listening: oneohtrix point never - garden of delete
watching: n/a
i saw a discussion on myfigurecollection the other day about a perceived increase in rudeness among users of the site. i commented myself, because fwiw i have definitely noticed more rude people in online hobby spaces. myfigurecollection in particular has been extremely annoying lately; i get DMs from strangers demanding i sell things out of my private collection on a near weekly basis. i consider that very rude and presumptuous. it also seems to speak to a larger issue with impatience and instant gratification in hobby spaces.
i shared this screencap of another MFC user's comment that resonated with me to bluesky.. i then expanded a bit on my feelings about the social changes in the figure collecting community. one of my bsky mutuals responded to my post with a long and insightful account of her experiences as a much younger person than myself, which i really appreciated. one thing she mentioned was feeling a bit lost between her own generation, and the generation of older people she followed in hobby/fandom circles. she descirbed "secondhand nostalgia" reading old blogs and posts from those who entered her hobbies sooner.
her insight, combined with a lot of the comments on the MFC post talking about social media brainrot, low media literacy, "kids these days," and so on, started me thinking about how different the internet landscape really is from when i came into it. i started participating in hobbies online years before social media-- i joined den of angels when it was still a yahoo newsgroup. compared to others in my generation, i was also a fairly late adopter of mdoern social media. i didn't use myspace, and my tenure on facebook lasted from roughly 2012 - 2017 (5 years too many tbh).
however much like my mutual described, i grew up much younger than others in my hobby spaces, and did feel some degree of not getting to participate as fully as the adults around me. tbh that's part of why i collect older dollfies, figures, and lolita pieces-- a lot of these are things i saw when i was young, thought they were super cool, but i couldn't afford and/or wouldn't have been allowed to collect them. but the perspective i hadn't really considered was just how different it is to be online or do hobbies while coming of age in a post social media internet. there's a degree of performativity that just wasn't there in the anonymous and chaotic days of web 1.0.
of course the early internet wasn't without it's ugliness, the whole "epic snark" bullshit started long ago. as a teen/preteen participating in doll and figure forums, i was verbally abused on a regular basis by people two or three times my age, mostly for being overly enthusiastic or clueless.. which granted, i'm sure i was super annoying, but the adult in a situation like that can practice more self control. like i can respect where the whole "minors aren't my responsibility online blah blah" attitude comes from, but at the same time, adults arguing online with literal children is pretty cringe lol. imo it's more practical to just block and move on, especially if your web presence isn't minor safe.
i'm not immune to kneejerk bluntess or judgmental thoughts myself.. i know i can be especially judgy of those i perceive as 'main character syndrome' type people, and those who infantilize themselves or those who overly fantasize their lives. there's been many occasions when someone from a hobby community has followed me, and my first thought when checking their profile is wanting to tell them, "you're not a magical girl, you're an annoying woman." fortunately i at least have the sense not to actually say that to anyone
and yeah, i do know that's kind of a mean thing to even think.
i also tend to complain a lot (even if just in my internal monologue) about the "cutecore" demographic.. granted i think some of that's valid, because those are the people blowing up my MFC DMs with demands i sell them my collection. i joked on bsky that "at this point if i see a super sonico or my melody/kuromi pfp in my inbox, i'm running away lmao," which is lowkey true, but i guess i could be a little less snotty in how i express it.
but anyway, thinking about how online hobby-ing has changed since the time that shaped my social habits, i realized that in the post-social media era, there's an underlying expectation of performativity that was really wasn't there before. there were some e-famous lolita and BJD bloggers way back in the late 2000s, but it was their choice to do more elaborate shoots and longform posts on their personal blogs or websites.
in the post-instagram modern day, it's like nobody can just 'go online' or 'have hobbies' anymore, we're have to create an 'online presence' where we simultaneously participate in a hobby while performing that participation for a social media audience. i wonder if that's a contributing factor to that type of "lost between" feeling that my mutual described in her generation. additionally, i think this may contribute to a lot of the detached irony culture and tendency toward snotty or controversial interactions with strangers. a few of the comments in reply to the original MFC post mentioned how social media rewards aggression and contrarianism-- just look at the comments of any popular tiktok or youtube video. having to constantly perform as essentially your own brand or character online, without the blanket of anyonymity, has to create some severe anxiety and cognitive dissonance for a lot of people. i would imagine a lot of people don't even realize it's happening to them, since social media snark culture is so normalized.
several people on MFC and bsky mentioned how they feel this stuff has gotten worse since covid. makes sense, when so many were cooped up with only social media as an outlet. a lot of people also entered new hobbies around that time, and started those hobbies only interacting online. on the other hand, i was an 'essential worker,' so i developed a different type of crippling maladaptive social habits.... yayyy.... jokes aside, it took me a couple of years to come down from how clenched up and angry i was during 2020-2021.
part of what inspired me to share my thoughts in a longer format here, is that i think the antidote to social media-induced impatience and bluntness is to share perspective in a more nuanced, long-form way. i spend a lot of time thinking about people and social trends; my husband jokingly refers to me as an amateur internet social anthropologist. but as much thinking as i do about it, i tend not to share my thoughts on the social anthropology of the internet online... because it's bound to get misintepreted in some annoying way on social media.
ultimately it feels pretty unworthwhile to hand wring over "kids these days" and "tiktok brainrot" etc etc. being a dick isn't just a generational thing. i'm prone to just blocking people on bsky, MFC, or wherever else, if they're bringing rancid vibes to me and i feel there's no point in reasoning with them. but i do think i'd like to put more effort into being patient and thoughtful with how i express myself online. just like personal websites give me hope as an antidote to the corporatized, ad-plastered modern internet, i think actively fighting the inclination to be snarky, can bring a degree of civility to online interaction. hopefully it also sets an example for those whose social skills have been shaped by snark-as-default-interaction online culture. (myself included)
at some point, i'd also like to expand on my thoughts on online hobby consumption culture itself. i have more to say about my dislike for "cutecore" (and hashtag-able consumption aesthetics as a whole) and how i feel a lot of collectors these days buy their collections based on they want to be seen owning, vs what actually sparks joy for them. that's also half the reason why i no longer use instagram. but this post is long enough for now.
i shared this screencap of another MFC user's comment that resonated with me to bluesky.. i then expanded a bit on my feelings about the social changes in the figure collecting community. one of my bsky mutuals responded to my post with a long and insightful account of her experiences as a much younger person than myself, which i really appreciated. one thing she mentioned was feeling a bit lost between her own generation, and the generation of older people she followed in hobby/fandom circles. she descirbed "secondhand nostalgia" reading old blogs and posts from those who entered her hobbies sooner.
her insight, combined with a lot of the comments on the MFC post talking about social media brainrot, low media literacy, "kids these days," and so on, started me thinking about how different the internet landscape really is from when i came into it. i started participating in hobbies online years before social media-- i joined den of angels when it was still a yahoo newsgroup. compared to others in my generation, i was also a fairly late adopter of mdoern social media. i didn't use myspace, and my tenure on facebook lasted from roughly 2012 - 2017 (5 years too many tbh).
however much like my mutual described, i grew up much younger than others in my hobby spaces, and did feel some degree of not getting to participate as fully as the adults around me. tbh that's part of why i collect older dollfies, figures, and lolita pieces-- a lot of these are things i saw when i was young, thought they were super cool, but i couldn't afford and/or wouldn't have been allowed to collect them. but the perspective i hadn't really considered was just how different it is to be online or do hobbies while coming of age in a post social media internet. there's a degree of performativity that just wasn't there in the anonymous and chaotic days of web 1.0.
of course the early internet wasn't without it's ugliness, the whole "epic snark" bullshit started long ago. as a teen/preteen participating in doll and figure forums, i was verbally abused on a regular basis by people two or three times my age, mostly for being overly enthusiastic or clueless.. which granted, i'm sure i was super annoying, but the adult in a situation like that can practice more self control. like i can respect where the whole "minors aren't my responsibility online blah blah" attitude comes from, but at the same time, adults arguing online with literal children is pretty cringe lol. imo it's more practical to just block and move on, especially if your web presence isn't minor safe.
i'm not immune to kneejerk bluntess or judgmental thoughts myself.. i know i can be especially judgy of those i perceive as 'main character syndrome' type people, and those who infantilize themselves or those who overly fantasize their lives. there's been many occasions when someone from a hobby community has followed me, and my first thought when checking their profile is wanting to tell them, "you're not a magical girl, you're an annoying woman." fortunately i at least have the sense not to actually say that to anyone
and yeah, i do know that's kind of a mean thing to even think.
i also tend to complain a lot (even if just in my internal monologue) about the "cutecore" demographic.. granted i think some of that's valid, because those are the people blowing up my MFC DMs with demands i sell them my collection. i joked on bsky that "at this point if i see a super sonico or my melody/kuromi pfp in my inbox, i'm running away lmao," which is lowkey true, but i guess i could be a little less snotty in how i express it.
but anyway, thinking about how online hobby-ing has changed since the time that shaped my social habits, i realized that in the post-social media era, there's an underlying expectation of performativity that was really wasn't there before. there were some e-famous lolita and BJD bloggers way back in the late 2000s, but it was their choice to do more elaborate shoots and longform posts on their personal blogs or websites.
in the post-instagram modern day, it's like nobody can just 'go online' or 'have hobbies' anymore, we're have to create an 'online presence' where we simultaneously participate in a hobby while performing that participation for a social media audience. i wonder if that's a contributing factor to that type of "lost between" feeling that my mutual described in her generation. additionally, i think this may contribute to a lot of the detached irony culture and tendency toward snotty or controversial interactions with strangers. a few of the comments in reply to the original MFC post mentioned how social media rewards aggression and contrarianism-- just look at the comments of any popular tiktok or youtube video. having to constantly perform as essentially your own brand or character online, without the blanket of anyonymity, has to create some severe anxiety and cognitive dissonance for a lot of people. i would imagine a lot of people don't even realize it's happening to them, since social media snark culture is so normalized.
several people on MFC and bsky mentioned how they feel this stuff has gotten worse since covid. makes sense, when so many were cooped up with only social media as an outlet. a lot of people also entered new hobbies around that time, and started those hobbies only interacting online. on the other hand, i was an 'essential worker,' so i developed a different type of crippling maladaptive social habits.... yayyy.... jokes aside, it took me a couple of years to come down from how clenched up and angry i was during 2020-2021.
part of what inspired me to share my thoughts in a longer format here, is that i think the antidote to social media-induced impatience and bluntness is to share perspective in a more nuanced, long-form way. i spend a lot of time thinking about people and social trends; my husband jokingly refers to me as an amateur internet social anthropologist. but as much thinking as i do about it, i tend not to share my thoughts on the social anthropology of the internet online... because it's bound to get misintepreted in some annoying way on social media.
ultimately it feels pretty unworthwhile to hand wring over "kids these days" and "tiktok brainrot" etc etc. being a dick isn't just a generational thing. i'm prone to just blocking people on bsky, MFC, or wherever else, if they're bringing rancid vibes to me and i feel there's no point in reasoning with them. but i do think i'd like to put more effort into being patient and thoughtful with how i express myself online. just like personal websites give me hope as an antidote to the corporatized, ad-plastered modern internet, i think actively fighting the inclination to be snarky, can bring a degree of civility to online interaction. hopefully it also sets an example for those whose social skills have been shaped by snark-as-default-interaction online culture. (myself included)
at some point, i'd also like to expand on my thoughts on online hobby consumption culture itself. i have more to say about my dislike for "cutecore" (and hashtag-able consumption aesthetics as a whole) and how i feel a lot of collectors these days buy their collections based on they want to be seen owning, vs what actually sparks joy for them. that's also half the reason why i no longer use instagram. but this post is long enough for now.