The population of the United States appears to have been increasing by about 100 million every 50 years for the past 100 years. The world population by contrast has increased almost exponentially in the same time. The mentality of the populace has changed dramatically from the days of slavery, no women votes, the various wars, social advances, equality measures, and so much more. I enjoy the lessons the past carries and thus work hard to improve areas of my life on lessons learned from previous experience(s); it is an attempt to make today and perhaps a possible future better for family, self, and others. But what is society doing?
I speak of society as the collection of humanity that composes the almost 8 billion human inhabitants of this Earth. The drive to become, to please, and to succeed can in ways be compared to previous generations. Certainly there has been change in the sciences, life circumstances, and certainly technology. In this year (2020) I have pondered long about the aspect of society that has morphed rapidly into a community of the internet. Years past we could possibly separate humanity into religions, scientific endeavors reached and surpassed, sports, arts, and other meaningful ways philosophically argued overtime. A new segment of society has reached an all-time metamorphosis where online no longer means what a lot of older brains associate the word with. A lot of the youth live and thrive through social interaction in games, classrooms, virtual reality environments, augmented reality sharing, and the convenience of artificial technology gadgets from phones to personal assistants in the home, not to mention online shopping and banking. The fellowship of the online is increasing and with more implications that a lot dare to posit.
In an epoch of space exploration we must understand the importance of networks that will allow humanity not only to reach into the stars, but to also continue to communicate out there. The social networks we have formed on Earth could be nothing more than a preceding wave of new living/interaction for the species as we fare into the darkness of our galaxy. With smog affecting large cities, climate changes beginning to erode away living space, the possible move into the cosmos, and so much more, the outside world is not only becoming overcrowded everywhere, but it is perhaps time that we look deeply into new forms of societal development based on the reality we live in today, and not a romanticized past that while important for preventing mirrored errors, nothing short of ignorant of all present realities.
I am a gamer. No, I don’t make a living on social media doing so like many others have the opportunity to, it is a hobby and pastime. My son is an avid reader who from an early age was read to, later on began reading, and today has partially moved from physical books, to a myriad of online forums that allow for his mental and social development to continue in ways I could not have foreseen. This is a direct result of the new social norms being established by progressives who accept the present for the opportunities it presents, the young who know no other life or world, and those who little-by-little find more online that they previously were oblivious to, yet now take to social spaces. From being able to share recipes with others, discuss political matters, argue the importance or fallacies of religious endeavors, to disconnect from everyday matters, find a new hobby, watch a video, write on a blog, read a book, draw a sketch, or any of the thousands of things one could participate in from the comfort of their home, the online community continues to form new ties and avenues of communication and entertainment.
A surge in social restructuring appears to be taking place as we approach the year 2021. While some countries continue to heavily regulate online activities, the United States -among others- has seen an increase in movements to attempt to better certain systems, whether private or otherwise, that in some form affect the livelihood of humanity. A few years back I learned about something called whitewashing in films. The past few years have seen a resurgence in polarizing matters surrounding blacks and whites alike around the world in both positive and negative ways. There appears to be no incontrovertible proof to claims raised in various social mediums with realities beginning to go unnoticed and at times unattended due to the saturation of issues from seemingly one moment to the next plastered in social mediums. News outlets, understanding the impact of this on some whose lives are lived in online formats, have begun to pay more attention to these enigmatic calls for reform as they can be easily sensationalized for the public.
Partly due to the nature of older individuals’ inability to forgo a life long-ago lived, the present continues to be misunderstood by a mentality of comparison between what is and was, instead of really delving into what is now becoming nothing more than a subject of conversation. I am glad, to a high degree, no news worldwide appears to be worthy of announcement other than throngs of accounts in social mediums discussing how an episode of a popular streaming show is being unfair to a segment of a community. Social media has in part become a place for gossip. We understand the concept of gossip for the same reasons I describe throughout this discourse, someone in our past -or present- has done it. It is good that there are groups that look out for the welfare of animals, handicapped, racially misunderstood/mistreated persons, fight for attention to species on land and sea that are suffering/disappearing, and much more. It is good for humanity to be involved in things they care about. There is an imperative to defend your beliefs. Yet, I find myself in a very conflicting reality where the choice to care, the ability to decide what to like and dislike, and the dialogue it should bring is all but disappearing. Discourse has become a fallacy of the online community except for philosophically driven formats, the news of the hour and feeds uncontrollably announcing and denouncing this and that. Not only that, but everything online is now palaver to one person or another with the acronym TL:DR (too long don’t read) being as pervasive as the inherent subject. One interesting problem is that in a lot of instances a lot of the findings presented as proof for something comes from a learned person. A lot of science has happened by accident, but it didn’t become science without replication. Yet, there are those who argue for inherent fallacies within scientific findings and confounding as it is they gain track. I offer an example to explain this. A person hunting in the woods, wearing an orange vest, with a crossbow on their back, a long shotgun in hand, a hat with local/nearby flora dangling off it, pants tracking nearby brush, and boots covered in the areas soot passes in front of you as you go hunting for the first time. Would you be inclined to ask this person for tips? Would you ask them anything relating to your first-time expectations? Would you ask about dangers in the area like loose soil or rocks, cliffs, and perils? I very possibly would. The person certainly looks the part! However, I know nothing about hunting and I would argue that my description of the person described may be accurate to a degree of someone with experience hunting. An orator, a person whose speaking/writing is eloquent, can manifest great feelings on others. That is not to say the orator, like the hunter, has any actual experience.
While arguments about the validity of something or other are good in avoiding perpetuity in things that should perhaps be revisited from time to time due to the natural evolution of things and humanity, a problem arises when wanting a conversation is frowned upon; rather a person may choose instead to impose their belief in others. With some systems in place already that reward you for following trends, being part of ongoing positive movements, and praising the political parties in power, as more of these systems form and become rapidly engaged, the obfuscation of truth happens merely by participation regardless of the intent. In a society where there is a place or community online for a large array of persons, likes, and more, there is one thing, one community that should not be overlooked.
Some would argue that in one form chaos would see the annihilation of a thing for its own sake. It is the hobby of some and the actual work of others to search through online social mediums for polarizing issues and blatantly demean what is being portrayed for the enjoyment derived from the arguments that form as a result. Because discourse is seldom sought-after as a means of communication between online persons, what ensues is often disgruntled arguments about how the person posting is right because of this or that and how the other is wrong, which in turn begets the same in kind; at times this lasts hours to weeks depending on the platform with the initial perpetrator and those who join them being satisfied to no avail by the masses. While the perpetrator certainly has a part in the dilemma, another part of the problem is the inability to display emotion through a line of text. Certainly there are those who use the assistance of emoticons to the benefit of a conversion to make it more lively, show or express a particular emotion, and for other reasons. Yet, there are those who also use the emoticons to assail and interject grief into any given subject.
I argue this is no different than the sarcasm many use in day-to-day conversation. Some readily understand the nature of the intended comment while others take to becoming irate by the disregard of the person using the sarcasm. While this form of acerbity is not new, a lot of the online community completely ignores this aspect of communication which is just as much a defense mechanism used by some, as well as the purposeful push over the gaping abyss of reason that makes others so inexplicably discontent.
We as a collective human species have a lot to learn from one another. With more than 7 billion inhabitants around it is easy to see how a point of view can be easily misunderstood or blatantly taken out of proportions. Online communities continue to segregate into more cohesive cohorts as time passes and the thick-skin required for online interaction continues to be tested by all alike. Perhaps a time is near -or far- when these tumultuous times of online socializing help us to bridge the gaps brought by having to communicate with family and friends on nearby stars, planets, or missions in the cosmos. I believe even then, humans will continue to look back, perhaps in new ways as Earth becomes a faraway dream and fantasize of beaches and landscapes lush with green… Perhaps that may be the new marginalizing subject debated by future generations. My journey through life, society, Earth, social media, and expectations will die when death collects my debt, but I do hope that humanity thrives despite our beautiful differences.
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