First things first…
What ‘hard work’ is according to you?
If this is what echoes, ‘I live, I am a liver.’
We are in serious trouble! You may call me a deadpan or a humdrum millennial woman for this, but it is definitely a threat to creative minds.
Do you recall those excruciating days when you struggled to get a mere 30 out of 100 in school, and if you did, you were considered one of the brilliants?
…Your parents blowing the comparison trumpets on and off? Telling you to earn a bare minimum of 60 % in your boards (we called it 1st division) to become eligible for a good-ranking university and further studies?
If you do, I assume you are from the 80s-’90s or before! (Precisely, millennial and Gen X), the generations that grew up before the hot and colds of social media, artificial intelligence took over!
Of course, marks never mattered! And only ‘academics’ have never been the ‘darling’ bridge to success as our ‘parents’ used to portray…the ‘boomers’ as we call them.
But we understood what they tried to implement in practice, and of course, that’s for our better future.
However, we broke those generational patterns successfully. And we went on with choosing the ‘The Road Not Taken.’
Long live! Robert Frost. (But now it is Orry, not sorry or awry)
Turning out as rebels, the latter generations bulldozed the barriers, taking off different career options other than what was popular in the mainstream, ‘Doctors’, ‘Engineers’, and ‘Lawyers.’
And, yes, it did turn out to be a grand breakthrough. We opted for ‘fine arts’ as a spectrum to hold on to. ‘Fashion Designing’ ‘Dance’ ‘Drama’ ‘Music’ ‘Journalism’… all came in.
With years passing, the internet made an aggressive stand. Our first social media acquaintances started with MySpace, Yahoo, Orkut and more. In 2008, YouTube (localised version) came in. The platform technically changed content consumption. YouTube is definitely the OG of today’s OTT.
And it’s been then that we’ve seen a shift in career pathways. People are becoming YouTubers!
‘Lily Singh’ (formerly Superwoman) ‘Miranda Sings’, ‘Ray William Johnson’ and more… the OG YouTubers if you say! With the popularisation of these YouTube creators and then YT monetising content…we saw a huge statistical shift in people choosing their careers.
What also got us is how aspiring filmmakers create their own channels, streaming their movies. We saw AIB, TVF, and different satirical YouTube channels streaming their creative content on YouTube.
It was so darn ‘healthy’ back then!
Yes, ‘healthy’… ‘healthy content.’
People making genuine, meaningful vlogs, vines and more!
But then, what happened?
TikTok happened! (However, I still do believe that TikTok has been one of the most democratic platforms. Not that the world cares about my beliefs, but yes, it was.)
And it is when ‘Attention span’ came into question!
Just a few days back, I came across a meme on Gen Z that says, ‘If a meme has more than eight words, Gen Z be like: please take it away.’ I am not writing this based on a meme, but it is what statistics show. A report says, “Gen Z loses active attention for ads after just 1.3 seconds—less time than any other age group, according to a global study by Yahoo and OMD Worldwide.”
So, it is no wonder that a video that is 10 to 15 minutes long (not exceeding this as it is way beyond irrelevant) will not attract young minds.
Like this article also won’t! (Sighs)
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And likewise, YouTube fades! TikTok rules…TikTok gets banned, Instagram launches ‘Reels,’ and follows so many more cousins to this ‘short video making platform’
…A lot of furious thumb tapping on screens with a sprinkle of algorithmic magic. Because nothing says cultural evolution, like defining your worth through likes and followers.
And, Voila!
We now have micro-celebrities (social media influencers). With no actual influence.
Lip-syncing to some random popular dialogue, with people reacting to it, loving it, and with that, the creator earning millions of views, likes and followers, eventually earning an uncalled ‘entitlement.’
And suddenly, this wave comes in!
A puerile, sheep-headed wave with no light at the end of the tunnel.
And that is exactly what makes Orry so popular! It is not because of what he says, ‘I am a liver’, but it is the confidence that he has when claiming this to be a ‘lifestyle.’
But what we fail to do is to sit back, relax and ‘THINK.’
What if, one day, this disappears?
What happens to these viral stars after they have achieved their one minute of fame, then? And if one is looking up to them as ‘inspirations’, what frivolous future one is holding?
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and explore the riveting history of how fame evolved on social media.
We recently witnessed how a woman, Jasmeen Kaur, who sells dress materials, went viral for her iconic phrase ‘just looking like a wow.’ It happened after Deepika Padukone lip-synced to it. We also saw Jasmeen expressing her gratitude for DP. But then, what?
I remember an influencer dropping a picture on Instagram with a book on the Holocaust. And she, with her ‘influencer’ brain, tried to pose as a ‘bookworm’ with a smile on her face. She got slammed! Obviously! And later on, she deleted the picture.
A Turkish TikToker became popular for his distinctive way of shaking his belly.
Very recently, I came across a girl’s Instagram handle, where she shares recipe videos while narrating ‘domestic abuse’ cases, which apparently happens to be the key to the audience’s lure.
Some are getting popular for just making silly ASMR food-eating videos. And while it has got no amount of content in it, most of them promote unhealthy eating habits too!
And the list doesn’t end.
Is that what content creation has come to?
We’re all just meeting and greeting every single day on the fabulous social media stage. Because, you know, experiences and expertise are like fine wine – they get mouldier with each passing moment.
In this era where being outdated is so last season, humanity is completely smitten by the “peed” factor. Yes, you read that right, ‘peed’ – a perfect blend of speed and the urgency to discover what’s newer than new.
It’s like a race against time, or maybe against our attention spans that are rapidly approaching that of a goldfish.
Oh, the thrill!
Fame, darling, has undergone a metamorphosis. Forget the traditional glitz and glamour; social media has democratized it. Move over, Hollywood, because now anyone with a smartphone can be a star! Literary prowess and artistic brilliance?
They’re just components of this shiny new phenomenon called “micro fame.” It’s like fame, but small and cute – like a pet rock, but for your ego.
This takes me to a recent talk show, where Richa Chadha says, ‘Apni life main important logon k numbers yaad hai, dimag se calculate kar sakti hu 80 mein se 40 kate toh kitna…Aaj k jo youngsters hai, wo kya sare k sare YouTube creators banenge? Kyun ki doctors engineers toh koi ban nahi payega, journalist bhi nahi ban payega, unmein grammatical sense ya language sense, ya expression hi nahi hai… toh kya karenge sab log YouTube creators banenge, toh kya hum ek dusre k channel hi dekhte rahenge?’
A very valid take, isn’t it?
No, I am not being an intellectual or a bangali ‘antel’ or ‘buddhijeebi’ as you call it! I am not against content creation or shaming the creators.
But what I and I believe ‘we’ all yearn for is ‘constructive creation.’ And not live with the ‘liver’ philosophy. Because it takes one nowhere.
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So, there you have it– the grand tale of social media fame. A saga where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and the extraordinary becomes, well, just another scroll in the feed.
Ah, the marvels of our digital utopia!