Can Real World Fun Replace the Artificial Joy and Reward Systems of Social Media?
I'm betting on it! I've decided to use another form of technology to create a new community here in Jacksonville. One that revolves around holidays, tech-free fun, and being active.
Just saw this video post from Rick Munn and thought I’d comment on what he said about health and healing.
Twitter/X.com will now become the first social media platform that users have to pay to use. Every concern Munn has expressed here is accurate. This will only bring the app that much closer to becoming the digital surveillance tool Elon Musk has told us from the beginning that he wants it to be.
However, as I expressed in the comments section of the post:
“I've been trying to sound the alarm about the dangers of the everything app and Musk for a couple years now. People don't want to hear it. I was alarmed at how many people got the blue check and how many people became paid subscribers of Musk's account. He literally showed up in our feeds whether we wanted him to or not. There was no reason for anyone to give him money for that.
I really hope you're right about there being an exodus. But too many people need a savior. And even though they're awake enough to see that there are no saviors in government, they look to people like Elon Musk to save them. They'll justify this cost the way they did the blue check.”
Now that my rant about Twitter and Elon Musk is done, let’s talk about what Munn offers up at the end:
“You need to focus on the real world. Focus on your own life. Focus on your own family. Focus on your health. Focus on your mental health. Your physical health. Your financial health. Your spiritual health. Which I don’t believe the time spent on any of these platforms contributes anything to it.”
While he doesn’t advise that everyone quit Twitter, I do. Get the fuck off of that platform as soon as you can. I quit Twitter months ago and it’s made a significant improvement on my life.
And now that I’m not spending those hours on Twitter every day, I’m looking to devote that energy to something positive. Not just for myself, but for my fellow Jacksonvillians.
Holiday Fun Around Jacksonville & NE Florida
I don’t like the idea that I need to use another app to do this. It seems counterintuitive — leaving the social media sphere, only to hop on a different app.
However, I don’t believe that Meetup has the toxic, energy-sucking, soul-crushing power that social media does. The Internet isn’t all bad, I’ll admit that. And apps like Meetup offer a great solution for helping like-minded people find each other that wouldn’t otherwise be able to in this digitally addicted and fear-driven society.
That said, I think I can use Meetup to do something good for myself and for others who are missing out on real-world connections.
Here’s what I’ve come up with:
I had a dark childhood. Hell, even my 20s were pretty bleak. But holidays and seasonal activities offered a bright spot in all that darkness. There’s something special about the way we as humans get together to celebrate these occasions.
So when I was trying to come up with a group concept, the holiday idea came to me. Because who doesn’t love a fun holiday activity? Especially at this time of year. It might not be crispy-cold and we aren’t going to see any snow in Florida, but there’s something about the lead-in to the fall and winter that just makes you want to gather with others and have fun.
I had a number of goals in mind when I put this group together:
To get people out and about in Jacksonville and the surrounding areas, and to see and do things they might not have known were there.
To do fun activities that revolve around holidays. Like hit up haunted trails and do apocalypse shooting training. Or go to a local U-pick farm’s pumpkin festival.
To support small, local businesses instead of the big ones that already get everyone’s time, attention, and money.
To avoid the easy option of sitting down at a restaurant or bar, only to shovel fried foods and booze into our faces because we can’t stand the inane chit-chat.
To peel our eyes away from our screens, get on our feet, and be active.
It’s also my hope that this group and its meetups don’t devolve into discussions about politics, gender, or whatever social cause people are fired up about these days. I can’t control what people end up discussing. But it’s seriously my hope that, by finding joy and connection through activities, people won’t even want to dredge up the awful shit happening in our world.
Final Thoughts
I’ve done plenty of work these past couple of years to repair my health. But the one area in which I have miserably failed is in finding a community.
I think a lot of us are struggling with this, especially because of all the wedges that have been driven between us. Presidents like Obama, Trump, and Biden haven’t helped. The #metoo movement didn’t help either nor did the BLM movement. And COVID… Seriously, fuck COVID. All of it was orchestrated to divide and conquer.
Rather than just bitch and moan about it, I’m going to do something.
If the walls we’ve erected around ourselves keep us from organically connecting with others, then I’m going to use the technology at my disposal to break down those barriers and bring people together. While we might not be progressing any of our pet causes or helping to bring down the new world order or anything like that with a silly Meetup group, I think a little happiness and unity can certainly help improve our lives on an individual basis.
For those of you who live in northeast Florida, I would love it if you joined the group.
This isn’t a marketing or sales tactic. I don’t get compensated if the group is a “success” by Meetup’s standards. And I’m not one of those people using their group to sell members on a service or product.
I’m just tired of writing and worrying and hypothesizing about how things are going to get worse and not doing anything. I’m also tired of seeing people out walking their dogs with phones in their faces. Or too scared to say “hello” to or even acknowledge their fellow human. Or their doorsteps covered with deliveries from Amazon and UberEats and Instacart.
Munn was right. We need to fix ourselves and we’re not going to find those solutions on social media, in the news, or any of the other online forces being used to control, manipulate, subdue, and divide us.
So yeah, this Meetup group might seem minor and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But I’m happy to do what little I can to help others find community and bring a little holiday-inspired joy into their lives.
If you haven’t found a community in your neck of the woods that does the same for you, consider building one of your own. Nothing is going to change if we don’t start taking action.