Maybe I’ve been spending too much time on the internet (ha. ha.), but it seems as though every trendy word-based blog for educated, white-collar people in their twenties is full of so-called revelatory statements about being overly dependent on technology, how false friendships can be, downfalls of nostalgia, why it’s ok to not go out every weekend, and when it is culturally appropriate to like certain bands, books, and movies. But all those observations boil down to inept self-deprecation and unbelievable narcissism parading around under a guise of ‘the modern condition, part xxix’.
Just because the internet now exists for all of us constantly make sure our lack of skill in self-expression still fights with our inability to believe we have nothing unique to say doesn’t mean any of this is remotely new or interesting. You want a good bildungsroman describing the existential woes of overeducated, privileged youths? Re-read Franny and Zooey and shut the fuck up. Seriously. Of course most of the friendships we make are transient and meaningless. Some of us realize this earlier than others, and others just internalize it so as not to be overtly bothered by it. But you know what? There’s no point in passive about it either. You have to try in order to get a response, sorry to say. Girls, guys will not hit on you at bars forever. Dudes, you are not going to be happy with only getting ass once those few girls you knew who had their shit together stop talking to you. Dissatisfied with how often you see certain people? Call them up. And if they still suck, then trust me, it’s not because of the claustrophobic loneliness of urban life that people have been, believe or not, discussing with more insight than the collective whole of tumblr/blogspot/tweetitlehere.com for hundreds of years.
I like to read why people like things. I like to hear how their personal lives are intertwined with bands, books, etc. Not “LOL SORRY GHOST OF IAN CURTIS BUT I CANNOT STOP LISTENING TO ‘LOW’ BY T-PAIN, WHICH IS AT ITS CULTURAL APEX OF BEING OUT OF DATE ENOUGH TO NOT LABEL ME WITH BAD TASTE BUT JUST OLD ENOUGH TO LAUGH ABOUT AND DANCE TO IN A CONTEMPORARY MANNER.” I know we sometimes need outlets for these emotions, but this is not brilliance in the form of cultural significance. Mingling these references with some spiel about how ‘life is tough because my rambling conversations with my gchat contact list are a reflection of the vacuous nature of my self-important existential crisis’ is a disservice to even the most egregious of pop culture indulgences.
One last thing. I admit that, during college, I succumbed to the whole “well, it’s the weekend. what party is there? what will I do? will this make me happy tomorrow?” etc. etc. But then time passed. I got a little more mature (hopefully), and I realized that it. does. not. fucking. matter. No one cares about your social life, or lack thereof, as much as you, because they are all too busy worrying about the same thing: themselves. So no, I don’t need to read about why “it’s ok to stay in on a Friday night”. If you want to go out, and do it because you want to have a good time, you might actually do so. Or not. But that’s something called ‘life’. Please note that there are a lot of ways to be content. And, to be honest, after a certain age, if this really still bothers you, it is seriously time to reevaluate.
The thing is, I don’t hate technology, or the internet, etc. And hey, this entire thing could be read as painfully hypocritical, but I guess that’s pretty unavoidable. I can be a hypocrite. I try not to be, but this is the best I can do. And you know, I do often enjoy reading what people have to say online. It’s usually when they link change with personal experience in a sincere, heartfelt manner. The point is: I am so sick of whining being passed off as cleverness. IT IS NOT CLEVER. Not everyone with the technical ability to construct a sentence has the creativity to make it anything but verbal graffiti.
