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12 August 2010

Faint Heart

I was engineering at a youth forum in a council building. Unnoticed, I carried on with my work which involved panicking when some dickhead stands in front of the drivers with a microphone and gaffa-taping leads down. The usual. Nothing flash. I'd been up since 4am for sahur and caught a train at 6:30am so obviously I was quite braindead. I overhear some words that make me wake up: "There's meant to be fifty kids but five dropped out" and "It's 8:30am but there are only thirty people here".

What is with young people and our bullshit unreliability?!

I am sick to death of my very own generation with our smartphones that let us cancel on people with ease, our lack of a sense of urgency and our super-fast internet that breeds procrastination. I don't understand why we think it's fine to string people along and allow ourselves to be strung along. We click attending on Facebook events but never really show up. Do we know how goddamn hard that makes life for the person organising the event? It's bad enough without unreliable people screwing it up for them.

Here's the thing - I'm nineteen and I grew up with new technology and new media. I am no vintage enthusiast and I can safely say that the advancement of technology has opened new doors for me, as an audio-engineer-in-the-making, a future traveller and as a human being in general trying to find my identity. But the thing that provokes my animosity towards this high-speed evolution is the fact that some people are already unreliable and this is simply perpetuated by the world of social networking and text messaging.
Nowadays, you don't have to confront someone (and in turn, witness their emotional reaction) personally to tell them something that is generally hard to address and/or discuss. Where is the fucking courage in that?! Grow up, Gen Y. I don't want to hear about misunderstandings and break-ups and cancellations over email and text. I don't want that type of cowardice - which I'm so very guilty of - in my life anymore.

We load Youtube videos to listen to music and never really experience, let alone understand, the high quality of CDs and vinyl nor the compelling art that often comes with it. We are lazy and I admit it but I certainly do not want it.

I want endless, barren roads and open bushlands. I need to see lakes and rivers and the generosity that Mother Nature offers. In fact, I feel like such a fucking cop-out going to Chicago - an English-speaking, tech-savvy, easily-accessible city. I guess I just feel the need to get out of here but it certainly ain't bravery running through my veins. It's probably just the fear of staying in the same place for far too long. That is what we are. We are agitated and we always want to be on the move. Though that could be a good thing, it's also shit in that we expect everything to move with us and everything to be fine when we want change.

You might wonder why I'm posting this on my blog considering I'm trash-talking new media but it seems to be the only way that people will read it. And even then, I can't seem to hold anyone's attention if my posts exceed 140 characters.

In the words of my crazy generation: epic fail.

-S

4 comments:

  1. youre a genius stono! seriously you write like a pro-fesionalllllio! i am being serious though this should be in a magazine or something its very eloquently written! and i totally agree with everything you said. im so over peoples unreliability! although i have an inkling it has something to do with sydney but in general technology DOES perpetuate this ability for people to drop you like a hat when they get a better offer or whatever. this is leish by the wayyyy woo :D

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  2. I agree with the above comment. You are a great writer, and its a pleasure to relax and read through your blog. No matter how much you say these things, i see it as a one way street and the speed limit is only ever exceeding. We cant move backwards bc society has already adapted to these new luxaries that modern day offers to us. Even if we wanted to, we wouldnt survive without these. To sum my point up gen y is exceedingly becoming much like a spoilt brats who get everything demand.It is indeed a sad reality!

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  3. Hey guys, thanks so much for your kind words! They mean the world!

    I agree with you, anon, when you say we can't move backwards. It is definitely a sad reality but I know there are still people out there who trade mixtapes with me and send me letters so it's all good. I guess I'm just tired of getting let down and letting people down.

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  4. Well you are a lucky one then! Its so hard to find people (among gen Y) who are willing to spare a few minutes and put pen to paper in the creation of a REAL letter. I miss that dearly!

    As for letting people down, dont let that get to you. Its not worth it. And getting let down by others, well thats all part of life, what can you do?

    SO JUST SMILE!!!

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