Shows this weekend:
Thursday 1/18 - Tony Locos, Woodbine, MD 6-9pm
Friday 1/19 - Carlisle Moose Lodge, Carlisle, PA 7-10pm
Saturday 1/20 - River House Bar & Grill, Middletown, PA 6-9pm
THURSDAY THOUGHTS……
I find myself missing the old days lately. Although I’m 21 years too young to be considered a “boomer”, I feel just as out of touch and disconnected from the world as someone who can’t navigate a smartphone lock screen. I miss the simpler days. The days where no one was talking about vaccines and their effectiveness. No one was talking about how we are in the end times. We didn’t have to discuss wars abroad while at the same time predicting a coming conflict at home. We didn’t have to talk about about how divided we all are, and how we see no way to come back together.
Bars and restaurants were well staffed and open past 10 PM. Two bags of groceries were NOT $50, unless you bought something awesome. People, in general, were courteous to you for no reason. Or at the very least respectful. Gas, vehicles, apartments, houses, health insurance, and other basic things to sustain your life were more affordable. Concert tickets were not valued the same as a 40 hour paycheck. Streaming services you paid for already didn’t make you pay more to not see ads about shows you’ll never watch.
I believe the pandemic radically escalated us to where we are today, but I do not believe it was the root cause of our current status. I believe this started long before the first case of covid. I believe that our downfall started with the invention of social media. Social media, like the one you may have clicked through to get to this dissertation, made people feel the need to sell their worth to others. People became more and more self centered as the likes, comments, and notifications were pipelined directly to their connected devices. This is my awesome vacation. Here’s my awesome family, look at my new car, my high paying job, my filtered face.
My highlight reel.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think social media is inherently evil. It has given a voice to the people who previously had no voice. It has connected families and friends across the globe, giving them the opportunity to be more involved in each other’s daily lives than just a phone call or Skype. It’s a place of boundless inspiration, connection, acceptance, motivation, information, and entertainment. There are groups containing likeminded people for literally EVERYTHING that you can be interested in. If you seek those types of things, you CAN find them on social media.
But it is also a place of desperation. A place of opinionated comments and meaningless conflict. A place where you can have “friends” and feel completely alone. A place where you can feel unheard, undervalued, and too small in a world SO big. An online marketplace of comparison of lifestyles, love lives, parenting choices, and status. For some, it’s a dopamine factory. Mindlessly scrolling, or “doom scrolling” as they like to put it, looking for the next hit. Car crashes, police violence, animal abuse, combat footage, it’s all there… if you seek it.
I have, on more than one occasion, found myself in vapid explicit exchanges with strangers about a subject I don’t really care about. I’ve found myself scrolling mindlessly just to pass the time. To escape from the current reality, because the online one is so incredibly interesting. I’ve formed opinions of people I don’t know based on their profile picture or pronouns. I’ve succumbed to my own need for acceptance by relying on people I do not know for validation. I’ve seen people I love fall victim to mobs of opinion and judgement, and made to feel worthless.
I am required to use social media to enhance and progress the career choices I’ve made. Musician, podcaster, blogger…. They all benefit from having an online presence. Sure, I could probably do it without using social media, but I don’t believe the actual interface is the evil. I’ve actively changed the way I interact with media platforms, and I feel that it has done wonders for the way I treat myself and others. By exposing myself to less of the hate, I feel less hateful. By hiding posts or removing “friends” that bring me down, I’ve felt elevated. I seek out the positive and rule out the negative. By not doom scrolling for hours at a time, I’ve found myself having more times to do things that mean something. By not comparing my life to others, I’ve been more grateful for the things and people I have in mine.
My thought process is not a novel one. There are a lot of others who have had this realization and adjusted course. I truly believe the only way out of the spiral is to come together. To realize we are all one. To actively change the way we interact with people. To spread love at any opportunity were are presented to do so. To embrace the differences we have as unique and interesting, and not as contentious and ridiculous. To realize that we are only weakened by our divisions. They do not build resiliency or stamina in the face of actual evil. Divisions keep us distracted from being a collective force for the greater good.
So, if you’re feeling disconnected from the world, maybe try connecting with others through social media a little less, and connect with your actual friends and family a little more.. If your family or friends suck, find new ones. It’s not going to make the current cost of everything go down, and it won’t end wars or get your president elected, but it will enhance your everyday life. Use your scrolling time to develop a new hobby. Make a difference in someones life, even if it’s as simple as smiling at a stranger. As cliche as it may be, be the good you’d like to see in the world. We can do this if we all come together.