To sum it up: A real physical community will always be more satisfying and life-giving. We deserve a connection greater than social media could ever give for us.
Brands have recently co-opted online "community" as another tool for driving sales and engagement. It's especially sad because many of us do remember a time when online was the only place we could get deep about our favorite things with likeminded friends.
Imagine living in a crackhouse, but not using crack. Everyone around you is addicted to crack, and they all think life is fine as is. Sometimes they contemplate getting off the crack, but they take their next hit, and it's back to the same routine. Meanwhile, you know what life is like outside the crackhouse, but can't convince anyone that it's better.
Swap cell phones for crack and earth for the crackhouse, and you've got the modern era. I came of age before cell phones, and remember what the world used to be like.
So glad someone else is saying this. The idea of community has been coopted by capitalism to mean product forums, parasocial relating, and pay-to-play groups that have no real reciprocity of relationship, which is a core foundation of community. Paid groups led by one person who will disappear when you stop paying are not communities and I'm so tired of people calling them that. If I can't call you to have a reciprocal conversation, we're not community. Community is the group of single moms who lived in my apartment building that fed each other, watched each other's children, etc. despite our very different cultural interests. I've done a lot of research into community building and love M. Scott Peck's definitions of community. He wrote a great book about the psychology of community, The Different Drum.
Screens cannot substitute real life relationships and community.
I have been saying for years that Whatsapp groupchats are NOT communities.
Thank you India for this new video of your panel discussion.
I watched the shorter clip a while back and thought it was such an important and thought provoking message you shared and wrote an entire piece on my thoughts: https://open.substack.com/pub/whoischiii/p/there-is-no-such-thing-as-an-online?r=5t1fc0&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
To sum it up: A real physical community will always be more satisfying and life-giving. We deserve a connection greater than social media could ever give for us.
I appreciate Freya's objective look at things in this interview, she looks at a broader picture. Impressive use of free thinking.
Thank you so much!
It's important to have smart women discussing serious issues rather than hopping on superficial trends.
Brands have recently co-opted online "community" as another tool for driving sales and engagement. It's especially sad because many of us do remember a time when online was the only place we could get deep about our favorite things with likeminded friends.
Imagine living in a crackhouse, but not using crack. Everyone around you is addicted to crack, and they all think life is fine as is. Sometimes they contemplate getting off the crack, but they take their next hit, and it's back to the same routine. Meanwhile, you know what life is like outside the crackhouse, but can't convince anyone that it's better.
Swap cell phones for crack and earth for the crackhouse, and you've got the modern era. I came of age before cell phones, and remember what the world used to be like.
So glad someone else is saying this. The idea of community has been coopted by capitalism to mean product forums, parasocial relating, and pay-to-play groups that have no real reciprocity of relationship, which is a core foundation of community. Paid groups led by one person who will disappear when you stop paying are not communities and I'm so tired of people calling them that. If I can't call you to have a reciprocal conversation, we're not community. Community is the group of single moms who lived in my apartment building that fed each other, watched each other's children, etc. despite our very different cultural interests. I've done a lot of research into community building and love M. Scott Peck's definitions of community. He wrote a great book about the psychology of community, The Different Drum.
Yes, it seems that our brains and bodies need real people - mirror neurons and all that 💜🙏🏽
Could I interview you on my podcast? czperrin@classicalsubjects.com
But you are selling through the Amazon community/ corporation- this seems inconsistent. Why not an Indie, or did I miss that.