A Culture of Sedation- The Virtual World’s Influence on our Drug Culture.
George
Orwell once wrote, ‘Everything faded away into a
shadow world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become
uncertain.’
We live in a material culture, a plastic world of immediate
gratification characterised by fast food, fast fashion and waste polluting our oceans. We are submerged in a virtual world, so skewed and far from a tangible
reality that our concept of ‘self’, has been lost to a world where perceptions
of ourselves are now based around a series of edited Instagram pictures, the
clothes that we wear and opinions of others (as much as we hate
to admit it). The very art of communication has
been completely lost to a generation of text addicts, and this has created a
lonely and unfulfilled void where conversations become futile and meaningless,
as people search for an equally futile and meaningless connection with a name
on a screen.
So, the more ‘virtual’ our world becomes, gives rise to a new wave
of drugs, and the latest to grace our uni campuses are an array of downers; Xanax,
Valium, Codeine, and of course the classic anaesthetic- ketamine.
Our generation’s recent fascination with this type of drug is a
far cry from the ecstasy wave of the 90’s, where drugs were seen as a sociable
experience, usually taken for a night of dancing on a Friday night with your
mates. Now, Uni campuses seem to be abundant with kids k-holing in their rooms
on a Thursday night.
Whether it be an aid to escape or simply a vice to power a futile ego
there seems to be an instrumental role that drugs are playing in today's
society amongst our generation, which reflects the struggles of a generation
who grew up in the beginnings of a world promoting mass addiction to mobile
devices.
With artists such as ‘Lil Xan’ and Xxtentation having a huge
influence on bringing these predominantly Americanised drugs onto our uni campuses,
codeine and promethyzine as well as Xanax bars become readily available, as
kids become more heavily immersed in a culture of sedation.
The rise of these particular drugs in our generation can be seen
as a reflection of our very concept of ourselves has been skewed by the
introduction of social media, creating a ‘pseudo-persona’, to which we begin to
try and structure our entire characters around. This confusion appears to have
created an innate tendency for an increasing number of individuals to 'seek
out' this self by attempting to escape this futile materialistic self, (often
through a belief that if they smoke DMT off the dark web out of their mates
pipe they'll have some kind of spiritual awakening and be cleansed of their
Western consumerist ways, or by dropping a half tab of acid in the local kids
park will really help them 'find themselves')
The detachment one feels from their entire conception of themselves, becomes
torturous to a human who naturally searches for human bonds and attachment, to
suddenly become so detached from the very crux of reality, is devastating. And in a world so heavily governed by social
media, this false reality becomes dangerous, as a sense of detachment from both
reality and the self pervades an entire generation, leading to an abundance of
unhappy teens.
Numbness appears to be the only salvation for a generation lacking
in tangible experience, and that numbness itself becomes torturous.
Perhaps that's what Orwell meant when he said that, 'orthodoxy
means not thinking’. Maybe, to become so much a part of the system, so heavily
ingrained in it is a curse within itself. And when the culture is one that
normalises a constant emergence in your phone, seeking individualism through your
choice of clothing and social media outlets; as you simultaneously succumb to
the society in which you aim to oppose, and which to be torn from you would be
devastated, you realise there is a certain void of emptiness that no amount of
Instagram likes could fulfil.
There seems a need to numb, to sedate, to ‘not think’, not be
present, only through your social media presence as you sit on a bus with 10
other people all immersed in a glass screen.
social media that now have the ability to govern your thought
processes, your whole life is lived through a camera and through social
approval, as this dissonance creates a complete detachment from external
reality and an inner sense of who we are.
Once people begin to realise this they realise something is missing, and
they become greatly unfulfilled. it is interesting to see that today's
generation wish to enter a realm that is less about a discovery of the self,
but rather one of complete numbness and vacancy, as complete sedation becomes
the goal.
It seems that an increasingly postmodern world is bringing about an
increasingly pained generation of teens who are struggling to escape the tedium
of a false reality, and thus are actually sedating themselves as a means of
temporary escape, that more often than not becomes a coping mechanism.
I will leave you with a quote from one of my favourite artists;
Burial, that I believe perfectly embodies the loneliness of a generation
overwhelmed by a virtual world that strips a certain innocence, in constant
search of connections that aren’t really there. 'They seem to have people all around
them, but that’s actually not true. Sometimes you’re surrounded by mates but
you’re not surrounded by friends. You feel protective of people, because no
matter who we are, we all return to quite a vulnerable place, a flat, mates, a
family, a room or whatever. You can see through all that stuff, a lot of young
people artificially take on adult issues, that have maybe been pushed at them,
or maybe they’re living out an adult relationship, proper life issues, maybe
their family isn't looking out for them anymore, other serious stuff that you
can't take lightly. I've seen that if you take on that stuff early on, it fucks
you up. My new tunes are about that, wanting an angel watching over you, when
there's nowhere to go and all you can do is sit in McDonalds late at night, not
answering your phone.'
Comments
Post a Comment