shiels
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Life is cringeworthy now isn’t it? It’s cringeworthy to be alive, to exist and be exposed and to occupy space at this time with you all. This will be a cringeworthy thread. You’re all quite embarrassing and I’m embarrassed for you, and myself.
What is cringing about? How is it different than other embarrassment? It seems to happen when the audience are at a higher level of awareness to the performer... who’s painfully unaware of the fact. And the thing is, as a subject in a world of surveillance and constant content and social media this is almost always somehow true of you now isn’t it? You’re almost always putting on a shit show.
We don’t really cringe at children, but we start to cringe at teenagers, because teenagers are starting to get an idea of who they are and want to be, they’re trying and failing. Trying to be something and falling short.
Do you think there’s an intensification of cringe today, a new scale? I think there’s an amplification and distortion of our blind spots and desperations through these platforms. And I think the machine feeds on it. It gives you a million opportunities to miss the mark. Maybe in some ways it’s the cringe that keeps us coming back, there’s a debt to pay. It’s partly your horror at former outfits that makes you buy new ones.
What does it give you to watch someone do something cringeworthy? There’s an elitist pleasure in this vicarious embarrassment, watching their graceless reach. Watching their social capital drop in real time. You can feel the schadenfreude along with empathy, part of you wants to jump in and and rescue but something stops you (you’re enjoying watching their social death), and of course you’re in the know, aren’t you?
We fall in love with our image extended through new media, McLuhan said. And as we try to broadcast our best bits the price we pay is in this awful amplification and distortion of our shortcomings and blind spots. This big beam of desperation is there for everyone to see. You embarrassing cunt! You vomit inducing try hard!
I find something cringeworthy in most of my friends and family’s social media posts because of this gap. And Instagram influencers are the David Brents of today. Self appointed experts, the wellness hashtags and ‘spiritual bypassing’.
But what’s an ethical response to cringeworthy stuff? Can the cringe actually be something to follow? What can it reveal? Is the exposure of a blind spot a learning opportunity, a chance to connect or act? Because what’s exposed isn’t just a persons failure in a social context, the cringe can also show how a system or model of reality is alienating, or failing to connect us.
What is cringing about? How is it different than other embarrassment? It seems to happen when the audience are at a higher level of awareness to the performer... who’s painfully unaware of the fact. And the thing is, as a subject in a world of surveillance and constant content and social media this is almost always somehow true of you now isn’t it? You’re almost always putting on a shit show.
We don’t really cringe at children, but we start to cringe at teenagers, because teenagers are starting to get an idea of who they are and want to be, they’re trying and failing. Trying to be something and falling short.
Do you think there’s an intensification of cringe today, a new scale? I think there’s an amplification and distortion of our blind spots and desperations through these platforms. And I think the machine feeds on it. It gives you a million opportunities to miss the mark. Maybe in some ways it’s the cringe that keeps us coming back, there’s a debt to pay. It’s partly your horror at former outfits that makes you buy new ones.
What does it give you to watch someone do something cringeworthy? There’s an elitist pleasure in this vicarious embarrassment, watching their graceless reach. Watching their social capital drop in real time. You can feel the schadenfreude along with empathy, part of you wants to jump in and and rescue but something stops you (you’re enjoying watching their social death), and of course you’re in the know, aren’t you?
We fall in love with our image extended through new media, McLuhan said. And as we try to broadcast our best bits the price we pay is in this awful amplification and distortion of our shortcomings and blind spots. This big beam of desperation is there for everyone to see. You embarrassing cunt! You vomit inducing try hard!
I find something cringeworthy in most of my friends and family’s social media posts because of this gap. And Instagram influencers are the David Brents of today. Self appointed experts, the wellness hashtags and ‘spiritual bypassing’.
But what’s an ethical response to cringeworthy stuff? Can the cringe actually be something to follow? What can it reveal? Is the exposure of a blind spot a learning opportunity, a chance to connect or act? Because what’s exposed isn’t just a persons failure in a social context, the cringe can also show how a system or model of reality is alienating, or failing to connect us.