Thought of the Week- Damn, Young Folk Got It Hard

Yes, I'm on there.....

So if it wasn't hard enough for us young folks thanks to our parents insistent belief in Reaganomics, we had to go and social media-ize our world, and make it worse. Some poor girl who went to/goes to Ohio State got front row seats at the Sugar Bowl with her boyfriend, and was giving him a neck rub, and then kind of awkwardly stopped. Why? I have no idea. I don't need to either. It happened to be while she was on television (awkward), and well, the internet ran with it.

No, he's not her "sidepiece" though. The poor girl just picked the exactly wrong moment to stop massaging his neck though, and now is the symbol of the cheating girlfriend, I guess. I guess that's the internet age.

The funny thing is, in this case, it's random chance. The girl didn't want to become this topic of discussion, at least I don't think. She just did. That's kind of rare in the internet age, when even a completely talent-less person, like say Kim Kardashian, can become a star by making a sex-tape (aside here- Kardashian isn't that talent-less, because many of you people are fools and buy her shit.) People seek out fulfillment on the internet, and on their phones increasingly. This is where Tinder comes in. Yes, Tinder. Tinder was nine months ago a version of "hook-up" on demand, but now is just filled with people seeking just about everything (ok, I lied here- 99% of the guys are almost certainly looking for a hook-up or girlfriend, but hey, some aren't). Tinder is pretty much the new Twitter/Facebook/whatever other app or site you want to put here, that people are on. It's even attracting magazine pieces about how to not be lonely on trips and find cool stuff to do.

So how does Tinder relate to a girl from OSU being splashed all over the internet for not rubbing her boyfriend's neck anymore on TV? Well, see, we do Tinder to ourselves. Dudes do Tinder. Girls do Tinder. Dudes make total fools of themselves. Girls make total fools of themselves. There's really nothing more awkward than online dating, when you think about it- you're single, they're single, you're really not sure if they like you or not, or if you are going to actually like them, but you try it anyway out of either boredom or loneliness. It's not just online dating, but social media in general to be honest. We're living way, way more public than ever before, certainly more so than our parents or grandparents. We talk about people's sex lives being more public than ever before, or there being more gay people out of the closet than ever before, and honestly that's probably just because anyone under 35 never really had a closet to begin with, so things just spill out. We're basically always "live," always in public, always out for public display, and well, it's awkward. Awkward like that Ohio State girl on TV, awkward. We just tend to not realize it, because well, we're out there all the time. I'm clearly guilty of this too (i'm writing on a blog for God's sakes), but that doesn't change the reality.

The thing is, I wonder if half the time we even know how awkward it really is. I read maybe the funniest, best piece ever about late-20s and early-30 somethings in London basically refusing to grow up. Now, the graphic language makes it hilarious, but think about this- we're a late blooming generation, living that whole scene out on the internet. The WORLD-WIDE WEB. Extended college life, recorded for history to see. And history will see it, in all of it's kind of awkward, too much information way.

All of this is kind of the point- are we a little too public, a little too awkward, maybe a little too proud of "uniqueness" that we perceive of ourselves? Maybe we're not really starring in a hit show here, maybe it's just kind of.... ridiculous? I'm not sure. I'm not going to disconnect my Facebook and Twitter any time soon, but I do know this- I might be making a complete fool of myself sometimes, and as long as I don't know, I like it.