Why is everything so shallow?

Out of curiosity I looked into the Ark browser today, it’s not supported on Linux so I went searching for a video of someone using the browser. I will recount my experience below:

Video 1: Mid-30s male wearing a hoodie and a backwards baseball cap speaking into a high-quality microphone explaining how the face of the internet is changing. Editing cuts were made after the end of every sentence. I exited the video after 30 seconds.

Video 2: Mid-30s male wearing a hoodie and a backwards baseball cap speaking into a high-quality microphone explaining how the face of the internet has changed. Editing cuts were present after every sentence. I exited the video after 30 seconds.

Video 3: Mid 30s male wearing a hoodie (no baseball cap) speaking into a high-quality microphone, stating that internet browsing has been revolutionized. I exited the video after 7 seconds.

Why didn’t I give any of the versions of mid-30s tech-bro vlogger a chance? Because it’s unlikely they had anything interesting to say. Clickbait titles, editing tricks, and the trademark neutered “Youtuber” voice dripping with faux-excitement, are things I’ve long since correlated with having my time wasted.

If I had watched any of the videos all the way through it’s likely I would have learned nothing more than the video blogger’s emotional reaction to using the browser or press release.

Surface-level, cursory analysis, gripes about a few features and then a VPN advertisement and it’s a wrap. See you tomorrow for the next “x” killer that’s revolutionizing the “y” space.

It’s not just tech vloggers

The homogenization of mainstream discourse is almost everywhere. From politics to video-games the trend seems to be for cookie-cutter so-called influencers to pump out as much shallow, meaningless content as possible.

Any real critical thought, or deep analysis of a subject is forced to the margins of the subject domain. In my experience, there’s a small intersect between knowledgeable and passionate experts in a subject and those willing to stoop to clickbait and editing gimmicks to grow their channel.

I’ve been on the internet for a long time, and I’ve only seem the quality of information degrade further and further into the mediocre. At the same time, unnecessary spectacle has increasingly become the norm.

Scraping the Margins

In a nihilistic society, void of higher ideals, and obsessed with monetizing every aspect of the human experience, meaningful information becomes a rarity. I’ve found myself increasing scraping the margins of the internet: personal blogs, obscure open source software projects, and small video channels. It seems like real, informative knowledge, well-designed tutorials, and in-depth explanations of technical content and philosophy can only be found in the hidden corners of the web, separated from the childish memes and tribalism that poisons so much of human discourse.

I would like to my part to keep these little embers of genuine human communication alive.

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