After Hours: Observations on the Common way of Living.
What is going on in this place? The world is falling apart and nobody gives a damn. Everybody is too busy double tapping cats on Instagram, chit-chatting about #brexit on Twitter and let’s be real, who the fuck uses Facebook anyways.
Yet there I find myself, part of the ever-shifting tides of people, restlessly checking the aforementioned social media applications, craving human interaction, acceptance, admiration.
I used to consider it time-killing; I’d go read some bullshit on the internet while waiting to catch the train. Yet that innocent, infrequent touch of my front right pocket has evolved into something a whole lot more worrisome.
We have collectively and voluntarily stripped human interaction clean of, well, humans. We are effectively addicted to receiving constant feedback on everything we do, say or chose; we need reassurance. And in order to receive it, we dull the rough, sharp edges of our personalities, we strive to fit in the box.
We also feel the need to go through the process fast; we cut corners. We change our interests daily, hourly, we project radically different versions of ourselves in separate situations, in the name of acceptance.
We need people to like us. And the no-brainer way to achieve this is to resemble someone that is liked, in large scale. We need to belong in a norm. We feel guided, protected and safe.
Our taste in music, art, in what we find visually appealing, pleasing and fulfilling is gradually growing, well, tasteless. Senseless. Lifeless. And this, is the common way of living.