These pictures were taken a little while after New Years and while I've never really been one for New Years Resolutions I thought that maybe this year I should spice it up. So I've resolved to never again trying to make any more New Years resolutions. I'm not nor have I ever been a fan of cliches (or Cliche Valentine's articles...). Bad irony, misplaced humour and puzzling metaphors have always been more my forte but contemporary blog and magazine writers have somehow grappled onto the notion that everything we read needs to be the opposite of the status quo. During New Years time instead of articles about New Years resolutions, everyone is trying to convince everyone else that they instead need to self love and work on themselves and chakras and not worry about what other people think. While I think most of it is true and maybe some people really need to get their Chakras in order, I'm tired of it. It seems everyone is so focused on fighting the status quo no one seems to want to write about anything original, or honest. Except me- but then again I don't get paid for this, so there's that.
|
Perhaps this is the result of living in a society where every body feels the need to self publish, somehow entitled by the internet and having grown up in a society that subtly forces us to put every aspect of our lives on show. Somehow we've all peer pressured ourselves into becoming obsessed with documenting the moment. "If it wasn't on instagram did it even really happen", "People who don't put up wattsaap statuses think they're so mysterious". The idea of celebrity is dangled in front of all of us as soon as we "Sign up with Google/Facebook". All we need is a few more likes, a few more followers, a little bit more engagement and we'll have done it. We'll have become instagram famous or an influencer. The idea is that when you have a huge following you have..... This is the part I'm not sure of, the part that explains what people think they have when they have 50K followers. Obviously a means to generate income and small influence (and the ability to act better than everyone else because you have many followers) but other than to gain money or
|
a small amount of influence it seems there is no REAL reason to chase followers. Since we can't eat or breathe followers, it's safe to say it is a societal construct, one that says if you have may followers you will increase your standing within society. Which is all fine and well considering that there have always been things people try and attain to increase their standings in society, although these things were usually money and power and could not be easily taken away if an app gets deleted, they were there, and somewhat tangible. What I've been pondering recently is where this ontological cycle of designing interactive global technologies that are slowly ushering our societies into a false sense of value will end. Followers and "Friends" are quickly becoming the new social currency and I wonder if the possibility for it becoming our main currency will every be realised. And what will that say about our society- well the capitalist ones.
|