Olu Online

individuality

last updated 0 minutes ago

at the risk of telling on myself - weird person online sees weird things in their algorithm and thinks that everyone sees said weird thing everywhere! - my algorithm on YouTube is really trying to push a few uncharitable and annoying narratives about other people recently. namely: no one is authentic any more; no one has original ideas these days; every creator and artist and everyone in between is a carbon copy of each other. naturally, i click the options menu on every single one and send them back to hell where they belong (‘not interested’ or ‘don’t recommend channel’ buttons are not strong enough, i need ‘morally wounds me’ and ‘what a bad day to be online’ buttons). but i still think about them obviously!

given the rise and even more meteoric rise of AI, fakeness and “the same but different! now with even more artefacts!!” are bound to be on people’s minds. online you’re told to be yourself, but only if yourself is interesting, not cringe, and ideally successful and/or good at whatever you’re trying to do. authenticity is, in this paradigm, a good and achievable/increasable quality. more importantly, it's something you can lack.

i see a lot more difference and "weirdness" on the web than i ever have, mostly because i purposely seek it out. watching smaller channels, following a lot of blog aggregators, sticking to "small and niche" over "massive and definitely good"...

i read a great post on culture study partly about the myth of the independent creator, through the lens of knitting pattern creators who sell/market themselves online through ravelry. everyone has a team. individuality in itself is a neutral thing but the call to be “independent”/non-enmeshed/non-reliant on other people is odd and counterproductive at best. no man is an island! strong connections aren't just for WiFi!

cross-pollination and connection feel like the flipside of the "everyone is copying everyone else" vibe. i really enjoyed JulyReply this year, and i want to make more of a habit of replying to stuff i've enjoyed with explicit credit. i have nothing against lurking in theory but your favourite writers/video makers/creators probably would love a bit more interaction!

this is my fourth post in my writing month challenge, which i decided is "one post for each day of november".

if you liked this post, please:

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#cross-pollination #writing-month