A Wave of Psychologically Distressing Entertainment On The Internet

In the 1930s cultural and literary critic Walter Benjamin penned his observation of mankind”s “self-alienation [having] reached such a degree that it [could] experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order.” He was referring to destructive practices that we find commonplace today; things like building a full movie set only to blow it up in a stunt. It was waste, pure and simple, but the moviegoers loved it. And because it was profitable, it stayed. Nowadays we don’t think twice about chase scenes in which hundreds of car get totaled - it’s just good cinema!


But I think he was onto something, and I want to take his observation and apply it to a new, disturbing phenomenon that is growing in todays Internet culture. It seems to be everywhere you browse, and thanks in part to the anonymous and unfiltered nature of the Web, is growing quickly. I’m referring here to the trends of scathing satire, celebration of deviance, a pathological focus on negative events, and dark humor. The glamorous trivialization of the depraved human condition that looms over our psychological well-being.

Now the content of this wave is not new per se. Throughout history we have laughed at one another’s misfortunes, enjoyed violence as entertainment, and in general indulged in activities that were not helpful in our development as a loving, caring race. Dead baby jokes are still told. What has changed, however, is the way that this content is distributed, the scope of its reach, and the way in which we as a(n) (internet) culture participate in it.

Before I start listing examples, I want to emphasize that all of the content that I will reference is available for free, online. There is no cost involved other than a computer and an Internet connection. This is a major point, because before the Internet the only way that someone could reach a large audience was to publish in some way or another, whether it be books, magazines, film, or syndication. This not only involved some degree of scrutinizing censorship, but it cost money and, accordingly, consuming it cost a person money. Before indulging in any material, the consumer had to judge whether or not the entertainment he would gain was worth the value of his money. This was an important step that is now bypassed thanks to the Web. Social site-aggregator sites like Reddit.com and Digg.com help to popularize this content, making it easy to find for people who are looking for a quick laugh.

Dark Humor Comics

This genre of comics has exploded in the past couple years, with sites such as garfieldminusgarfield, Perry Bible Fellowship, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and Cyanide and Happiness quickly gaining thousands of subscribers. These comics focus on themes such as depression, isolation, death, mental illness, suicide, often portraying their depiction and satire of real life in the light of extreme irony. They are colorfully drawn, and hide their disturbing content behind the smiling faces of their characters. They provide the reader with his or her daily dose of dark humor derived from the dysfunctional areas of daily life.



Dark Humor Cartoons

These aren’t as popular as they used to be (at least I think so), but they are also along the same lines, in terms of subject material, as the dark humor comics. These animated shorts on sites like HappyTreeFriends.com and Killfrog.com feature slapstick violence way above the level of Tom & Jerry and often surpassing controversial cartoons like South Park. Explosions often result in maiming, dismemberment, and death of small animals or humans. Again, these are cartoons that would never be able to turn a profit on TV or even straight-to-DVD releases and can exist only on the Internet, where teens and college students can watch them and laugh. The YouTube channel of MondoMedia, the creators of Happy Tree Friends (whose videos are too disturbing for me to embed here), has been viewed over seven million times, with their cumulative video view count no doubt in the twenty to thirty million range or higher.

Satire/Fratire

Sometimes people get really drunk and do stupid things. Most of the time those aren’t things you want to talk about, unless you are a “fratire” writer. This is a genre of prose in which the writer is dedicated to getting really drunk and recording every outrageously socially insensitive thing he (they’re almost always male) does (thanks to a tape recorder he takes with him). Thanks to blogging, these writers’ sites become popular destinations for college-aged guys who need a partying role-model of sorts. A guy named Tucker Max, a self-proclaimed asshole, is undoubtedly the most popular writer of this genre, even producing a book entitled I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell. Max knows how to write a funny story, and uses his relationship blunders and drunken sexual escapades as “good” subject material. Fratire is excellent example in which a writer gets famous only because of the nature of the Internet. Tucker is now a prominent New York socialite, though new stories have been added to his site less and less frequently. The aim of these sites, such as TuckerMax.com and SlowChildren-AtPlay.com, is never to educate anyone - only to shock and “impress” the reader.


At-Least-My-Life-Isn’t-That-Bad Sites

Complaining to friends about how life seems unfair at times is something we all do at one time or another. We all need to vent and be comforted. Most of the time these stories of woe are not particularly humorous, but when then are, we laugh at them. And when the Internet comes into the picture, thousands of people can laugh at them. Enter FMyLife.com, a site to which people can upload short stories of how their day went wrong, ending each story with three letters: FML. F*** My Life. A site that people can visit in order to laugh at the misfortunes of others and even rate those unfortunate experiences (“Did the subject deserve it or not?”). A site that, thanks to the anonymity and impulsive nature of the Internet, allows people to publish how their professional lives, personal lives, relational exchanges, and sexual escapades went awry. Each story is meant to evoke a “Haha! I would hate to be that guy!” type of response from the reader. And there are over 2200 of these stories, with about 15 new ones being added every day. It used to be that teen and gossip magazines had a monopoly on these tales of rueful woe - now they’re everywhere.

Another site in the same vein is the aptly-named Complainary.com, which touts itself as a place for people to vent. Not content to merely feature paragraph-length stories, the Complainary actually hosts whole articles and blog entries dedicated to ranting about how much things suck. Very little of the material is even remotely constructive, and Complainary is actively recruiting people to write for the site, clearly trying to push the complain-anonymously-online movement along.

These examples are just a taste of all the distressing content that is out there; a mere drop in the digital bucket. Economics would tell us that the market is just catering to the needs to the consumers, i.e. where the market senses a demand for a service or product, it will create something for the demand to consume. So, in a way, the blame could be placed on the people who supposedly desire this kind of entertainment. The resulting dark humor must be just a passive product of the masses wants and desires. I don’t agree with this, because I don’t believe that traditional economics apply here. The Internet is the first place in human history where people can reach a mass audience for next to free. Consequentially, this allows them to do their own thing and make content that they want to make. The argument becomes, “Because the audience on the Internet is so expansive, if I put out content, surely someone who likes it will find it. They will then tell their friends, and the chain continues.” Thus, someone who makes (subjectively) decent content, like dark humor comics, can effectively create an artificial demand for their service with no risk involved. If they become popular enough, then they can branch out and actually try to make a living off of their site, whether that be by selling advertising space, clothing, or other merchandise that relates to their site. Truly this is entrepreneurship at its finest.

And this is not going away. For perhaps the first time, artists who were told, “You will never make any money drawing those silly comics,” actually can. Being paid for doing what you love is incredibly enticing, and people will flock to this opportunity.

But, nonetheless, I worry about our collective psychological well-being. The rise in depression and isolation in the past several years is brought on, I think in part, by our attachment to our machines. It’s no secret that art is reflective of the time period in which if was created, and as print comics die and webcomics flourish, their gravitation towards the dark themes in life, and our derivation of pleasure from it, is just a natural byproduct of our society. And thanks to the Internet, it proliferates rapidly. And what about fratire, FML, and The Complainary; trends that celebrates human deviance and misfortune? Will they continue to grow?

I certainly hope not.




_DZ

Texting and Twittering Increase Connectivity but Detract From Meaningful Experiences

As cell phone use, instant messaging, and participation in online social technologies such as Twitter become more widespread, our society, or at the very least my generation and the ones after it, are becoming increasingly more spontaneous. People are more connected, more in touch, and just in general more in the know about what the happenings are in the world around them. Parties are organized, e-invites are sent out, and guest lists are compiled all from a cell phone at the grocery store in front of shelves stocked with dishwasher soap. We should rejoice, right? After all people are communicating with one another! Efficiently!

But I think that there is a dark side to this revolution as well. And there’s no denying it - it IS a revolution. It is a revolution in which the present is preeminent, a revolution that could turn the organized human being into an impulsive, mechanized, social drone. Where there once was clear communication and coordination there will now be compulsive multitasking and extraneous busyness. The hours of the day will be ever-shifting, non-linear, and dangerously pliant.

When you are only a text message away, the inhibition exhibited by some in contacting you is slowly abolished. People text you, wanting to know what you are up to, and then you must interrupt what you are up to in order to tell them that, yes, you are up to something. And then they ask you how it is, and you say, “gr8”. Then they ask if you want to hang out at the movies in an hour.

And now you have a choice.

You can continue to do an activity you enjoy with someone you enjoy being with, or you can leave that activity to hang out with another person whom you enjoy being around and doing things with. And worse, you alone are the deciding factor in making the decision. Your friend can’t look at you disapprovingly while you answer a private text the way they can when you are audibly waffling over the phone over whether or not to alter your evening plans. This choice would not have existed had you simply turned your phone off and directed your full attention to the activity at hand. Not only have you now spent time answering a text, but you have taken time out of a joint activity to do something private. You might as well have pulled out a GameBoy for five minutes.

BRB, person I’m hanging out with!

The choices you make regarding your time should cost you something. Opportunity costs should abound over the course of how you decide to spend your day. These costs are oppressive enough, but when you add in the ability to change what you are doing into every waking second of the day, things can become hectic. Moreover, planning an activity, at least in my experience, results in heightened anticipation for the event to transpire. This past Christmas, my mom gave me a ticket for the "A Prairie Home Companion" show last Saturday. I had to wait two months for the show, and every minute of the hundred-and-twenty that I sat in the Fitzgerald Theater was worth the wait.

When you make plans on the fly, however, there are no anticipations and, therefore, your enjoyment of the new activity that you spontaneously decided on is, more often than not, a merely average experience. It was something you did because you didn’t have anything else to do. Or maybe you did, and you thought the new activity was going to be better, in which case you now have to compare two activities that you were perfectly happy doing in order to make sure that you made the right choice. You have unknowingly heightened the chance of you regretting your own decision.

A few weeks ago I was making plans on Facebook with a friend, whom I hadn’t seen in months, to hang out. It was in the afternoon, and I asked, “How does tomorrow morning sound?”

To which I received the reply, “I don’t know, I might have plans. I don’t have anything at the moment, but something might come up.”

!!

My attempt to make a plan was being subverted for fear that something, no doubt something more fun, might spontaneously demand my friend’s full attention! Here was a guaranteed activity - hanging out with me in the morning for a hour or so - that was left hanging because other plans might need to be made in the next twelve hours. (We did actually hang out the following morning.) And to think that I used to plan accountability lunches, with two or three other people, weeks in advance! What was I thinking!?

Now all this flexibility, like I said before, is not all bad. We can multitask, stay in communication, and stay active with people. However, I left one part of my story out. I don’t text or Twitter. And when a large part of organizing social life goes on in that realm, and it will increasingly do, those who don’t participate in the technology, like me, will be left out of the loop. It is akin to the last townsperson without a phone showing up at a town meeting that was moved to the evening before. The poster on the bulletin board still says tonight, but everyone else got a phone call about the change.

Now, that is progress - phones definitely make things a lot easier. But how easy do they need to be? This brings me back to the point about planning an event adding to its significance and expectation. I was perfectly able to organize my social life over Facebook and the telephone. I made plans, I showed up for appointments, and I even was flexible when if a friend phoned telling me that he was running late or couldn’t make it at all. But now I have to wonder, is that the truth, or did he just get texted a “better” offer?

_DZ

The Link Between Depression, MMORPGs, and Covetousness

After reading this short post on the LATimes blog about a study showing that almost 1/3 of Everquest II gamers (MMORPG players) are depressed, I can't help but say, "duh. It took this long to get a study going?"

The last time I played a MMO seriously was in mid-high school and, while I don't know if I was depressed or not, I was definitely not all bubbly-smiley-roses-and-rainbows happy. I played my MMO (Runescape) because it was more fun than real life and I don't think other people who play MMOs have any different motives.

What are the possible motives for playing an MMO? Fun? Distraction? Companionship? Team-building? An attempt to make money? There is one thing that these things have in common - doing them online is supposed to be a better alternative than doing them in the real world.

Nobody aspires to be less online than they are in the real world - there's no point in partaking if you don't. You might as well just stay in real life if you're having a more mediocre time online.

If we aspire to be more online, then what are the goals? What is the online gamer trying to achieve? How can they get prestige, status, and "win" in their online game?

Let's look at the cycle in most, if not all, online games,

1. Kill monsters / Fulfill quest requirements
   
2. Get rewarded for: killing monsters / beating quests
   
3. Loot monsters for items and money / receive quest rewards
   
4. Sell lots of crappy items to buy expensive, better items
   
5. Use better items to: kill more powerful monsters / to do harder quests
   
6. Go to Step 2

This is an endless cycle that players refer to rather ruefully as "the grind". There are some variations to the grind, like having to take a monster down with a group of people, or having a quest that takes a week to complete, but the basics are very much the same.

So how is the success and status measured in online games? It is measured by the amount of items or money you have. He who has the most toys, wins.

If succeeding in the online realm means having the most toys, and we aspire to be more online than we are in the real world, then I can only deduce that turning to online games represents a discontent with the material possessions or status that we have in the real world. Online games are seen as a shortcut to wealth, fame and fortune. And, unlike the real world, the items and money are all that matter. You can be the most generous person online, but people will still look at your avatar and say, "Man, that guy has crappy items. He must suck at this game." Character counts for nothing in the online gaming universe. It is a facet that is hidden by the brilliant shine of digital material wealth. (This also explains the disdain that gamers have for those who spend real-world money to buy in-game items and currency.)

Does this model hold true in the real world? Do the richest "win" at life? Does money, power, fame, and status bring happiness? I think anyone who reads even a basic supermarket tabloid
can tell you that some of the wealthiest people in the world are the most screwed-up and unhappy of the lot.

So what is the secret to happiness? According to the apostle Paul and psychologist Barry Schwartz, the secret is being content with what we have. The key is not self-centeredness and making sure that our all needs are met first and foremost, but rather that those around us are living comfortably. Every psychologist will tell you that the happiest people are those with meaningful, deep, personal friendships with others. Making these kind of friendships is hard work, as any married person can attest to. In short, character counts in real life.

If character counts in real life, and we want out online lives to be better than our real lives, then why isn't altruism rewarded in online games? As it stands now, selflessness is not a desirable attribute to work towards in any online game simply because it is not rewarded. Sure, you can give away items to lower-level characters or help them beat monsters, but does it really cost you anything? No, because you weigh the risks ahead of time and are always pretty confident that you can win before you engage in any risky combat activity. Helping others doesn't cost you anything in an online universe. In Real Life is costs you time, money, work, and/or investment, but it is one of the most rewarding things in life to do.

So no wonder online roleplayers are depressed - they spend all day thinking "If only I had suchandsuch an item, then I could be really cool and people would look up to me." When success is always one item or another hundred gold pieces out of their reach, constantly failing their expectations of what will make them happy, depression is the only direction to go.





_DZ

How to Win any Girl's Heart, (Online)

I wrote this article back in 2006, in a hospital in Pennsylvania. I had just been diagnosed with diabetes, and needed to write something to lift my spirits. It's definitely not some of my best writing, but hopefully you can enjoy it for what it's worth. The piece is, of course, incredibly sarcastic, and as such should be taken with a grain of salt or two. Or six. _DZ



How to Win any Girl's Heart, (Online)

I am the funniest man ever (online). No joking. Give me some basic background on a girl, her screen name, some time, and I will be the man of her dreams (online). I say all the right things, am interested in all the right things, and am generally just on the up-and-up about everything in an online conversation (convo). "That's so cool," you say. "Dann, how can I be like you," you ask (if you're a guy, ideally). I get asked this all the time. In fact, I recently made a list because I get asked so much (really). This article is on a pretty tight deadline, so I'm gonna just paste my list below to fill up some space.

Dann's Semi.Secret. Wooing A Nice Girl - Online (S.S. WANG-O) List

Point No. 1 – Choose an appropriate screenname. Girls are much more likely to talk to you seriously and not take you as a joke if you have an unobtrusive, slightly mysterious screen name. This may sound silly, but it's totally not. It's a totally important point. Using that AOL screenname you made in 6th grade (sk8rde4thXXX) to get in on the cool kids group chat (7-9pm every weeknight) will not get you anywhere with the college ladies. For demonstration purposes I will model my not-real suave screenname that I've had for ages: freebluevalley87. This one is a sure winner. 'Free' has very positive connotations, as does 'blue'. (Blue is just a cool color.) Words like those just makes people feel calm and relaxed. The '87' is in there because it gives away my birth year without screaming I'M TWENTY-ONE. If she's clever, she'll guess the significance of the number. I threw valley in there because it really doesn't fit, and is bound to be a good convo starter.

Her: why valley??
Me: Why not?
Her: lol kk

This brings me to Point No. 2, – Try to follow basic spelling, punctuation, and grammar. This will make the girl that you're conversing with feel that you are serious. 'But wait!,' you say, 'usin correct spelin iz 4 lyke total chat n00bs MIRITE?' ...That is true. However, you're not 13 anymore so you don't need to talk like someone who just learned that E can be replaced with 3. ROFL. Feel free to throw in some (well-thought-out-beforehand) leetspeek into your convos, (sarcastic leet is always welcome) but for the most part, keep it to pretty good English ;). Phrases to avoid if possible: lol, mmmk, tite, kool, w00t, ur, u r, ttyl, enkay, frealz, !!!!(only one needed!).
Point No. 3 is to – Think out your responses ahead of time. Remember this is online, and, unless you're webcam-chattin' it up, she can't see you. Many people might think this is cheating but it's definitely not. Type up a witty response, think it over, erase it, and write a better one. Rinse and repeat if necessary. You don't want to sound like an idiot if you don't have to. Sure, she'll see the “freebluevalley87 is currently typing a response” message on her screen a little longer than your response would warrant, but that's ok. Remember, capitalizing and good grammar will theoretically take time. Plus you might be looking stuff up.

All people now-a-days have a profile page on a social networking site. It's a given. Chances are, the girl you're talking to will have such a page. Find this site. In fact, Point No. 4 – Have quick access to any digital information you have on your convo partner close at hand. I realize that that is a rather long Point 4 and that this is still bolded (oops) but bear with me here. Facebook, MySpace, Xanga(maybe), LiveJournal(not ideally), and Hi5(heaven forbid) are all good sources to get info on your chat partner. You should have an account on each of these sites (except Hi5). A certain gender tends to post a lot of personal information on these sites and then forget about it. Use this forgetfulness to your advantage, guys. Ladies, it is not stalking for a guy to know this info. The Internet is not your fuzzy orange diary in your desk. People can read your profile page, memorize it even, and it is not creepy. (Unless they're 30. Then it can get kinda creepy.) Guys, it might even be a good idea to record chat logs. Then in your spare time you can add them to a database for easy cross-referencing should you need to remember what your convo buddy thought on a certain matter.

Point No. 5 (Find and have useful resource websites at the ready while chatting) goes well with Point No. 4. Knowing sites that will quickly give you information on things you know nothing about is a must for a debonair online gentleman. Sites like Dictionary.com, Wikipedia.org, Urbandictionary.com, Google.com, and others will make you seem like you are all on the up and up. Nothing is more embarrassing than not knowing what your chat-mate means when they use a certain word or bring up an obscure topic. If you're using a Windows PC, the Trillian chat client made by Cerulean Studios (www.trillian.cc) combines MSN, AOL, Yahoo, IRC and ICQ messengers into one handy client. But that's not the reason why it's cool. It's cool because it allows you to right-click any word you don't know (or even one you do) and see the Wikipedia entry on that word (if it exists). I can't tell you how many times I've used this to eliminate an awkward online pause caused by having to go look up a word. That's a tip guys, write it down. Girls, don't read the above paragraph.

Point 6 - Avoid YouTube.com. This has nothing to do with attracting girls, but will save you a lot of time.

So there are all six of my Super Secret points. You can follow them to the number, or live dangerously and try to venture out on your own. Really, though, chatting it up online is not that hard if you follow these basic rules. Have fun, be safe, be attentive, and things will surely go your way every day. Eventually, you might be able to be as cool as I am. But don’t count on it. It took me a long time to come up with these and perfect them, so don’t think that you can do it all in one night.


_DZ