More and more the Online world turns more fake. With time and the improvement of tools, this new reality, the one we the "chronically online" partake of will begin to swallow up our actual realities and leave us battling for who can fake it better, as if there's a trophy to be gained in the end.
But hey; I realize the subject of this entry might make me sound like a hater, but I promise that is not my intent. All I'm doing here is sharing my waking up to the fact that the Insta-life is a thing, an actual thing people worry about, and spend money on.
Queue the Flashback
About three years ago my wife and I befriended some neighbors that live about a mile and half from our place. They also had moved here to get away from the city, and ended up building a good life for themselves here.
It might have been in the very same day we met that I learnt about their business, their retreats for women, as they call them, and even thought that did make me raise an eyebrow, I decided it to not touch the subject again for some time.
A few months had passed
We hung out a few times, and nothing too out of the ordinary happened. Had some drinks, listened to music and maybe even caught a movie or two.
One day though, they called us up because they needed our help with a photoshoot.
We were to dress up like cowboys and come over to be extras, if you will, for the photo session they had scheduled for the day.
My wife and I applying the "why not" operational model, did so and headed over to their place with an open mind about the whole thing. I can't say photoshoots are my thing, at least not if I'm in the frames, but again, breaking routine is probably a good thing at my age.
Don't look at the camera, but do smile
After everyone finished working on setting up the scene with all the props and what have you, the camara came out of it's neat case and began flashing about.
I'm watching this whole thing, watching as I'm participating of it all asking myself ten times a minute: "Why?"
A mind reader would have had a blast with me at that moment, because all I could think of was horrible things to say. Fret not however, I kept those thoughts all to myself. I do appear civilized after all.
Fake canteen, fake fire, fake food, fake cowboys, fake cowgirls, fake compass, fake guns, fake friends.
I'm not an actor and it shows, but I did my best to smile as I held these toys in my hand or pretended to be amazed by a non existent fire.
I can be seen here pretending to have a conversation
The girls took turns getting on the horses, pretending to be riding somewhere or arriving to their destination while the horses stayed perfectly still.
And just like that....
The event was over. Time to clean up, time to pack up, time to go home.
I did look at my wife looking quite confused about the whole thing, attempting to find answers in her eyes to no avail. She was just as confused as me.
Hey... was this a retreat?
Yeah... it was, she said
After getting home, changing into my usual clothes and reliving the whole event in my head it finally hit me.
Instagram?
That is the business, that is the experience they sell. There I was wondering when is the adventure going to begin, and It had already happened.
The notion that there are people out there who rather fake an experience but have amazing pictures, instead of actually going out into the woods, riding a horse, starting a fire, cooking with said fire, and chatting with friends: BLEW MY MIND.
To channel my friend @edicted for a minute. I'm not upset this is the case, I'm also not going to make a moral judgement against this couple and their entrepreneurship. They found a niche, something the market wants and they are providing a service. But, I never imagined there was a market for this out there, not in a million years.
It's like finding $20 in a pair of jeans you wore last Christmas, but make that more like 20 grand, and make those jeans not jeans but a diving suit you had no idea you owned. Yes, that makes sense if you don't think about it.
But let's be honest for a minute. Am I the only one that just found out this is the world we live in now? Did you know this is a niche business out there? Am I so disconnected from the new generations?
It's times like these that I feel old, I have to admit.
MenO
Sometimes I wish I had two belly buttons, one for each time I have been reborn. Although, I suspect I'd be entirely belly buttons by now. That is a rebirthing moment, such an epiphany about faking life experience being more valuable to some than actual life experience. Says a lot about greybeards, whose lives have no need of faking, at least not anymore, if they ever did.
Thanks!
perfectly said
Very interesting and disturbing.
Fake people living fake lives on fake adventures.
One day the plug will be pulled on their whole fake reality and they will have to live in the real world.
Not my saying but I found it funny..
"Today's generation can be defeated by unplugging the Wi-Fi, stick shift cars and having all communications in cursive"
I found that hilarious, but only because it's possibly very accurate.