Great piece. I agree 100%. When I was younger, so much of the connections I made involved bands, shows, movies, etc., that we loved and talked endlessly about. Now, I'm just on my own consumer island and it sucks.
I've never left a comment before but I love this piece. Wholeheartly agree with every thing you said, it's something I ponder about often myself. Everyone I know watches TV shows but rarely there's someone I can talk to about them since we are all watching different things or watching them years apart.
This is fantastic! “But I will still argue that having way too many options is not that convenient for us either.” - I remember when Sky TV came in in Ireland and everyone was flabbergasted that there were so many channels. It was exciting! Until after a few weeks of flipping from channel to channel you realised that there really wasn’t that much interesting or worthwhile on them.
Very thoughtful piece and great point about politics becoming our common thread. I’m sad that that point rings true! I also like that you touch on why pop culture matters in the first place, that at it’s best it can bring people together. Your piece makes clear that media issues relate to so many broader issues: feelings of isolation and loneliness, nihilism, political polarization, etc. Leaves me with a lot to think about
I’ve been meaning to respond to this piece all week because I loved it so much and it really hit the nail on the head about why ‘cultural moments’ - and cultural MOVEMENTS - just don’t really seem to happen anymore. And instead of creating diversity rather than cliques, we just get widespread blandness or the most niche fleeting pockets of interest that no one else can relate to!
"Maybe we can create this scarcity ourselves by having fewer social media accounts and streaming platforms. Going to the movies to watch movies and taking things slow. Inviting friends to listen to music or watch something in our sofas together."
I miss going to the theater and listening to whole albums and then talking about it with friends. I miss going over to people's houses, instead of just texting each other from our own houses. I think you're really on to something here.
Flawless closing like Luiza. Bravo 👏 I had never thought about how Bad news has become our pop culture before - but you’re totally right. Now I’m not going to be able to stop thinking about it! Stupid politicians and horrific world events and a pandemic have become our pop culture. Insane. Do you think the bad news becoming pop culture could be a phrase or something more permanent?
Maybe if social media implodes or something we could have a shot at a change. I often think about how MySpace for example just doesn’t exist anymore. Maybe the social media we know today will eventually be the same.
Good point about sports as social lubricant. I don’t follow sports much, but I do watch sports at the gym, where there are big-screen TVs in the weight/machine rooms: recent games, speeded up by editing out all the delays and timeouts, a terrific timesaver; and the sports talk shows a friend of mine calls “sports blab.” This keeps me conversant with many sports and the season-long narratives of teams and players, their ups and downs, etc. It doesn’t take much effort, really, and now I can talk almost intelligently about sports regardless of what someone follows (although right now that’s mostly college basketball, both men’s and women’s, and American football, both college and pro) or plays (golf, tennis, pickle ball, whatever).
Now that American college athletes don’t have to pretend to be unpaid amateurs anymore, they appear in broadcast commercials too. Caitlin Clark might be the most popular basketball player in the country right now and she’s making the most of it. It takes hardly any effort to be aware of these things and makes for great conversation points:
Great piece. I agree 100%. When I was younger, so much of the connections I made involved bands, shows, movies, etc., that we loved and talked endlessly about. Now, I'm just on my own consumer island and it sucks.
Now we just share a video we saw or a meme. What is the fun in that?
Exactly. I know I have grumpy-old-man-get-off-my-lawn syndrome. But, I had fun in the 80s!
Just seeing live music meeting people, clubs... We are already NOW living in a virtual reality.
I've never left a comment before but I love this piece. Wholeheartly agree with every thing you said, it's something I ponder about often myself. Everyone I know watches TV shows but rarely there's someone I can talk to about them since we are all watching different things or watching them years apart.
Thanks Mercè! Glad it resonated! :)
This is fantastic! “But I will still argue that having way too many options is not that convenient for us either.” - I remember when Sky TV came in in Ireland and everyone was flabbergasted that there were so many channels. It was exciting! Until after a few weeks of flipping from channel to channel you realised that there really wasn’t that much interesting or worthwhile on them.
This was a really good piece--so accurate.
Very thoughtful piece and great point about politics becoming our common thread. I’m sad that that point rings true! I also like that you touch on why pop culture matters in the first place, that at it’s best it can bring people together. Your piece makes clear that media issues relate to so many broader issues: feelings of isolation and loneliness, nihilism, political polarization, etc. Leaves me with a lot to think about
Thanks! It’s something I have been thinking about. Of course it’s not the only thing keeping us apart but I think it does play a role.
I’ve been meaning to respond to this piece all week because I loved it so much and it really hit the nail on the head about why ‘cultural moments’ - and cultural MOVEMENTS - just don’t really seem to happen anymore. And instead of creating diversity rather than cliques, we just get widespread blandness or the most niche fleeting pockets of interest that no one else can relate to!
Strange times indeed. I miss the ‘90s
I agree so much with this:
"Maybe we can create this scarcity ourselves by having fewer social media accounts and streaming platforms. Going to the movies to watch movies and taking things slow. Inviting friends to listen to music or watch something in our sofas together."
I miss going to the theater and listening to whole albums and then talking about it with friends. I miss going over to people's houses, instead of just texting each other from our own houses. I think you're really on to something here.
Flawless closing like Luiza. Bravo 👏 I had never thought about how Bad news has become our pop culture before - but you’re totally right. Now I’m not going to be able to stop thinking about it! Stupid politicians and horrific world events and a pandemic have become our pop culture. Insane. Do you think the bad news becoming pop culture could be a phrase or something more permanent?
Unfortunately I don’t see how media could change back or in a positive way in the future. But who knows? Hopefully, yes.
Maybe if social media implodes or something we could have a shot at a change. I often think about how MySpace for example just doesn’t exist anymore. Maybe the social media we know today will eventually be the same.
Good point about sports as social lubricant. I don’t follow sports much, but I do watch sports at the gym, where there are big-screen TVs in the weight/machine rooms: recent games, speeded up by editing out all the delays and timeouts, a terrific timesaver; and the sports talk shows a friend of mine calls “sports blab.” This keeps me conversant with many sports and the season-long narratives of teams and players, their ups and downs, etc. It doesn’t take much effort, really, and now I can talk almost intelligently about sports regardless of what someone follows (although right now that’s mostly college basketball, both men’s and women’s, and American football, both college and pro) or plays (golf, tennis, pickle ball, whatever).
Now that American college athletes don’t have to pretend to be unpaid amateurs anymore, they appear in broadcast commercials too. Caitlin Clark might be the most popular basketball player in the country right now and she’s making the most of it. It takes hardly any effort to be aware of these things and makes for great conversation points:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOKC_6hCXtE