This is so sad... I cannot even begin to contemplate. When I was young blogging was something exciting and new. You could share your thoughts and interests with complete strangers and make connections to people you didn't even know -- albeit not very deep ones. Never once was it about status or signalling -- I mean surely there were people for whom this was important, but they were playing their status games with each other and didn't bother the people that wouldn't care about such nonsense.
It is a horrifying notion that you are only valued based on the output of your blog / FB / twitter account. I used to think that for every cultural movement there is a counter-movement that tries to invert the values of a previous generation. Are there people in your circle that explicitly reject this notion of self commodification and exhibitionism?
When I was young computers and taking computer programming in high school (gasp!) was for nerds and losers. The only thing that shielded me from ridicule and worse was my physical size and playing varsity sports. University combined a lot of us computer-lovers, regardless of whether we were obvious nerds or hid behind something else in our previous lives - it was great to be special and on top.
Now everyone feels obligated to "learn computers" and pursue the academic path after HS. Sadly as a whole we're not being successful; we're essentially customers of both.
I sure hope some kids are rejecting the current culture and creating something new that will up-end the current path...
Our generation did have a bit more of a 'happy go lucky' attitude, towards authority and the whims of circumstance both. To some degree I see the determination to buckle down and play a flawed system better than their eldars as the current generation's mode of rebellion against our 'anything goes' ethic.
It is a horrifying notion that you are only valued based on the output of your blog / FB / twitter account. I used to think that for every cultural movement there is a counter-movement that tries to invert the values of a previous generation. Are there people in your circle that explicitly reject this notion of self commodification and exhibitionism?