Wait a Sec: The culture of impermanence

In today’s world, there are few things that feel permanent. Whether it’s on a macro scale or a micro one, cultural artifacts are here one moment and gone the next. Significant news stories, must-see shows, or viral tweets all fade away as the cultural discourse finds its next target. This has fundamentally changed the way we interact with culture and each other. 

The widespread introduction of social media a little over a decade ago ushered in a new age of hyper-connectedness and brought the notion of virality front and center. There have always been things that are popular and sweep the world by storm but these viral moments were different. That difference is all in the name, viral. Something would catch on and then it would pass through our system. This is what changed how culture worked. Instead of a few pillars of popular culture that maybe would last weeks, months, or years, these new artifacts would last days maybe hours. In order to capitalize on that, creators had to find a way to continue chasing those moments, and in turn, orient their lives around that chase. Once they could no longer “infect” people with their content, they lost their status. Today’s cutthroat influencer culture is a direct result of those early days of social media. 

This chase has influenced long-form media as well, just look at TV. However you feel about the medium, TV was once one of, if not the largest source of cultural discourse. Shows created this real sense of community. Now, there are still long-running prestige TV shows that have an impact, but they are no longer tentpoles. The streaming services are constantly pumping shows out to compete with each other. So even the best shows get lost in a sea of other shows all vying for the ability to take root in our collective consciousness. 

This constant cycle of impermanence is wreaking havoc on our brains and lives. It’s not necessarily the content either. Marshal McLuhan's famous line about “the medium is the message” ring true today. Sure some of this content isn’t the best but that’s not the problem. The problem is how it’s spread. Our brains simply aren’t made to process this much information on a daily basis. An hour on Tik-Tok is more information than a thousand people saw in their lifetimes combined 10,000 years ago. Sure our brains and anatomy have evolved since then but not much. This constant stimulus leaves our brains little room to think and process the things that actually matter. Not to mention the amount of dopamine flooding our brains every time we scroll on these apps. 

Our economy is built on this cycle, every brand is vying for our increasingly fragmented attention. It’s how they make money, that or selling information about all of the things you give your attention to. This shift in strategy has essentially put a perpetual flywheel in motion. Our attention is the commodity, so the more fragmented it is, and the more things we can put our eyes on, the more profit that gets made. With this incentive in place, content will continue to be less and less permanent, as the goal will be for us to shift to the next thing as soon as possible. 

There’s a social effect from this vicious cycle as well. Our attention is becoming so fragmented that we’re having a hard time connecting with one another. This isn’t a personal attack on any one person and there are varying degrees to which we all experience this issue, but it’s hard to deny the fact that we’re having a hard time paying attention to one another. Think about how often people pick up their phone when they’re with others, or you spy on that family in the restaurant with their heads all down. It’s easier to jump back into the constant feedback loop then it is to carry on a meaningful conversation. Sometimes viral content does form the basis of conversations, interactions between kids today revolve around sharing memes and content. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we’ve always connected over shared information, but the fleeting nature of these interactions is different. If all you’re doing is sharing 10-second videos and then moving on to the next, there’s no deeper thinking or connection happening. The person sharing is essentially just the physical embodiment of the algorithm sharing whatever was recommended to them. Relationships need more than just a feedback loop of content sharing. There needs to be original thought and discourse, and shared experiences in the world. I’m not saying that doesn’t exist in the world, most people I know still have these deeper interactions, but I worry about how much longer they will persist as the culture of impermanence and the attention economy matures. 

I believe we’re at an inflection point when it comes to impermanence. There’s a point where our brains won’t be able to keep up with the sheer amount of information flying by every minute. We’ll have to pull up. The way to do this is through intentional consumption. We have to be deliberate in the things we consume so that we can actually retain that information and integrate it. There’s no point in reading, watching, and listening to things if we can barely remember what they’re about. Despite every company trying to create some sort of short-form content, there are signs that people want to actually spend more time with things. On Tik Tok you see people creating a series of videos that allow them to actually go in-depth on what they’re passionate about. Long-form podcasts that involve engaging interviews or complex stories are some of the most popular shows. Quibi tanked. Our attention span and ability to engage over time are some of the best parts about being human, they’re what’s allowed us to form communities, invent things, and create art. We need to support things that support these abilities because once we lose them it’s going to be a whole lot harder to find meaning and intention in the world.