Remember when.

If I could have grown up in any decade it would have to be the fifties; the movies were musicals like Singin’ in the Rain & comedies like  I Love Lucy were on air. Whenever anyone is asked when they would have liked to grow up, they will almost always answer with a decade before the 80’s. In the 20’s people were roarin’, the 30’ s may be overlooked due to a little thing called The Great Depression, the 40’s was when America rallied together to help their neighbor while listening to the musical talents of Mr. Sinatra (For those a little slower, please note the irony of this link.), the 60’s because this decade was one of the most revolutionary times in American history since the Civil War (kinda hard to compete with that), etc.  What is it about these decades before the 1990’s?

We have been growing up in a culture that has rapidly deteriorated into a whirlwind of technology, instant gratification & genericization. Some may ask why any of these qualities are bad. Technology has led to much advancement in our society; medically, informationally, etc., no one has every said “I want this to take a really long time” & genericization is how capitalism can become all it can, so keep feeding the beast. However, while all of these refinements have made life seem better, easier, I beg to differ that it is all really an amelioration.

Technology has made our society into a black hole of web pages, personal profiles & Wikipedia. People can stay in touch with family & friend easier. Meeting new people has never been more effortless, just upload a photo of yourself looking fab while wearing your Doriotos stained sweats. You don’t even need to get dressed up to find a date anymore, you just need to get dressed up for the actual date; at least, it is recommended. Wikipedia has prevented about 1 trillion paper cuts with the sublime existence of their search bar. The thing is, while this all seems great, it is just a massive epidemic of producing laziness & impersonal interaction with a 1,000 plus friends. (Expect “Sociology of technology” to come to a computer screen near you soon.)

Back in the 50’s people had to use word of mouth, not a link on a Facebook status to get people aware of what’s going on. When there was a rally, people actually showed up instead of waiting for the article to come out the next day online & then share it to appear as if they are invested in the effort. When people had passions they would get up & go. They made fliers, sang songs, gave speeches to random people on the sidewalk about the next movement demonstration. When people became engaged in something they wouldn’t just “Like” an article, they would bring the paper with them to the coffee shop so they could discuss with their friends, in person, how they could help make an impact. Taking initiative like this is so uncommon now. Everyone wants to be apart of something without doing more than pressing copy & paste.

In the 60’s, the social revolution wasn’t the extensive growth of social networks, it was sexual liberation, especially the “Summer of Love”, 1967. I am not saying that everyone should walk around naked & spread eagle for whomever, I am just saying that back in the 60’s people were not trying to get the bare jest of someone (pun unintended) from a profile page; they were really getting to know people. Sharing themselves on a more philosophical, personal & stimulating level (yes, some of the stimulation was from all of the sex & LSD they were having). However, they didn’t just hump; they shared their thoughts, theories & prospectives about life. We can all laugh about the drugs & consummation, but they were trying to accomplish something so much more fundamental than anything we could ever fathom because we have our heads so far up Siri’s ass. So far up that everything has become unbearably generic.

Politics, personalities & clothing. No one cares about what they believe, what they feel. They just turn on the TV & try to emulate what they see. Everyone who is young wants to shake their fists at the government & rebuke them for all of America’s problems. The thing is we don’t really try to question authority; we just blame it. Everyone has something to say, but few have something to back up their statements, even if what they are saying is true. It is just a regurgitation of either Limbaugh or Olbermann’s opinion (depending on which way you swing). It is one ignorant outburst after another. We are trying so hard to be original; to be a rebel, but no one knows how, so we look to the person next to us to show us what to do (the result of art & music programs getting budget cuts in public schools). Just listen to the music today. All has a lot of bass, which causes vibrations, making us believe we are feeling something more than really intense sound waves. There is no talent. It is all just generated from a computer. I feel like we are chickens running around with our heads cut off trying to think of what we can do next, but always finding ourselves looking to E! News & Pinterest to tell us.

I am going to keep this conclusion short. No one says they want to live in the 2000’s because nothing is organic. For example, Apple is the icon of our generation. Steve Job’s job is done. However, very little has been produced by society that the masses can hang their hat on. Think about this: Society use to influence culture, now culture influences society.