Tag Archives: entertainment

On the stage

Last night my youngest performed her ‘Set of 5’. Her and 3 other classmates choose 5 songs to sing and do a patter in between them. The songs and stories are personal and raw. They can change the lyrics of songs to better tell their story.

There is something really special about watching aspiring singers and actresses open up and share a part of themselves on stage.

I don’t know how they do it? It’s so far off of what I’d feel capable of doing. First off, I really can’t sing. But beyond that, the idea of getting on a stage and confidently expressing such confidence and candour… it’s all too much for me.

They on the other hand, they shine when on stage. They connect with the audience, incite laughter and tears, and take us on a wonderful journey. All the world may be a stage, but it takes a special kind of person to get up on a stage and give a truly great performance.

The death and rebirth of alone

I’m listening to Neil Postman’s ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death‘. I’ve shared the amazing cartoon based on the introduction before, looking at the contrast of the dystopian novels ‘Brave New World‘ by Huxley and ‘1984‘ by Orwell, and “the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.” I’ll share the comic again below.

But first, a thought about how we amuse ourselves with digital entertainment. I think that if Postman was alive today his fear of television as an entertainment distraction would have been exponentially magnified with the advent of the post Truth world that the internet and smartphone have propelled us into. In some ways this book feels dated, and in others prophetic. Television no longer has the grasp on everyone it did when this was written in 1985, but everything about Postman’s concerns are just amplified with entertainment and distraction constantly at our fingertips.

One thing this brought to mind is the fact that kids today are never bored, at least not bored like I was sometimes as a kid. I mean, I couldn’t contact my friends after school whenever I wanted, and I couldn’t choose something else to watch when nothing was on tv that I wanted to watch. I just got bored. Then I figured out a way to fill the time… by myself… all by myself as in ‘all alone’.

I don’t think kids today know how to be alone, but they certainly know how to be lonely. They are always connected yet feel disconnected. They are always ‘on show’ but many just feel ‘off’. They see social media of everyone’s best self, and feel like they can’t be that person themselves.

The new ‘alone’ is constantly connected, but always feeling alone.

—– —– —–

Writing that last sentence reminded me of a poem I wrote, ‘A Life Consumed‘.

Below is Postman’s Huxley/Orwell comparison I mentioned above.

Social media engagement vs entertainment

For many years social media has been a big part of my life. I’ve used mostly Twitter, but also Facebook and LinkedIn, and to a lesser extent Instagram. I also engage on Snapchat with my family, and I love the creativity of TikTok. But I don’t spend a lot of time on any of these.

Actually, about 3-4 times a week I do go to TikTok and spend a half hour being entertained, but not producing anything, just watching. To me this is more like TV than social media. I don’t watch TV regularly, but I’ll ‘tune in’ to TikTok for 30 minutes, then my phone tells me that I’ve used up all my time. I set the time limit because I found that I could easily switch from 30 minutes of entertainment to an hour plus of wasted time. So, while I engage with TikTok for a few 30 minute stints a week, it’s entertainment rather than engagement. Occasionally I’ll tweet a really clever TikTok.

Beyond that, I really just auto-post my blog to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, then later that day see if anyone has engaged with those posts. I also respond to any engagement people have with me, such as someone tagging me with @datruss on Twitter. So I go in as an observer, and respond if addressed directly. Yes, I might do a bit more while I’m there, but I’m not usually engaged for more than 5-10 minutes.

This is far less than I used to engage. Twitter was my go-to place to share what I was learning and to read links that inspiring educators shared. I used to be fully engaged with Twitter as a learning tool. But now I listen to audiobooks and podcasts or conversations on ClubHouse. I do this mostly when working out or when in transit, or while doing things like grocery shopping. And social media doesn’t engage my attention too much more than that.

Interestingly, I think what I do on social media is still a lot compared to others in my age bracket. I don’t pretend that I’m not using these tools at all, or that they don’t take any of my time… they just take less time than they used to.

I remember a conversation with someone about my time spent on social media, and this person spent no time on any of the tools and was questioning how I found the time? I asked if he watched TV? Was he a sports fan and did he watch sports on TV? Did he watch the news? The answers were yes, yes, and yes, and he easily consumed more television than I consumed social media. I could include my daily writing here on my blog and the math still leaned in the direction of more time spent by him on television than me on social media.

But if I’m honest, minus this blog I’ve been using social media more for entertainment than engagement, consumption rather than production. It has been a slow shift over the past few years. This is an observation not a call to action. I don’t think I’ll be changing this any time soon. That said, producing a daily blog since July 2019 is far more online social sharing than almost anyone I know, so my online engagement is still weighted towards production rather than consumption… And, anyone watching TV for the same amount or more time a week can’t say the same.

Binge watching

Every extended break I end up doing this: I pick a series and binge watch a few seasons over a few days. I watch so little television of any kind regularly, that there is always something to catch up on. My wife totally sunk into The Handmaids Tale a while back and told me I’d love it. So here I am approaching the end of Season 2, her watching it again with me, and saying ‘One more’ after already watching two episodes in a sitting.

Margaret Atwood is a brilliant writer, and the series is very well done. I remember seeing her say in a video that she didn’t put anything into Handmaid’s Tale that wasn’t something that had already happened somewhere in the world. If I was watching this series in 2019, I would have thought less about this fact, but somehow 2020 has made me see the world quite differently.

Today I’m more keenly aware that fascism can rear its ugly head. I’m more keenly aware of how religious beliefs can be argued and leveraged to reduce non-believer’s choices. I am more keenly aware of how information can be misconstrued and manipulated to fool a large percentage of the population.

We live in a world where rulers can still rule for their lifetime; Where religious and cultural genocide happen; Where rights to basic food and healthcare are dependent on geography and luck of being born to parents who can support a child’s needs. This is a not a just and free world for many, and that can lead to unrest. It can lead to upheaval, and it can spark less democratic and more totalitarian regimes. Regimes that, while not necessarily similar to Handmaids Tale, can be quite scary.

On that solemn and dark thought… my wife wants to watch another episode, and I’m quite willing to partake.

TikTok creativity

It’s interesting to watch how TikTok is exploding with new users of all ages, producing creative work.

Here are a few examples of original posts: 1, 2, 3, 4,5.

Then there is an incredible, understanding of permission to share your own version of that work. You’ll see a joke trend, then realize that that wasn’t the first place it was shared.

Then you’ll see someone duet a video, (share a TikTok side-by-side), and often that duet might be more popular than the original. When that happens, the original poster isn’t disappointed, but rather appreciative of the added exposure. Here is a fun example where rather than dueting (new word?) to do what was intended, the person made a parody that was far more successful. And this was the response of the original TikTok-er.

You’ll also see some incredible collaborations on TikTok. What I find interesting is that much of this original work is inspired by a copy culture… a sharing and expanding of creative ideas. Sometimes this is just blatant copying. Sometimes it’s copying with a very creative adaptation, and sometimes it’s just pure parody for a laugh.

I think we can learn a lot about creativity in a place where copying work that came before it is celebrated. The reality is that it is hard to be originally creative, but not as hard to be creative based on someone else’s work.

The Netflix Trap

Despite the fact that I grew up in the era of Seinfeld and Friends being sitcoms that were on the air, I haven’t seen all of the episodes. My daughters have seen every episode in order, and my youngest daughter is on her 3rd round of watching Friends through all 10 seasons, or 236 episodes, on Netflix.

When I watched these shows, they were on TV, with commercials, and we didn’t have a VCR set up if we missed the time slot. By the time the reruns were on, I was already not a fan of waiting through commercials to watch a show.

This weekend I got sucked into a drama on Netflix, and still nursing an injured knee, I found myself in front of the television for hours. I fell deep into the Netflix trap watching the next episode, after the next episode, after the next episode. ‘OK, just 1 more,’ I’d tell myself, then just one more after that…

I do this sometimes on longer breaks like summer and Christmas break but it’s very rare that I sink into a series like this on a regular weekend. The appeal is strong when there are no commercials and the opening/closing credits can easily be skipped. There is no waiting until next week’s time slot on TV, no waiting for commercials either. Just show after show, with each ending designed to hook you into the next one.

Watching television has changed significantly. I can see how easy it is to stay trapped in front of it now in a way that wasn’t possible when I was younger. YouTube and Facebook can be the same for some, with the next video automatically playing after the one you are watching is done. Blink and several hours have gone by.

I had a good dose of this on the weekend, and I’m done for now… At least until the March break. The series I was watching has one more season and I’ll probably watch most of it in a two to three day span. I force myself to wait for an extended break. But when I start, I don’t pretend that I’m not easily sucked into the trap of binge watching, like many others.

Out of the (sports) loop

I love playing sports, and I love going to live sporting events. I don’t follow sports on tv at all. Apparently it’s Super Bowl Sunday today. I heard both the team names but only remember San Francisco. I’m not going to look up the other team, I’ll just let you shake your head wondering how I can be so clueless? 😜

It has its advantages, being sports-fan ignorant: I have more time for other things. It also has its disadvantages: I can be out of the loop when sports conversations come up among friends and colleagues. My wife doesn’t mind, with free reign over the tv at all times.

I’m sure I’ll find out the results, and I’m also sure I’ll see replays of the best commercials, but I will miss out on the collective experience that so many people share.

I sometimes think I live too inside my own head to participate in following sports unless I’m right there in the experience, at the event. I don’t put a value on this as either good or bad, merely an observation about myself.

Is there something that you opt out of that others seem to enjoy? What are your reasons?