Sometimes, when I am scrolling through Twitter, I snap out of it for a second and think to myself, “We have strayed too far from the light.”
I’m sure a lot of people think this. Sometimes I see a tweet like “Why don’t bodhisattvas become venture capitalist workaholics so they can liberate all people from suffering?”
A career path as a purveyor of nonsense has become an oversaturated field.
The greatest sickness in online culture is that everyone is now a self-ordained expert, critic, intellectual and artist. The structures of TikTok, X and Instagram have absolutely toppled the architectures of discourse.
One realm in which this phenomenon can be explained is the online film community. When I want to watch a movie — rather than, say, consult an increasingly out-of-touch institution like Rotten Tomatoes — I will probably go to Letterboxd, a film-centric social media app popularized amid the TikTok era.
The dissemination of cultural criticism in such cases is arguably more egalitarian. By establishing an online platform to discuss film, anyone can share their perspective and have access to countless others. This is perhaps more favorable than the traditional system in film criticism in which a single figure of authority, a cultural critic, dictates what a consumer watches. In this case, film discourse is less dimensional in terms of intellectual diversity and the community associated with it.
However, when this freedom goes unchecked, it has worrying consequences.
Because anyone can relentlessly make their opinion on any subject known, and since their opinion is automatically deified, it can become a part of the discourse, regardless of whether or not it should. Because this new freedom is no longer in sole possession of the cultural elite, a new entitlement has risen where people think they also deserve the same authority over the culture.
It’s concerning enough when everyone feels entitled to try and make their opinion the most important of the masses, almost as if each user has their own megaphone to shout over others. Let us not forget, though, that this phenomenon transcends the scope of media discourse and is breaching all areas of our collective digital existence.
You no longer need to study for decades and go through residencies and fellowships to become a doctor. You can buy someone’s masterclass, become an ADHD coach on TikTok and speak with the conviction of a clinical psychologist. Critical analysis no longer exists; you only have to regurgitate the categorically “right” opinions of that one Substack essayist or freelance TikTok journalist to be intellectual.
This new entitlement branches to further and even absurd lengths. Are you a so-called creative? It doesn’t really matter if you have the vision, talent or, at the absolute least, the desire to make art. Instead, you can post fit pics with a Bladee song and photos of your unused DDJ-400 to be considered cultured; you can easily select and assemble the components of cultural cachet from TikTok’s undying machine of restatement and regurgitation. You can seem worldly without ever confronting your internal myopia.
This regurgitation eliminates the idea of anything that isn’t simultaneously shocking, new and in perfect alignment with the trends of discourse. Thus, there is no room for anyone who doesn’t align their ego with this anarchy of the internet. Every user must be all-knowing, on-trend, perfect and meet every demand of the machine.
I am no Mother Teresa in spite of my argument. My daily average screen time this week is over four hours. I’ve written Letterboxd reviews that push 500 words. I’m constantly tweeting and years of my life have been blood-sacrificed to TikTok. I was given an iPad at six years old and I ran with it, never looking back. My identity, like most others in my demographic, is undeniably enmeshed with my digital presence.
To sever oneself from their digital presence would then be to sever oneself from a part of their external identity. So, in lieu of being entirely cut off from the current methods of discourse and, in turn, our online identities, we must escape the sea of algorithmic media overstimulation by embracing authenticity.
In an ideal world, one must conquer the urge to regurgitate the opinions, music, trends, pseudo-scientific theories, mental health infographics and self-referential post-ironic tweets of the algorithms. One must also stop consequently associating such things with their own knowledge, humor and taste. We must find ways to develop a symbiosis with our digital selves. Ideally, the over-repeated maxims borne of the digital age should actually mean something: Be your authentic self! Don’t let the opinions, statements and ideas of others control you! Don’t seek validation from strangers!
Again, in an ideal world.
Xavier Callan PO ’28 wants you to know that he loves his family and friends, watching movies and his bag that looks like a DJ controller.
Facebook Comments