Non-Fungible
I had the idea a few weeks ago that it would be a good idea to jump on the NFT bandwagon to get a shortcut to fabulous personal wealth and indefinite prosperity. So I did a little bit of research. Going into it, I had only nominal knowledge of the strange crypto-technology, and after a few sensationally headlined youtube videos, I had come to the conclusion that not only had I already missed out on hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that every second I am not actively auctioning off images of breakfast foods for tens of ethereum, is a second I am wasting. However, I also learned that the NFT market was certainly a bubble, an avenue for money laundering and tax evasion, and also a total waste of time. What is happening here is a strange mix of anxiety, FOMO, and the Dunning Kruger effect. It is a nice little cocktail of my own creation, and one I believe provides a telling representation of the entire economy of the internet. By economy I’m not solely referring to money or the goods that are sold, but to the market of ideas, attention, and value that shapes the broader worldview of those individuals who live a significant portion of their lives, professional and otherwise, consumed by the internet and the culture it creates.
Now, as I am sure is becoming increasingly clear, I am not an economist, so I can’t speak to the actual economic effect of this, but what I feel I can speak how people react to a financial landscape that is more volatile than ever, and importantly, more imaginary. The prospect of putting in the work of applying for and god forbid actually putting in hours in a traditional job seems almost foolish when a few bucks spent on cartoon internet cats could be worth six figures by next week.
Whether it is one of countless “business” pages online giving you the secret to effortless passive income streams or Gary Vee endlessly fawning over NFT’s while giving a wedgie to every person currently enrolled in a 4 year university, the world of online content creation has latched onto this model wholeheartedly. With such constant, volatility, and more importantly, clickability, the idea of fast easy money is a reassuring and popular one. The very existence of the online content creator as a potential career path presents the same seemingly instant rise to financial success. Many young people, for whom much of their human connections come from parasocial relationships with online personalities, have a distorted view, believing they too can make six figures a year talking about stuff to a camera, because creator x does so, and given the illusion of closeness inherent to social media content, you think they’re probably just like you. So, a lot of people, especially younger people, want to be online creators above all else.
Now, of course, imaginary relationships with faces on a screen is nothing new; a million sitcoms and soap operas have counted on them for years. But no one could rightly expect that an audience member would aspire to be a television actor things due to their attachment to these characters, because they are attached to the character, not the person playing them. There is not a significant portion of each episode discussing what it is like to be an actor, how they love their fans, and how important it is that everyone stay tuned next week, not to mention whole episodes devoted to how much money they are making a year.
The difference is that when Joey Tribiani and Chandler Bing are on screen, the audience is told they are living lives disconnected from the medium they exist within. Joey is an actor, Chandler a data wrangler, Pheobe a masseuse, Monica a chef, Ross a Paleontologist, and Rachel a waitress. So, even if the audience was compelled in some way to pursue the same profession as their media imaginary friend, which is less likely considering they hardly take the time to break down how to make money as a paleontologist, they will pursue normal, ever day professions. But, on a platform like youtube, the character you become connected to, the one you want to identify with and want to emulate, is the youtube creator themself, and given the casual interactivity of social media, there is a constant dialogue about that character’s career as a youtuber and tricks for youtube creation. So, no matter what the channel is about, no matter what you started out interested in, on some level, all youtube videos are about youtube, and ultimately that is what you will become interested in as well. And when the real world is as fucked as ever, who wouldn’t look for a fun easy, stream of advertisement money from the website you spend almost all your time on anyway.
At least for myself and many of my peers, by existing in a world where astronomical value can emerge from nowhere and vanish just as quickly, and the media we consume and identify with constantly (actively or passively) features the promise of easy (passive or atmospheric) income, the economy of service and things has lost its value. We would rather get lucky with our tiktok than get a job and rather buy a piece of digital art than invest in reality. When the whole world seems to be showing just how hopeless the reverse would be, what else is there for you to do? By you I mean me. Seriously, I’m open to suggestions.
