Streaming Culture: Navigating Consumerism in the Digital Era
By Ahona Mitra
When was the last time where we spent an entire day without checking our social media? Most people probably would trace the date back to the early 2000s. It's quite normal for anyone to say so. We all have been cuffed by the irons of this digital era where the key has been thrown off to a place unknown.
There were days when a person had access to less than 20 movies playing in the theatre or the movies. But now we can get 10000+ movies and TV shows in a single app on our phone.
This is not only limited to movies. Let's talk about music. It's fascinating how from the era of music being heard only on CDs, cassettes, and radio we shifted to the era where just through a single app we can play any music by anyone in this world in just a few seconds.
Life has become easier with the advent of the digital era. But again what glitters is not always gold. The advent of the digital era whose original purpose at the very beginning was to connect people has rather pushed people away from each other or placed them against each other.
The internet has evolved into a realm of opinions, where one feels that they are better than most people. A significant proportion of these people turn into little minions who spread the message of the self-declared leader.
“We didn’t sign up for the digital lives we now lead. They were instead, to a large extent, crafted in boardrooms to serve the interests of a select group of technology investors.”
How often you have come across this statement: “You are not a real fan if you-”
These days everyone feels superior if they have streamed their favorite artist’s music more than 50 times or have watched the music video of their favorite artist within the first few minutes of its release. A person is called a real fan if they have watched the first show of a movie at the theatre or have watched a movie on Netflix the day it got released. This questions the authenticity of a fan not following them.
But the question arises why is this crown of superiority being handed by us to the hands of these people? Why are people called fake fans for not streaming the music enough or being shamed for not watching the movie on the release day?
The only answer to all these questions can be traced back to a simple yet the most dangerous concept: Consumerism.
Consumerism in this context does not refer to daily necessities but rather the digital world that rules us and expects us to think and speak like the person labelled as superior.
This quest for superiority is rooted in the concept of consumerism.
If I am not streaming my favorite band’s music from 1o or different devices from different accounts and on different apps then I am not a real fan but rather an imposter in front of their eyes.
If I am not watching my favorite director’s movie the day it comes out or within the week it comes out then I can no longer call them my favorite.
Art was meant to be felt and enjoyed by common people but in today's age sadly it's not the same anymore. The joy that people feel has turned into a fear of getting judged by these social media superiors.
But has this only affected the common people or has it also spread to the ones who are involved in the creation of art?
“No one, of course, signed up for this loss of control. They downloaded the apps and set up accounts for good reasons, only to discover, with grim irony, that these services were beginning to undermine the very values that made them appealing in the first place.”
-Cal Newport
Consumerism has fostered an environment for the growth of short attention spans.
People may be compelled to jump from song to song without properly listening to it. This can cause songs to be judged superficially and also result in pressure on the artist to prioritise attention-grabbing songs over a song that is more unique and true to themselves. This can become a problem as it can lead to an overall homogenous sound of popular music that lacks authenticity and depth.
People are hell-bent on finishing the series in one day or watching a movie at 2x speed just for the sake of watching it and posting on social media faster than others.
We are connecting to the social media world but at the price of losing ourselves. Fandoms of any famous artist are nothing less than cults and no fandom is never not toxic. They create these rules for themselves and think that someone not following those rules can never be a true fan.
Artists are now compelled to make shorter films to attract this audience or make the trendiest song to catch hold of their ears. But the true meaning of art gets lost somewhere in this path.
Of course, there is a good side of this digital world to those who are still trying to preserve the art in this world but this side gets overshadowed by the superior side and its minions.
One can only hope that we all start listening to music and watching a film just like how it was originally meant to be. But consumerism and capitalism would still be the shackles holding us back.
SOURCES
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210120-how-the-world-became-consumerist