WIGGLS

Tag: social-media

  • These “Communities” Will Only Push Us Apart

    More alone than we realize

    I read the Gooniverse exposé and it left me with some thoughts.

    First, I find some of the examples of “gooning” and some of the quotes in the article to be more in line with trolling than serious answers to the author’s Questionnaire. There is no doubt in my mind that there are individuals out there that will routinely engage with the worst of these acts, but the actual numbers are likely way smaller than the picture the article paints.

    A perfect example of this, in my opinion, is the IRL meetups organized by some of the gooners in these Discords. According to them, when 120 individuals RSVP they can expect a turnout of 10 people. I think the Questionnaire answers are similarly showing an inflated number. I find it important to highlight this because we humans have an affinity to assign the worst actions and intentions of a group to the whole, especially nowadays. Many of the thousands of people in the Gooner Discords are likely there out of curiosity rather than an actual dedication to the craft of gooning.

    While I think the actual numbers of people engaging with the worst acts that the Gooniverse has to offer are low, I also find that this slowly normalizes these acts to the rest of the members. It gets normalized until it breaches containment and reaches people that are not terminally online. So while the “gooners” aren’t a problem in and of themselves, the worst of their kind will slowly drag down others in their periphery until it seeps into the culture at large.

    I think the author hits the nail on the head when he mentions the community aspect, and how truthfully, many of these young people are engaging in these spaces because a sense of community can be felt. While a handful of guys might actually believe in the “goonlightenment” or whatever, most of them are posturing for each other in an attempt to be seen. They continuously one up each other to signal they are part of the group.

    While the gooning community might be one of the uglier examples, this trend of seeking community online in a place that is not conducive to community can be seen across all platforms. There are “online leftists” that get so stuck on “believing the right thing” that they can only interact with people online that also share the “right belief” and they cut off or argue with anyone that might think differently in any way. Likewise, the “alt right pipeline” consists of many lost people trying to find some sort of community, even if it means distancing themselves from their loved ones in the real world.

    These communities are not real, like the Harper interviewee explains, there are gooners of all kinds and caliber, the one thing they share is comfort in their label. Same can be said for other groups. A perfect example of this lack in community that gets fulfilled by an online crowd can be easily found by looking at online influencers, particularly those on YT and Twitch that rely heavily on personality to sell their content. People become defensive of “their streamer” to unreasonable degrees. Even if the creators try to avoid parasociality and set strict boundaries, the online fans will congregate on their preferred platform and create a community there, regardless of the creators wishes. This explains subreddits, and fan pages, facebook groups and other “communities” that have no affiliation with the creators.

    I try not to be prescriptive since I’m quite dumb, but if the goal is to get people in real community, which would in turn lead them away from the toxic overconsuming online community, it is going to take real work and real change. We need to reorganize our country and our way of thinking in a major way. We need to provide funding for after school programs, encourage unionization, build community centers, and anything else that will shows kids and young adults that there are places to connect with others that are not online. We need to impose regulations on companies that promote constant online engagement and how they use their recommendation algorithms. (Nationalize social media companies anyone? 👀 lol jk)

    Most importantly I think we need to stop Doing. In his book, The Burnout Society, Byung-Chul Han argues that we are a hyperactive society. We’re constantly working and Doing. Whether at work, at home, or in your mind it seems like we are in a constant state of Doing. The few times in our day we are not Doing we choose to retreat into our phone or computer. This makes sense, if you only have 1 hour of true free time it is very easy to choose the quick dopamine hits of scrolling. After all, you’re so tired from Doing why would you want to do even more. . Alternatively, people with plenty of time on their hands but no sense of direction or meaning fall into a similar mentality. If nothing makes sense and life has no meaning, then you want to stop Being and retreat. To stop this cycle of hyperactivity and burnout we need to stop Doing. Whether it be taking on less projects at work, letting one or two chores go undone for a couple days, or simply putting down the phone and sitting with your boredom, we need to Do less. In whatever aspect of your life you are able to make a choice between Doing and not, you should choose to not Do.

    And don’t get me wrong, at the end of the day you will still be tired, but hopefully over time your skill of not Doing will develop. The more time you find yourself not Doing the more likely you are to find what truly matters to you. These moments of not Doing will eventually lead to action, but it will be action you want to do. The practice of not Doing will also change your relationship with the tiredness you feel. When you are able to not Do, moments of tiredness become moments of meditation, contemplation, or a relaxing activity you can pour your full attention into rather than drowning in the constant scroll.

    If kids are allowed to grow up in a world that allows them to be tired and not Do, they will be less susceptible to the “online communities” that seem to be sucking up their lives.

  • Only Way Out Is Through

    The cycle continues

    As easy as it is to write a post talking about how I spend too much time online and how I need to change that, it’s even easier to fall right back into the habit. No matter how aware I claim to be about the emotional pingponging, the interaction baiting, the easily digestible narratives, and all the other methods social media uses to keep us engaged I fall right back in its trap.

    Logically, I know these are the methods social media algorithms and creators that make their living off views use to keep me engaged. Logically, I know when I pick up my phone I am choosing to be isolated and waste time, even if what is on my screen is of little interest. I always end up back there.

    Reason is these platforms appeal to our emotions. They appeal to a part of my brain I am obviously not as connected with. With this in mind I find that the feeling I am chasing is the feeling of understanding others. As someone that’s always struggled to understand social situations in many different ways social media was an amazing break from my isolation and confusion. Suddenly I could not only interact with others more easily, but I could also observe and understand.

    I loved observing how online jokes spread, how communities use these in-jokes to signal to each other, and how these jokes (once big enough) turn into full on memes reaching a global audience. I became obsessed thinking about the similarities and differences between online communities. How do Spanish speaking posters interact with English memes, how long does a meme stay relevant to a specific group before it’s trite, why do certain memes spread to some communities but not others, and many other questions.

    For 10 years I scrolled social media rarely to connect with people I knew in real life and more so to try and gain some sort of understanding of others, especially how people connected with humor. Now I am aware that I can catching glimpses of how different communities interact but I have huge gaps in knowledge since I am not actually part of those communities. I realize there is a bias in what content I am shown, only being served up whatever the algorithm thinks will keep me engaged. I also know the internet has become more insular, there are memes and ideas being spread that I will never come across because the algorithm does not serve me that content or I’m not on the platform it is being posted on.

    And even then I still go back to that damn phone. My emotional brain is trapped. Two weeks ago I said I would start reading and writing, working on things that were tangible and could connect me with real people with similar interests. Instead I picked up a book maybe twice and wrote absolutely nothing.

    But there is only one way out of the cycle. All of the things I want to do live at the front of my head every day, but it is time to actually do them. I can think about writing, reading, playing music or whatever else as much as I like but nothing will come of it if I choose to stay trapped. Even if the start is slow, I need to choose freedom.