Becoming Rare

Reflections on the death of shock culture, AI, and my increasing distaste for social media

Photo by Raychan on Unsplash

These reflections have been a long time in the making. Its genesis came from something that Freya India said during one of her debates at last year’s HowTheLightGetsIn Festival in London. The conversation was on how the constant snapshotting and documentation of our lives on social media may be detrimental to the health of future generations - something I believe to be true, and something Freya has spoken about previously on Substack to great success.

You Don't Need To Document Everything

At one point, she specifically used the term “becoming rare” to describe the value of not being online constantly, and this piece has stuck with me ever since due to how many elements of my own life it resonates with. For a time in university, I ditched my smartphone and social media entirely, choosing to stick to a Nokia feature phone that I hardly took with me anyways. Despite “losing contact” with many of the friends and acquaintances I had made through school and early adulthood, the experience was incredibly liberating. The times I spent with people in-person became far more meaningful and beautiful, precisely because these were “rare” moments that would never be repeatable in any digital form ever again. It was a key part of what helped me to experience living in the moment more and more, which did wonders in all aspects of my life - setting boundaries, overcoming false beliefs about myself, and so forth.

We live in an age where we’re still trying to constantly advertise on “shock value” to an audience that I believe are no longer shocked by anything. I am no longer shocked by someone doing something ridiculous for social media, by the sexualisation of film, music and celebrity culture, nor the point-scoring posturing of politicians. Now, we have AI-generated content that is flooding these social media platforms, capitulating to the same shock-factor mentality. Anything is possible, from raccoons doing professional wrestling to celebrities made to say and do outlandish things.

The Revolution Was Already Televised

The development in AI content - something that is wholly artificial - is what prompted me to return to these ideas, and to consider my relation with this digital matrix once more.

As a poet, I meet people where they are at with my words. I provide a bridge to the possibilities beyond their current reality, catalysing a journey to a place where false narratives about who they are and what their purpose is in the world do not reign supreme. Online platforms have been a significant part of my toolbox, as they allow me to reach people in distant geographies who find value in my work who may never have connected me otherwise. And a lot of those people are on the “conventional” platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and so forth.

I do, however, feel conflicted about using them. I am continuing to give energy to a system that captures its “users” data, attention and souls. Even if they engage with what I share, they are still bombarded with other baited content designed to pacify their humanity. That perpetuates the system of control that benefits those interested in technocratic visions for society. I don’t feel particularly great about that.

For my own use-cases, I still fight through seeing that same content just to be able to share my own pieces. I am giving my energy to that system that is deliberately designed to keep us locked in to an artificial, de-souled environment. I make time to look at what other “content” is getting engagement on this platforms in case there’s anything I can utilise. But, again, this is continuing that “game” of absorbing people into a highly-tailored digital environment where they cannot exercise their divine sovereignty to its fullest. And while I can break myself off from this environment without getting too sucked-in, so many continue to feed on these empty calories of content because there is nothing fulfilling on their plates.

There is nothing “normal” or “human” about using these platforms. Yes, I know I cannot “save” everyone I reach - and, as someone who’s encouraging people to reconnect with humanity, where does that put me in this dance?

Why Bother?

I feel hesitant to continue to give so much time to the digital matrix for precisely all of these reasons. The connections I make through in-person events, especially with people who may disagree with my views, are simply impossible to achieve through most digital media (or at least from what I have experienced). My favourite uses of technology are when they are directly supporting in-person experiences, such as live video calls where I can interact (almost) real-time with other people. That’s why I’ve brought in my monthly CandleWrite sessions, precisely because I’d rather people make time for that sort of environment when online than for social media or even group chats. Furthermore, it gives far less energy to these online systems deliberately designed not to encourage originality or critical thinking.

I haven’t fully made a decision yet on how I’m going to progress. Part of me wants to ditch doing any maintenance of my online presence - something I absolutely have experience in doing from my days with my little Nokia “dumbphone”. Part of me also knows that my mission now and how I bring that into the world is very different from when I last went without the digital noise. I’m interested in cutting down significantly on the time I make for algorithm-based means of reaching people. My Substack and the emails I send out through doesn’t really fall into that category, and the experience of creating and preparing something new every week, in a way that is mostly not reliant on algorithms, does help calibrate my narrative towards some greater sense of truth. But for other social media platforms, I don’t get the sense they are serving me quite as well.

The missing piece of the puzzle for me is this: How do I encourage people to find me outside of those control systems?

Maybe my decision lies back in Freya India ‘s words: “becoming rare”. Maybe it involves acknowledging that I can wait for an invitation from another in order to share what I need to with the world, and not feeling I have to constantly be parting the endless sea of digitised, propagandised, tribalised madness. Sure, there is a fear element there for me; I hear narratives in my head of “What if I don’t make enough of a splash to keep myself sustained?” “What if my gifts go unshared, or I never reach someone I am in the right position to help?” “What if I end up a failure?”

But I am in a position where I know those narratives come from a place of trauma and adverse experiences that do not really define who I am and what I am here to do. In fact, it has been recognising they are there and then diving in to the things I fear in spite of that which has wielded the most powerful and enriching results in my life. The right people and opportunities then come to me, and not the other way round.

The journey to acquire rare treasures always requires some leap of faith - and a “leap” is very much a physical action, that happens in real space and time. The digital world is not real space and time. Maybe it is on me to make that leap of faith into the physical, and to set a path for others to follow and make their own leaps of faith so we can all enjoy the treasures that exist here together. Maybe it is on me to show there is a way we can all “become rare” together - and in doing so, become uncatchable and uncontrollable by those who wish to make us subservient to their worldviews and visions for mass society.

However it looks, it’s certainly something that can never be snapshotted for likes and follows online.

Thank you all for your ongoing support. Leave a comment to let me know if you have any ideas for encouraging all of us to move into the physical while maintaining the best elements of modern communication technology.

I look forward to sharing more with you soon - and maybe that can be in the physical? Let’s find out together.

With gratitude,

Tom

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