Dance Life FOMO
Maaannnn…Fuck social media.
No for real, fuck that shit.
Every year, I take a much needed, month-long hiatus from social media and return in the new year with the same anticipation that can only be matched by that of an “Insecure” season premier. Surely THIS TIME I will find originality, inspiration, some really artistic content, something worth scrolling for. But sadly, each year I am left disappointed and unsatisfied as I inevitably come to the same realization time and again: Here we are in this the year of our Lord two thousand & eighteen, and
AIN’T. SHIT. CHANGE.
What are you gonna do?
Now, I know what my “woke folk” are thinking:
“Why would you ever expect anything from social media…Like…..?”
But the thing is we all do! People reference their Facebook and twitter feeds for current news and politics more than Kanye gets cancelled. In fact, social media is where most people get ALL of their information. Think about that…most people will not search beyond an Insta Story about what they should watch on Netflix, nor do they care to give to any charitable causes if not for trending challenges. They just, for whatever reason, believe that what they see online is how all people are behaving, and so they think they should behave this way too. This can cause some real-life problems and honestly (for lack of a better way to put it), it’s dumb as shit. Suddenly we all feel like we’re not doing something right because some 15 year old in Wisconsin has 2.3 million views on his cat shaving video, and we can’t even get a like on our “save my school fundraiser” post? Depression rates are up because of comparison…TO THIS??? Fuck that.
The Trend
Humans are creatures of habit that have an innate desire/need to fit in. Add water, and presto: “the trend” is created. It’s pretty simple math. The Trend serves as both focal point and rubric for how we measure fitting in, or our “belonging-ness” if you will. The more you know about a hot topic or trend, the more ‘in’ or ‘down’ you are, and the more ‘down’ you are, the more you belong (which is the ultimate goal, right?). Now, dance is something that has been trending commercially for quite some time, and the world can’t get enough of the opportunity to show how well they can “shoot” or “floss” for the ‘gram. It’s ridiculous. What’s even more ridiculous, is how much of “dance world” actually partakes in said activities. A dancer will post content, and then by the end of the next day, 37 more posts just like it are on my feed. It’s like the old footage you see from a day on wall street when a call comes in to “sell!”, and someone yells it out to the crowd, then the crowd goes into a frenzy trying to follow suit until the call comes in to “buy!”, then the process starts all over again. This is behavior I would expect from common folk, but for actual dancers to act this way sort of befuddles the whole equation. Come with me down this road for a second….
*We have PROFESSIONAL dancers…(muhfuckas who get PAID for REAL industry work)…posting trending content on social media….to DIQUE ‘promote themselves’….because that’s what everyone else is doing…….?!?!?!?!? 🤔🤔🤔
Bruh. You’ve been on a WHOLEEE tour with Janet, but you feel the need to “keep up” with social media? Why!? If it’s hard for a bunch of PROFESSIONALS to keep up with each other, how do you think the little guys feel? What was designed to be a fun experience for ordinary people, has turned into a competitive clusterfuck of bad “art” and “visuals” that makes everyone feel shitty, and like their lives are worthless by comparison. And it’s all literally for no damn reason because trends are…news flash…MADE UP.
FOMO however..is real.
According to (fucking Google)…some online resources, FOMO or “the Fear Of Missing Out”, is basically :
anxiety or apprehension about missing out on certain social events.
Literally, it’s just you hate being left out of something.
Of course you’re going to feel left out if you’re constantly scrolling through the endlessness that is social media. I mean, how can you not? It’s constant, relentless, and exhausting. And the sad thing is, this world has convinced everyone that it’s NECESSARY! Imagine if your doctor made you think you had to walk up the stairs on crutches instead of using the elevator? Sounds a bit counter productive no? People are literally trapping themselves in depressive states because they believe the lie we all tell online: “this is my real life (it isn’t), and it’s poppin (it’s not)”. Dancers especially kill themselves to try and out-do the next guy, and in an already competitive environment, this can be toxic.
The effects of FOMO are definitely real, I dare say too real. We have 7 year olds committing suicide because they want to belong to the world they see online…7 YEAR OLDS. How low have we stooped as a society when our collective self esteem is crumbled literally every second of everyday, and WE are the ones that perpetuate it? Dancing is one of the most demanding things you could ask of your body, and people are basing entire careers on life choices they think they have to make because of the feeling they aren’t doing enough. A feeling that comes from living in a fast paced, insta-world, and never running fast enough to keep up.
But what do I know?
I Just move.
Visit Www.Milerka.com/blog for more posts
Visit Www.Milerka/becomeapatron for dance tutorials & classes
