sunez
MATTER OUT OF PLACE
By DEADMICS
Rather than the few minutes it takes to give out all of your personal information to a bright, humming screen, you potentially give no effort to have the warm, fuzzy feeling of “like” induced “fame” that social media excretes from its pixilated pores. We all suck from the wireless teat that is dangled in front of us as if it were the only nutrients left on our green earth. It feels much more natural to me to give someone life altering news over a text message then it ever was to actually give someone information face to face. The idea of communicating with people without a brick wall between our faces has become too much of a burden to even consider. Every time I find something in the piles of endlessness called the internet that I find even remotely interesting, I find it imperative to show my entire friends list so that they will know that the things I am searching for on the internet are far more interesting than anything their feeble minds could come across. The fact that I was able to discover something this fascinating before you did gives me a sense of entitlement that can only be compared to a Nazi regime.
Maybe I’m being a little over dramatic here, but doesn’t it seem that more and more, one isn’t praised for the captivating banter they were able to conjure up but rather the interests of someone else they were able to miraculously stumble upon. You know that feeling you get when you discover a new bad ass rapper that none of your friends has heard about and you copy the link and hit post? It’s as if you just launched the first man into space. It feels like if it weren’t for you, no one would have ever discovered this savant of an artist. You pretty much laid the groundwork for that person to ever have been heard by anyone. You feel owed. That feeling is always diminished by the crippling click of your “friend’s” mouse. Suddenly you notice within the next few days that a few of your “friends” have also posted the link with no mention of you being the one that showed them the light. It gets to the point where you are leaving passive aggressive posts, “Yeah he is dope as hell, I found out about him way before he started getting popular, you probably saw me posting this shit like a year ago bro”. Social media is the Marlboro man of our generation.
Maybe it’s wrong to be so hypocritical. I mean I jump on social media every day and I look at all these “rappers” posting their mundane dribble every 2 hours and all I can think is “what a tool.” I guess since I post my chicken scratch lullabies every four, it isn’t as bad. Not that I’m any less of a cretin but I will say I was able to fight the urge to create my alternate internet reality than it did most. My Facebook account was created and kept up by a buddy of mine in order to promote my music. Of course it didn’t take long for curiosity to catch up with me and I finally began to feed on the sweet “news” that I once knew nothing about. Now if I don’t get my daily fix I feel as though I am being left behind and if there’s one thing I don’t want, it’s to feel like an outsider.
I think it’s obvious that people feel empowered by social media, and that it has become a way to be blatantly ignorant with no repercussions. People are taking the idiot things they think of and are now able to scream them from the mountain tops. Posts and tweets have given every single person a voice. A Voice consumed by few, but has the potential to be heard by millions. There is definite appeal to that amongst all people; posting a video on YouTube is now the same as buying a lottery ticket. I often find myself caught up in the allure of this time capsule that can keep you young forever. I don’t believe I’ve gone more than a day or two without checking my Facebook since I first created my account. It’s often the first thing I do every morning when I wake up. Now we’ve got these pocket sized computers keeping us informed of every little tidbit of everyone you know, and everyone they know, and everyone they know. I know intimate details about people I’ve never been formally introduced too. I mean sure, I’ve seen them at a show before, or a party maybe. That’s such an odd feeling. I can go to a party having never met anyone, but never run out of small talk because I know everything about everyone there. By just scrolling through your timeline you are on the fast track to being a stalker and you don’t even know it yet. Social media has destroyed any element of surprise a person might have brought to the table. It’s created a new language of idealistic wingdings and brings purpose to things that otherwise would be meaningless. It’s of course the same as many other things in our lives. It is interesting that feeling important isn’t as sought after as being important. We live in a world now where all of our knowledge is gained from an internet meme, and everything that happens to us in our day to day lives is a breaking story. Soon there will be no one left who hasn’t fallen victim to the feed.