A Society Against Itself

Living in a world that is post-modern is something I am used to. However, when I really think about the things I do every day and the things I see in the media and social networking, I realize that it is a very bizarre structure of lifestyle compared to the ways of the past. Take something like Facebook, for example. It is a website designed to connect people from all over the world, enabling them to share their experiences and ideas with others. People today, especially teenagers, have become quite tangled in the web of this social network. As smartphones have made it infinitely easier to access the Internet from almost anywhere, people are able to update status and add photos of what they are doing no matter where they are. It is rare that I ever go anywhere without seeing somebody on their phone updating their social status. Rather than engage in the real world, people enjoy putting the highlights of their lives on websites like Facebook.

By doing this, I think people believe that their lives will appear more interesting to others. Everybody wants to appear to be living life to the fullest and always doing good things, but in reality nobody is as busy as they seem. The TV shows that we watch today such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Office portray ordinary people living seemingly ordinary lives. However, in each episode, something happens to these ordinary people that fills day with excitement, worry, or simply a problem that needs to be figured out. I think that people today have seen this way of living on TV shows, and believe that they too need to present their lives as a sort of never ending series of exciting episodes for others to watch. 

Another odd thing about living in a postmodern society is the games people play on their phones. For example, there is a very popular app available on most smartphones known as Hay Day. My understanding of this game is that the user tries to build the best farm possible on their tiny screen. By growing crops and domesticating animals, you can accumulate lots of money (not real money, of course). Then, using this money you can purchase more expensive crops and animals to produce more money, so that you may then buy more crops and animals to make more money. There is no real endpoint to this game, and the only thing it really does is take the user away from reality and invite them into a virtual world that has no significance in real life. 

Instead of becoming a real farmer or even just planting a simple garden in their backyard, people spend hours growing fake plants to make worthless fake money. In fact, Hay Day is the seventh highest grossing app on the app store to date. I think this is true, though, because people find it comforting to escape the problems of reality. As the app claims, “Crops always thrive here.” This message draws people in by allowing them to enter a simulation of reality in which there is no real failure. If you can’t grow crops in Hay Day, you don’t have to foreclose on your house or have one meal a day until your plants grow back. The app has postmodern qualities that create a safe environment for all users. Living in a postmodern society is odd. It seems that the more one distances oneself from people and society, the more one becomes a part of them.