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People used to comment on web comics.
People used to comment on fanfiction.
People used to comment on fanart.
People used to comment on OCs.
I hate “content” culture.
I hate “consuming content” and scrolling immediately to the next thing.
People used to be excited about the art that other people created.
People used to want to share that excitement with creators.
I hate this future.
Once someone tagged art that I made with “woah” and I think about it at least once a week. Someone else said “oh neat” once. Someone else WROTE A WHOLE DAMN POEM IN THE COMMENTS. Anyways even just one word can change how someone sees their art. You don’t even have to think about it too hard. You could put a keyboard smash and I’d probably cry from joy.
I’m also trying hard to interact more, I understand that it’s hard to break away from opening your phone and being in Content Consumption Mode.
I think consumption and consumerism plays a part in it but I also think there’s a bit more to it than that, personally. Obviously there’s the aspect of everyone wants to be the funny guy now, but I also think people are much more scared of drawing attention to themselves.
If you ever get one of those ancient posts on your dash, a lot of them will have reblogs that are along the lines of “cant NOT reblog this” or “this is SO funny” bc that used to be a part of the site’s culture. I think over time talking like that in reblogs has become almost “cringe” for lack of a better word. Engaging with content directly has become weirdly cringe, which is really unfortunate. If you cannot “yes and” the bit or contribute in some way that makes the content your own, then I think people almost feel like they shouldn’t engage with it or they’re wasting people’s time. People now put that stuff in the tags, which does have the benefit of not clogging up the post, but it also can make it harder to engage with. Idk if thats a good or bad thing, but it is a change I’ve noticed.
The internet in the 2010s (if I had to guess) seemed to undergo a shift that transformed it from primarily community driven to primarily content driven, like op describes. I’m no expert so I don’t know why that happened other than probably capitalism, but I think its something worth resisting.
The internet is becoming increasingly more isolated and individualized, in a weird way, and I think thats definitely a bad thing. I think fandom and fan community has developed an unearned bad reputation as something cringe. It is good to engage with fandom. It is good to be an active part of a community. In general I think saying nice things and being unironic has become cringe, and I think its a part of that cultural shift. Everyone wants to be the witty, ironic, cool guy. Despite everything, we are still in a war against cringe culture basically.
I think we have to become comfortable being cheesy, vulnerable, and expressive again.
I also and not to be “hur dur cancel culture” guy but I think the internet as a whole has created an environment where people REALLY do not want to draw attention to themselves unless they have complete control over the narrative of what they are engaging with. Because the internet is so big now, drawing attention to yourself unfortunately now invites opportunities for harassment, especially if it goes viral or is on certain platforms. Its much easier now to make private comments in dms w friends than it is to make a public statement, which it sounds weird to call an Ao3 comment section a public statement but I think people perceive basically everything now as a public statement. If it gets too much attention, even if its positive, it is going to blow up your internet life for the next while. People’s brains might have just generalized this to all interaction as a whole at this point. Even still, I think its worth resisting that urge and being open with people again!
Engage with content! It feels good to do and its just nice. It not only makes the creator happy but it gives you a special relationship to the media you consume. Its good! They wanna hear what you have to say, even if its just “thats cool.” Fan art means a lot more to me when I comment about how much I like it for some reason, and I know I enjoy posting fan art a lot more when people share their thoughts and engage with it, even if its just a simple comment in the tags. Engaging with content in this way will also make other people feel more comfortable doing the same. Its like a butterfly effect. It creates a better internet.
I’m personally am trying to interact with things more, personally, and it is rewarding. Scary (I have social anxiety thats weirdly worse on the internet than irl for some reason lmao), but definitely worth it.
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