Easter thoughts on online coolness
Has the algorithm finally killed any original thought and are you now cooler if you just log off?
Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine.
In the words of Patti Smith (well tecnically Them, but who cares), I welcome you to this thought dump that is this Easter-substack.
So to the question: Has online made us boring?
I have pondered this for some time now. As the micro trends vax and vain, as pinterest aesthetics and cores are now linked to bios and direct to consumer shopping makes everyone possess the same exact items, has online culture killed personal style, and maybe more pressing, has it killed coolness?
Every time I log online I see an influencer trying to sell me a product, Tiktok blasts bits of songs I should listen to over clips of shows and films I should watch - because this is the zeitgeist. So saddle up and follow through, this is the road to an identity.
Or so we are led to believe.
Algorithm
In reality, I suspect the algorithm isn't actually feeding me much meaningful culture. I did try to use the following feed on Tiktok, before resorting to deleting the app (for a while, at least until I get my screen time down).
So far I miss the fan edits of Yellowjackets, and in lieu of those edits I have gone to the root and actually just listened to the soundtrack. And you know what, it feels like a much more meaningful passtime than seeing the same five clips over and over in different shades of sepia. Not only did I re-discover some bangers, I also actually found some new songs that I doubt the Spotify-algorithm would have provided me with. And that is the thing, the algorithm does not actually feed me anything progressive. It takes all the data and mashes it up into palatable playlists and feeds where we can scroll into oblivion without being challenged at all.
Bits
The consumption of cultural media as a whole may seem like a novelty in this day and age.
Due to the tiktok-ification of things, people now have opinions and thoughts on a piece of art, solely based on the clips they have consumed. The other day I saw people actually being surprised that “The Apple”-dance from Charli XCX Brat-hit “Apple” was not in fact “the whole song”. We have been so used to being spoon fed bits of culture that we seem to digress and subtle at any media that has the least bit resistance. It is actually quite lame.
But I digress. The question is still ringing true. I think the way we consume media and trends at the moment are making us profoundly uncool.
It
Coolness used to be innate. Something ungraspable, unattainable. Something someone just possessed. The clearest example of someone innately cool is the way Jay McInerney wrote about Chloe Sevigny in the 1994-piece “Chloe’s scene”. She was it, without ever trying. Now I see the word “it” being plastered on every other ad in order to lure me to buy another fad product that was never it. Yet along the way, someone commodified the term, rendering it as meaningless as the notion of coolness in 2025. Samantha Corry writes “I don’t know how to be cool anymore because cool doesn’t exist now. It’s pre-loaded, pre-approved, peer-reviewed. It arrives in packages, in palettes, in perfectly filtered frames. And when everything is cool, nothing really is”. And I fear she has a point. Coolness is no longer a feeling, but a formula, a marketing ploy, a lable designed to sell. Have we we forgotten that the lamest thing ever used to be selling out?
Online space
This of course poses the question - would it be cooler just to log off? As tempted as I often am to throw my phone into the ocean, I know I would regret it. I have a love-hate relationship with online paces and though I find the consumer culture disparaging at times, I still think there are positives to the social media reality when used in the right way. Whilst I loath the decline in attention span, critical thinking and media literacy that seem to fester on Tiktok, I do think these are good tools for connection and flow of information. I often get inspired by what I see, consume and share. I love getting a dumb meme, an article or a song sent my way. These are good platforms for sharing, I just think we have to grow a larger awareness of the limitations and downfalls of social media. Relatively speaking, it is all still new.
Intent
As the holiday is here, I am very excited to log off (a little). But at the same time I am also very excited to read all the articles I have saved but never actually read. Consuming with intent is what I am aiming for. Whether this means playing actual records or just mindfully deciding when and what I consume online. I have a lot more thoughts on the monoculture of online and the effect it seems to have on our critical thinking, not only our level of coolness, but for the sake of this post I will save those thoughts for another time. If you have any thoughts, please share.