2024 01 30

US Steel Tower, the city’s tallest building, as seen through an alley in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. November, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

The powers that control society — government, military, corporations, media, billionaires, etc, etc — used to have quite a firm grip on The Narrative that drives society. It used to be that creating content was an expensive and difficult pain in the ass. These days, we all have a media outlet in our pocket.

News outlets in developing countries are usually protected by barbed wire walls and high security access because these locations can be used as tools of chaos in the hands of the wrong people. These days, the bad people all have a Twitter and TikTok account and largely don’t need the news outlet.

I’m a huge fan of youtuber Jules Terpak, who does commentary on digital media and technology. She dropped this video called The power of TikTok edits which blew my mind and I’ve been obsessing over it ever since, trying to understand what it all means.

As an Old, I’ve made a conscious decision to steer clear of TikTok for a variety of reasons. I’m not yet sure this is a smart decision because I know the power it has and it might be in my best interest to understand how society is interacting with these new forms of media, esp considering it’s kind of my job. Jules’ video, posted below, is super worthwhile and was an ominous (or is this just my warped perspective as an Old?) peek into some of what’s going on on the platform.

I’m not going to claim to have some profound takeaway from this and I’m still churning through it in my head, however, I’m a bit shocked by how BAD much of this viral content is. The videos that are pulling in millions of views and driving culture are… largely aesthetically awful and not even original works. There is no quality control anymore, I guess? Speed, timing, and the almighty algorithm are vastly more important than aesthetic value in this world. It’s almost like good quality is actually now shunned as it reveals itself as being inauthentic, since someone clearly put energy, and therefore money, into making it.

Fuck.

As a former video editor myself, I’ll be the first to tell you how valuable this skill is and I’m now convinced I should probably dust off my Adobe Premiere workstation if I want to have any relevance as a human in society moving forward. We’ve sure come a long, long way from Battleship Potemkin.

All Hail The Algorithm (and whoever controls them).

-Clayton