NOTES ON BEHAVIOR 5: INTENSITY-SEEKING

There’s an increased consumer focus on “living in the moment,” seeking limit experiences and peak performance. Mel called it “the new hedonism.” The trend toward the consumption of experiences rather than things (in a service-based economy and as) has evolved into an economy of intensity.

It might be related to the sense that we’re running out of time. From the Gamechangers intro: “our lives are as much characterized by scarcity and what we’re losing (time, space, attention, the care we give to /feel from others) as by abundance and boundaryless-ness.”

Or it might relate to the sense that now is all we have, what media theorist Douglas Rushkoff calls “Present Shock”:

“This is the new “now”…Everything is live, real time, and always-on. It’s not a mere speeding up, however much our lifestyles and technologies have accelerate the rate at which we attempt to do things. It’s more of a diminishment of anything that isn’t happening right now – and the onslaught of everything that supposedly is… If the end of the twentieth century can be characterized by futurism, the twenty-first can be defined by presentism.”

In pop culture: the rise of YOLO, the fanaticism over the Redbull jump from outer space, and the mainstream reemergence of rave culture and electronic dance music are all examples of this behavior.

Now that many of the former markers of luxury have been reconfigured by wide availability due to globalization and the internet, being the busiest and having most intense, extreme experiences is now the defining feature of contemporary privilege.

"Riding the crest of burnout is associated with privilege. …. Experientially, privilege means being so busy, overcommitted, and invested in your life that you’re always at risk of hitting the point of diminishing returns."
– Philosopher Robin James

i just wanted to log this very wholesome email experience i had about someone who reached out to me about soft.space.

she questioned: I often wonder if these attempted comforting experiences soothe us, as we so desire, or do they lack in comparison? Will we inevitably be subsumed this immaterial and endless digital world, or is there truly a soft, tender antidote.

my response: While Soft.Space or any internet comfort for that matter aren't truly antidotes from the cold void of the internet, I do think there are different ways of coping with the worlds we live in. One of the ways we cope with the real world in life is through art and the act of making art, and I wanted to bring that experience through Soft.Space, through a digital lens. We find comfort in knowing these spaces exist in this world of the internet, and that there are other people that have left their footprint there too.