to see others. Come to the social media store, buy one get one. Audience. Performer. Theater isn’t dying, the stage has just been shifted.
There is too much information, too much to feel at any given moment. If it starts to creep too close, we turn to a click on an app to run away and transfer. Social media has turned into a dumping ground for what we feel we can’t hold onto ourselves. Lift the weight off your shoulders into characters. Self-expression is a coping tool in the first place. That’s why journaling and poets use to be so admired. It’s not that human nature has changed, it’s just been accelerated. It’s now an insatiable beast chomping down on whatever we feed it, demanding more. And when this generation gives everything that’s real, we find what is fake to keep the hunger down. We romanticize ideas and concepts we feel we should be feeling because we saw it online. The stereotype, the “norm” has become a stuffing for thanksgiving dinner.
We were taught to self-express. To feel as though what we do in life and how we feel should be important to others. And Social media can be great to keep in touch with loved ones and to help spread the good word on different topics, but there is the dark side of the force. The side effects of this placebo drug are hard to define, but still, have signs to those who are addicted to it most. And who is to know what the long-term effects will be.
I don’t think anything I could say could say it better than the online entertainer and comedian Bo Burnham’s quote from his Netflix special “Make Happy”:
“They say it’s like the “me generation.” It’s not. The arrogance is taught, or it was cultivated. It’s self-conscious, that’s what it is; conscious of self. Social media is just the market’s answer to a generation that demanded to perform. So the market said, ‘here, perform everything to each other all the time for no reason.’ It’s prison. It’s horrific. What do we want more than to lay in our bed at the end of the day and just watch our life as a satisfied audience member? I know very little about anything, but what I do know is that if you can live your life without an audience you should do it. “
So, dear reader. Do what you do best. Be a drug dealer, and share this magical cure pill to others. Numb the social media misery for awhile.
