Escaping the Zombie Culture

When Ted Gioia is right, he's really right: 

The State of the Culture, 2024

Or a glimpse into post-entertainment society (it's not pretty)

The fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction. Or call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But it’s not art or entertainment, just ceaseless activity.

The key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.

It’s a huge business, and will soon be larger than arts and entertainment combined. Everything is getting turned into TikTok—an aptly named platform for a business based on stimuli that must be repeated after only a few ticks of the clock.

TikTok made a fortune with fast-paced scrolling video. And now Facebook—once a place to connect with family and friends—is imitating it. So long, Granny, hello Reels. Twitter has done the same. And, of course, Instagram, YouTube, and everybody else trying to get rich on social media.

It is worth reading the whole thing. I've been pushing back against this kind of thing most of my life. He's wrong that it is a 2024 phenomenon, but the current version is supercharged by new software and media. I think the first time I encountered this kind of sensation was when I was given tranquilizers when I was in the hospital for a few days in my late teens. I got quite anxious when I realized that I had been staring at the wall for quite a while with no thoughts! This is not normal! But it was television that really brought it home. I never owned a television until I was in my forties, too busy and no interest. But when I got one, after a few years I discovered I was sitting there, mindlessly switching from channel to channel, looking for something, anything, to watch. When I realized this was becoming a habit, I cancelled my cable and gave my tv away. That was many years ago and I don't miss it. I noticed an even worse version of this on YouTube when you get hooked on watching those short clips. Mind you, YouTube can be enormously useful, you just have to watch how you interact with it.

I don't use any of the other social media like Facebook, X, TikTok, Instagram and all the others. In fact, a few years ago I decided it was time to "de-digitize" part of my life so I took up writing with a fountain pen, writing a daily journal, writing some poetry, doing some sketching, stopping the use of music software for composing and going back to pencil and eraser on staff paper and so on. Except for the sketching, I have kept all this up, quite happily. Oh, and possibly the most important one, every morning I start the day by reading something serious. Right now it is the Tractatus Logic-Philosophicus of Wittgenstein, but I have read a lot of other stuff. The first hour of the day is devoted to that and not the internet.

I have mentioned all of this before, but in the light of the Ted Gioia post I thought it was worth reiterating. Ann Althouse had something similar up this morning: 10 pages?!! If you scroll down you will see that mine is the third comment. Later on Ann quoted my comment and said:

Even one page of serious philosophy or poetry would be enough of a challenge. It's not the pages, it's the time and the degree of engagement.

Yes, the degree of engagement. Or you might say focus, or concentration. Because what all actual study or creative work requires is uninterrupted concentration--and that is what all our social media software is designed to frustrate, as Ted points out.

But, you know, the solution is pretty simple. Just stop and do something else. Something worth doing. Wood-carving, bird-watching, tennis (ok, pickleball), chess, reading an actual book, play guitar. Anything!