While discussing different ideas for the research led investigation, one subject stood out to me the most as it could suggest the current state of youth culture and where it is headed. This subject was Nihilism, a term often used to describe those who reject religious and moral values in favour of the belief that life is meaningless. In western culture, it is clear that religion is not as widespread as it once was. Because of this, society has adapted in a way that gives people more freedom to do what they want with their lives, even if that means a more destructive life.
Online research - Nihilism
- Nothing really matters and life should be enjoyed for the time we have.
- Self absorbed/destructive impulse.
- Norm of today.
- Existentialism was the core idea that nihilism extends from.
- Changes in the post-modernism era were a response to modernism.
- Morality/Spiritual/Intellectual nihilism.
THE STRANGEST YOUTH CULTURE IN HISTORY - A Documentary (2018) by Dayz of Noah
- "A post-modern, neo-liberal culture which promotes wreckless capitalism and obsession with cash and personal wealth, yet feeds off a socialist government programme system and sets unrealistic standards for millions of fans and eager followers, via social media."
- Normative Nihilism (softcore) - depression, anxiety, hyper consumerism, promiscuity, material worldview.
- Deep Nihilism (Hardcore response to Normative) - suicidal ideation, self harm, obsessive tattooing, murder/brutal violence, prostitution.
- drug use goes hand in hand with media influence and normalisation.
- Nihilist aestheticism.
- Generation to generation has shown that being different/weird is what makes people stand out from the crowd, yet today everyone is different and the same all together.
- Tumblr and WorldstarHipHop are examples of platforms that promote nihilism.
- Tumblr - mental illness romanticised, suicidal themes normalised through popular culture (music/memes/social media posts), drug use normalised, exploitative and incestuous sexualisation ('daddy themes'), 'sad boys and sad girls'.
- Worldstar - fight videos (primal instinct of violence), materialistic music videos, obsessive wealth themes.
After seeing this analogy video on YouTube about nihilism, I decided to revisit Tumblr and WorldstarHipHop to see what has changed since viewing them years ago in their prime. From what I can personally remember, Tumblr would often be seen as a platform that was heavily pornographic and was popular with bloggers for its anonymity. Worldstar was also a site that was known for its fight videos which were more often found on other platforms such as YouTube and Twitter.
Tumblr
Here is an example of the types of posts found on Tumblr, which would be recognisable to most of the early users of the platform, as it often would aestheticise sexual themes, dark imagery and mental health problems. Although the examples shown are representative of Tumblr's known aesthetic they were very few images like these remaining on the site. This is likely due to new regulations and restrictions imposed in recent years, as the site tries to expand its audience to younger people.
However, deeper exploration of the platform revealed that some forums, blogs relating to violence, mental health practices and other negative posts still remain unchecked. Though they were hard to find and few in numbers, the posts were sometimes graphic depictions of mental health struggles or comments by users. To any younger audience, these posts may have harmful effects if they were to find forums which promote these unhealthy practices. The posts themselves could be found through hashtags and search suggestions such as #ana, #depression, #thinspo and #anxiety.
One thing that seems to have been implemented in recent updates is the introduction of helplines to certain suggestions. When searching for certain words Tumblr will display a helpline page based on that search. For example, when searching the word depression, the helpline that was provided was based on self-harm and crisis situations. When searching for eating disorders and self-harm forums, the results were also displaying different organisations which would deal specifically with those issues. For the most part it seems that Tumblr has considered its audience more thoroughly and implemented changes that can help people struggling with their lives, rather than allow them to post negative outlets on their blogs which could romanticise or encourage others to do the same. In this way, the website has began to change their identity and make users experiences more positive and enjoyable.
Worldstarhiphop on the other hand remained the same as it has always been, posting fight compilation videos, viral videos and the latest hip hop music videos. In this sense, the website remains a nihilistic platform that promotes violence and wealth.
Tumblr
Here is an example of the types of posts found on Tumblr, which would be recognisable to most of the early users of the platform, as it often would aestheticise sexual themes, dark imagery and mental health problems. Although the examples shown are representative of Tumblr's known aesthetic they were very few images like these remaining on the site. This is likely due to new regulations and restrictions imposed in recent years, as the site tries to expand its audience to younger people.
However, deeper exploration of the platform revealed that some forums, blogs relating to violence, mental health practices and other negative posts still remain unchecked. Though they were hard to find and few in numbers, the posts were sometimes graphic depictions of mental health struggles or comments by users. To any younger audience, these posts may have harmful effects if they were to find forums which promote these unhealthy practices. The posts themselves could be found through hashtags and search suggestions such as #ana, #depression, #thinspo and #anxiety.
One thing that seems to have been implemented in recent updates is the introduction of helplines to certain suggestions. When searching for certain words Tumblr will display a helpline page based on that search. For example, when searching the word depression, the helpline that was provided was based on self-harm and crisis situations. When searching for eating disorders and self-harm forums, the results were also displaying different organisations which would deal specifically with those issues. For the most part it seems that Tumblr has considered its audience more thoroughly and implemented changes that can help people struggling with their lives, rather than allow them to post negative outlets on their blogs which could romanticise or encourage others to do the same. In this way, the website has began to change their identity and make users experiences more positive and enjoyable.
Philosophers to further research
- Schopenhauer
- Hegel
- Kant
- Roussou
- Voltaire
- Niccolò Machiavelli
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