Thought provoking or just dumb?

Tom · June 27, 2014, 01:01:07 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edx9D2yaOGs

Never thought I'd ask that about any College Humor video. but here we are.

Mr. Analog · June 27, 2014, 01:22:26 PM

A little bit of both I think. I came to grips with focus or the lack thereof often being a conscious decision, a choice, or at the very least something I accept. I'm okay with flipping between tumblr and twitter and YouTube if I feel like it. I don't see that as any different as flipping channels on the TV or browsing magazines at the library. I think humans need a bit of distraction sometimes, you're choosing one activity over of another. If you can live with and accept the choices you make you'll be happier.

The frustration I hear a lot of is "well I didn't mean to waste all that time", sure I get you, I have that feeling sometimes. But maybe you needed that experience, maybe the thing you wanted to do really wasn't that important to you. Maybe when you have those thoughts of "boy I wasted time" shouldn't be directed at time you can't ever get back but how you use time going forward.

Being an adult is all about making decisions for yourself, prioritising things. You can get mad at yourself for choosing poorly but it doesn't get you anything, accept it, learn from it and move on. Don't hassle yourself with guilt.

Also, did anybody else notice that the clock ran backwards and not always at a constant rate?

Tom · June 27, 2014, 01:44:03 PM

For me it was the fact that I and I bet many other people actually had problems not flipping away from it FOR THREE WHOLE MINUTES! OMG!

hehe.

Thorin · June 27, 2014, 01:51:04 PM

Thought-provoking.

I have no problem paying attention for 180 seconds to something that bores me. I can see young people in my house that would definitely have a problem with it. Part of that is our natural tendencies - I like to know everything about a subject, so can study it intensely for far too long, while the youngsters just aren't that interested in it. It's also why I am good at programming, while the youngsters probably never will be.

The biggest point being driven home in this video, though, is how many people feel obliged and pressured into keeping up with everything all the time. This used to be called "keeping up with the Joneses", although in the old days it was more about material possessions whereas now it's about informational possessions.

And yes, the clock ran backwards as it was a countdown timer, but I didn't notice the rate change - could very well be they took multiple takes.

Mr. Analog · June 27, 2014, 02:12:52 PM

Quote from: Tom on June 27, 2014, 01:44:03 PM
For me it was the fact that I and I bet many other people actually had problems not flipping away from it FOR THREE WHOLE MINUTES! OMG!

hehe.

I have no doubt of that

Quote from: Thorin on June 27, 2014, 01:51:04 PM
The biggest point being driven home in this video, though, is how many people feel obliged and pressured into keeping up with everything all the time. This used to be called "keeping up with the Joneses", although in the old days it was more about material possessions whereas now it's about informational possessions.

It's really hard not to look back without bias. I can think back to before the Worlb Wibe Web was a thing. When the phone rang there was a Pavlovian response to it, people listening to talk radio at the barber shop phasing in and out of conversation (80s hockey talk back when we used to win actual games!), even just getting lost in my own little world, playing. I don't think distractions have changed, or ever will really.

What I find interesting is the SPEED at which trends develop, live and eventually die. Take for example the "Harlem Shake". I left for vacation and completely unplugged myself from everything, while I was enjoying beer at the Grizzly Paw and enjoying breathtaking vistas in the mountains this trend EXPLODED. When I came back it was everywhere, like a rash. And I was incredulous, it came from nowhere and suddenly it was everywhere. It continued momentum through spring into summer, by late summer there were thousands of imitators. And here we are now and it's barely a memory. The trend started just over a year ago and died within 6 months.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore?hl=en-US#q=%22harlem+shake%22

Keeping up with trends has always been a fools errand, and it still applies to fashion, cars and what have you as it always has, but in internet land things move faster, there's no drag coefficient to dumb @%&#. So while some dude might look in his closet and see one of those dumb ass neon muscle shirts and regret buying it a thousand trends have risen and fallen online in the mean time.

I find it tiring as an artist because you'll see all these arty trends you want to get in on but it can take time to produce and they just never stop, so you have to either commit to it or just enjoy its passing, but you can't lament not doing a thing when it was still "a thing"

SPEAKING ABOUT MOTIVATION I SHOULD JUST SIT OUTSIDE AT THIS POINT lol

Tom · June 27, 2014, 02:16:59 PM

I was here for the harlem shake, and I still missed it. never really understood how it was a thing. but I don't bother to checkout random tube videos.

QuoteI find it tiring as an artist because you'll see all these arty trends you want to get in on but it can take time to produce and they just never stop, so you have to either commit to it or just enjoy its passing, but you can't lament not doing a thing when it was still "a thing"

Do it because you want to, not because its a fad. if it happens to be a fad at the time, then great!

Mr. Analog · June 27, 2014, 02:29:16 PM

Quote from: Tom on June 27, 2014, 02:16:59 PM
I was here for the harlem shake, and I still missed it. never really understood how it was a thing. but I don't bother to checkout random tube videos.

A combination of factors lead to it's rise, principally Maker Studios video which instantly went viral thanks to the nature of their channel.

But the point here is that trends like the "Harlem Shake" develop so fast, but don't always become as popular, to a kid who wants to be aware of "what's cool" they need to know what's going on all the time to catch this stuff, watch it mature or flop and then be in the know. Since there's no delay time between creator and consumer thanks the internet this is a process that a lot of kids have gotten themselves stuck in.

Mark my words, as much as current adults have regrets about wasted youth or dumb trends they followed, today's generation is going to be wingeing even louder in 5 to 10 years. Hell I'm already seeing it now through people I know that are in their mid-20s!

Tom · June 27, 2014, 03:30:56 PM

GET OFF MY LAWN

Darren Dirt · June 27, 2014, 03:37:29 PM

Quote from: Tom on June 27, 2014, 01:01:07 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edx9D2yaOGs

Never thought I'd ask that about any College Humor video. but here we are.

Pretty Damn Serious Business.

I preferred the same message from CH when it was FUNNY.

Quote from: Mr. Analog on June 27, 2014, 02:12:52 PM
it was everywhere, like a rash. And I was incredulous, it came from nowhere and suddenly it was everywhere