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Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by zcw100 on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:30AM (#21844367)
Social media is a straight jacket. You can say anything you want but no one cares what someone in a straight jacket has to say because you can't actually do anything.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by hadiz on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:35AM (#21844408)
A software engineering position at Uber in SF seems to be something of value to most people on HN. I know someone who quit that position to focus on her Instagram career. She was not a mode or anything, one day she just announced she's turned vegan and voila, she was an influencer. Now she owns a house in West Hollywood. All within 8-10 months.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by odshoifsdhfs on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:47AM (#21844502)
Is she pretty? I'm not trying to be sexist, and I don't even use IG, but my gf does and a while ago I worked in a product targeted at IG 'influencers'.

When researching, basically your success as an influencer had to do pretty much solely on your looks (or your photoshop skills) rather than your message. (for both men and women). You can be a 'vegan' influencer or a 'I eat meat still dripping in blood' influencer, and the most important 'variable' on your success was how attractive you were.

(outliers existed, but mostly they were 'connected/endorsed' by some big brand or celebrity already)

Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by asdfman123 on Friday December 20, 2019 @10:22AM (#21844774)
You already know the answer to that question. It's just how it is.

Tangentially, I've always been fascinated by anti-consumerist lifestyle design, and a little envious of people who have that natural earthy style to them, who appear cool without a lot of effort.

Then I read an article about Instagram influencers in some surfing town in Australia and saw how much their "anti-consumerist" lifestyle cost: long story short, looking poor is extremely expensive and it turns out they were married to corporate VPs who were able to work remotely and fund that kind of lifestyle.

It actually made me feel much better about my life. Now I'm convinced that actual anti-consumerism is frumpy, and I'm happy with that.

Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by Loughla on Friday December 20, 2019 @10:53AM (#21845016)
Commodetized anti-consumers are exactly what you describe. Vapid shells of a 'message' who tend to be funded by wealthy external donors of some kind, be they spouse or the internet or whatever.

If you want to meet real anti-consumerists, they're not on the internet extolling their lifestyle. (yes, I know, no-true-scotsman and what-not).

They're busy surviving. Because they tend to be subsistence farming or very near to that. They may sell art at local fairs, or goods at local produce stands. But mostly they spend their time just trying to get by.

It's just like the 'homesteading' and 'van-living' movements. The people who are actually living those lives, and who aren't just doing it for validation on the internet aren't posting updates daily about their cute new milk goats or whatever, because they're super busy not dying and just trying to get by.

Source; the throw-back hippy communes near where I live.

Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by asdfman123 on Friday December 20, 2019 @10:59AM (#21845064)
Well, you're discussing basically a subset of the rural poor, who maybe are more okay with/intentional about that lifestyle than we give them credit for.

However, there's the class of bloggers who advocate for being middle-class frugal, saving up as much money as you want, and doing whatever you want with the rest of your life. Maybe some of them are full of crap but I believe many of them actually are practicing what they preach.

And there have been countless middle class professionals who've done basically the same thing without writing blogs about it -- they've just quietly lived their lives.

That lifestyle appeals to me. It just seems so much simpler and more efficient.

Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by pnutjam on Friday December 20, 2019 @01:02PM (#21846055)
So... You want to believe...?
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by odshoifsdhfs on Friday December 20, 2019 @11:22AM (#21845246)
You can be anti-consumerism and be on the internet (I would call myself one, that except food, I haven't really bought anything for myself in this last year but still online ;)), but you are right, you will find them in different media than twitters/igs/facebooks. I focused on IG (but I guess twitter/facebook are the same) 99% of popular content you see is fake, produced to attract a certain audience. van-living, or surfing around the globe is as said before, mostly paid for by external sources that they don't disclose. I used to do a lot of surfing and met a lot of surf bums. They aren't usually in social media except maybe to share things about surf etc, and in most posts, are about the waves/new surf board, etc and you rarely see their faces. When you see 'whatever audience target' person in IG and it is a pretty face (usually loads of make up or youc an see the hair took 3 hours to prepare), these people have teams/donors behind them to sell you something.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by hadiz on Friday December 20, 2019 @10:34AM (#21844866)
yeah she's pretty, also ethnic (like, born and raised in the middle east)
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by dsypa on Friday December 20, 2019 @12:17PM (#21845696)
There is nothing wrong with being sexist. Reality is sexist. She is only successful because she's an attractive female. And there's nothing wrong with that. Not everybody is equal.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by dang on Friday December 20, 2019 @01:45PM (#21846448)
There's something wrong with posting flamebait comments to HN. Please don't.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by hadiz on Friday December 20, 2019 @12:46PM (#21845905)
most of these influencers think they're famous for their unique talents, that's why it might be sexist to suggest they are famous for their looks only
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by claudeganon on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:38AM (#21844425)
The film “Ingrid Goes West” captures the inverse, dark reality of this phenomenon very well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrid_Goes_West

Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by hadiz on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:40AM (#21844446)
yeah I watched that when it came out in 2017, I thought in the end the influencer was depicted as a good person who's earned her status, no?
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by ivraatiems on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:46AM (#21844495)
I would not call her a good person. Almost nobody in that film is a good person.

In the end, the influencer is depicted (accurately) as a victim of the protagonist's mental instability and manipulation, but it's her vapidity and inability to genuinely relate to anyone that made that victimization possible. She's as damaged as Ingrid is, just in a more subtle, socially acceptable way.

Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by claudeganon on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:53AM (#21844560)
There’s a subtle through line that the influencer couple were just boring, born rich people using the whole Instagram influencer thing as a means to launder themselves into something more hip and bohemian (and thus marketable in contemporary culture). Ingrid, being a lower class person, is drawn into this deception and they ultimately come out in more or less the same places they started. If I remember correctly, one of the influencer couple at the end is moving on to take a corporate art job (without any real merit or qualifications) at Levi’s or something.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by ivraatiems on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:56AM (#21844580)
Yeah, it's Levi's.

I didn't read class in the film quite the same way, but that's an interesting lens. I should watch it again.

Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by SketchySeaBeast on Friday December 20, 2019 @10:03AM (#21844630)
I wonder how the future will play out for these people. For the savvy it'll be fine, but for those who aren't I'm sure their appeal will fade in a decade or two. Hopefully they have a plan for then.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by hadiz on Friday December 20, 2019 @10:35AM (#21844880)
I think she's gonna be fine. Most of them are. Attractive people generally do well, attractive people with money almost always do.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by eikeegi on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:38AM (#21844427)
No one cares what you say eh? Try posting something controversial and see how that works out for you.
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by swiley on Friday December 20, 2019 @09:39AM (#21844436)
:set expandtab
Re:Alienated, Alone and Angry: What the Digital Revolution Did? by buboard on Friday December 20, 2019 @07:26PM (#21848644)
i m sorry that's just hate speech