how long am i going to have to remind the online world that i exist?
bel chimes in on the curse of habitual visibility
✿ BEL CHIMES IN: on the curse of habitual visibility ✿
This newsy is written by the refreshing-as-a-house-chardonnay-on-a-steamy-day (and co-author of our debut book Make It Make Sense) Bel Hawkins. Each week Bel comes here to chime in about the things she’s been loling at, yearning for, or totally mystified by. Luckily for us, she also writes our Sunday advice column ‘Wait, But What?’ for all our paying supporters who want to make sense of the world!! Upgrade your plan to get her newsy here!
Hello crushes! Coming to you this week from a new desk space in a new studio that makes me feel more like a normal human and less like a strange alien shuffling around the city with a half-dying laptop shoved under my wing. The light's filtering through the trees and for so early in the week, if I was to write one of those neon signs that go in ~ trending ~ bars I'd definitely go for something like 'Good Vibes Only' in cursive font.
Anyway. I digress. A bit of a philosophical internet one this week!
I wanted to Chime about this concept of Habitual Visibility this week. Which basically refers to the insane increasing pressure anyone who makes a living online feels to keeping having something to say, or talk about or post about to remain relevant. Or, as my friend Eliza puts it 'remind the world that you exist!'
It is good (because it keeps us making things). It is bad (because the relentless churn is incessant and addictive and burnout). And I feel like there are three camps:
Fuck social media, I'm just here to peruse and not post. Or even more, I don't peruse at all. Evangelical and, at times, in my humble opinion, impressive.
Sometimes I post, then I forget about it and it makes me feel weird but I like to watch and see what's going on in the world and lose track of time. I would say most of my friends I know, and battling with the internet's chokehold over us.
I live and breathe online in a fraught codependent cycle. Anyone who works on or makes money on the internet.
It reminds me of this quote I saw a couple of years ago by feminist writer Roxane Grey in the lead-up to a new year, when asked what her goals were:
Why am I telling you this?
I get nervous of sounding like a MEDIA101 lecturer on here sometimes, but I do think it's interesting to think about where we're heading. What will you really gain from all this attention and how much is that worth? (Lol, somewhat ironic, or extremely relevant that I'm asking you this in the form of a newsletter you subscribe to and some of you are even gorgeous enough to pay for). Our unrelenting expectation to watch and consume new things all the time is not an easy, calming thing.
For example, in 2021, over 1 million memes were posted to Instagram per day. The anxiety of keeping up with it too has its own eroding effects.
My witch sense is that people will come to value great things more than ever, become less bothered by how internet famous someone is and more in love with the things they make, and get even further into their internet niches. We'll have less and less ~ space ~ in our lives to follow heaps of different things. I hope this is because we've unplugged a little and made touching grass a regular thing, and reached some sort of consumption and creation equilibrium. A girl can dream.
If I was to put this all into a slam poem and perform it in a trilby hat at a gastro pub, this is how I'd do it:
J'adore you! See you this week for Wait, But What? And if you have any Ask Me Anythings you'd like me to personally answer, hit reply and ask away. xx
Over on Close Friends: You’ve been on tour with me (Luce) and we haven’t been home in a few weeks!!! Don’t worry though - I’m home soon and have a very cool new thing to introduce to you…..
And in the Book Club chat: WE’RE READING FUNNY STORY BY EMILY HENRY!!!!
What Bel’s talking about in Wait, But What?
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This is so interesting !!! I wrote an essay (but in French) on the concept of digital liveness. Very echoing your habitual visibility idea. If you’re interested I wrote about it there: https://aliveinsocialmedia.substack.com/p/whats-digital-liveness-a-modelization 🌈