Zombified Internet Cyborgs Are Strangling My Next Door Neighbor

I have spent countless hours scrolling through Instagram. I used to turn to TikTok when I was stuck on the toilet or had even just two minutes to myself. Then came YouTube, with indecision taking hold and shoving me onto the couch in a quick-fact paralysis. Finally came Instagram. It’s only on my phone because I tell myself I’ll start social media marketing soon... one of these days... just so I can find some inspiration as I dredge through the slop.

There’s so much slop.

Usually I delete these apps after a week or two. I realize that my moments between moments, where I’d normally give myself over to chores or (shudder) introspective thought... These moments are drowned out by Instagram. I’ve held onto my marketing excuse this time around, and I’m all the worse for it.

Consider the moments when I want to write. I have quite a few hours in the day I could give over to my stories if I had a bounty of creative energy. But when that first time block comes around, I’ve already given in. I gave in the moment I woke up, sapping away fresh neurons to facts about an island full of herpes monkeys.

It’s addicting. I’m well aware of this, but I’m also aware of my marketing needs. And let me tell you, it’s a bloody war zone in there.

AI-made fruit eating fruit. Random book recommendation—cool! Fact about butterfly. Interesting? Did I need to know that? No. Did I want to? I think so... Oh, more fruit. These fruit cut like glass! Wow...

I no longer believe I want to cast my net out there.

The internet used to be an augment to the real world. It was a space for funny recorded videos and forums for endless hobbies. Then the videos became animated, or gaming-based, or others reading others’ posts, and the new hobbies overran the old with video editing, live-streaming, and digital music creation. Internet culture became mainstream, present and sometimes overpowering the IRL. Now it seems we’re onto the next phase.

Phase 3: The Digital World Becomes Dominant

We spend so much time online. So much time. I’m not talking about screen time here, which is justifiable and sometimes deemed a necessity, as is office life, and blogging in my case. The issue isn’t with screens, but the sociocultural shift with where we want to spend our time.

My generation isn’t going out. We’re not drinking, we’re not partying, we’re not traveling like the Millennials did. We’re broke, and we suffer out our days with a screen blaring videos about the downfall of _____.

Fill in the blank. Did you say a country? An economy? Society? Education? Intelligence?

It’s never the downfall of knitting, or gardening, or journaling or baking or biking. Just putting that out there. It’s always things we have utterly no control over. At least, that’s the story we’re told.

We listened. We’ve taught ourselves we can’t fix it, sitting like observers watching a rabbit being torn apart by an overly excited retriever. We could get up, tear up the fight, but we don’t feel like we belong in the husk around us and would rather exist as dormant seeds clutching to our shell, afraid of blossoming.

So here we are, sucking our toes in front of a camera because we’ve forgotten how to seek attention. We’ve thrown ourselves into the digital world with all that we have, and now the physical world is barren, bleak, and in desperate need of saving.

You know what I see?

I see opportunity.

I’m not willing to suck on toes for views. Sorry. Also not interested in spending hours making AI videos. I’m sure it’d do a great job, but it’s just... it’s boring. I want to do something fun and show others what I create. That’s why I’m approaching my city, my town, my locale, and give my art to the people surrounding me.

I don’t want an algorithm to try finding people. I’ll find them with fliers in coffee shops, bookstores and the like. I don’t see any point in desperately trying to reach five people when I could make friends that I could hug, and slap when they cheat on their beloved now ex-boyfriend. I want to raise a village of like-minded people, bring back local bands, go to local concert and see the world leave this bleak reality.

I’m sick of scroll culture.

I’ll enjoy every second as I throw myself into the wild, breaking some flyering or protest laws in my descent. I grew up with the internet. I let it consume me. I played video games instead of playing with neighbors, and my neighbors were busy doing the same.

I welcomed social media’s embrace and I learned so, so much about the world. I’m thankful for that era of the internet, but now the internet is world.

It’s time to rediscover what’s out there. Maybe I’ll make some meaningful content that someone else will later post about. Maybe my pamphlets will sit idly by the other dreamers stacked in a cafe sandwich container. I can’t say I know what will happen, but I do know if I stop caring about what’s in there, about likes and follows and all those potential sales. I have the chance of finding something else. Community.

If you’re after community, go outside. If you want a place to talk about not talking about herpes monkeys, drop a comment.