Great piece. Thank you. Always love to read some Foucault-based thoughts on modern culture (I wrote a piece on his work and yoga studios recently.)
I’m part of the generation who created rave. And everyone I know from those days perspective I have spoken to about this seems to agree that dance music and raves would never have happened if we’d had phones.
i wish i had been able to go to burning man in the 90s. i first became aware of it in 1996 with that big Wired article. But out off attending forever. By the time I did attend, a lot of its spirit had leaked away
I’ve been going for 25 years, in a row! I agree that some of the spirit has leaked away. And, it’s still there, in the exquisite moments, the hugs, the random conversations, the art, the desert, the living community.
There will be less people who remember what it was to not have phones on the dance floor. It seems that there is a movement growing to reject phones in a small number of places but I feel the ones posting for the purpose of clicks and ridicule should face more consequences. What are your thoughts ?
Brilliant post. Let’s extend the phone ban to all communal spaces, might just help accelerate the decline of social media, and honestly, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Oh, one more thing ... I think the phone sticker movement is growing and snowballing. I think we're turning a corner on unquestioning acceptance of surveillance technology at parties, and I see more and more clubs (even in notorious Ibiza) announce phone-free nights, series, seasons, or forever policies.
Yeah, it’s like the classic DFW quote: Two young fish swim past an older fish, who asks them, "Morning boys, how's the water?" After the older fish swims away, the two young fish look at each other and ask, "What the hell is water?" … I have typed my fingers raw trying to explain this online to the new generation, but it wasn’t until I came up with video proof that some of them finally started to say “ahhh! this is what we’ve been missing!” Which is of course ironic, because I don’t want video anywhere near these excellent dancefloors.
This is a brilliant piece. Thank you. And the thesis goes so far. As well as being an elder burner/raver, I do men’s work and have sat in thousands of men’s circles and a key piece to allow men to open up is to help them feel safe enough to tell the truth. But the patriarchy polices with context collapse and shaming and outing. So men have learned/been programmed to believe safety is silence, when in truth, silence is the abyss.
Thank you for reading it and for sharing this with us about men’s relationship to silence. It’s one of the underappreciated elements of men’s struggles to express themselves.
Why don't you take a(ny)paragraph - or even a sentence - and engage with it? It's much more fun to be dancing on the dancefloor rather than sniping from the sideline.
Great piece. Thank you. Always love to read some Foucault-based thoughts on modern culture (I wrote a piece on his work and yoga studios recently.)
I’m part of the generation who created rave. And everyone I know from those days perspective I have spoken to about this seems to agree that dance music and raves would never have happened if we’d had phones.
100% agree! I’m 57, first went to burning man in the 90s. It was all so much more natural then .
i wish i had been able to go to burning man in the 90s. i first became aware of it in 1996 with that big Wired article. But out off attending forever. By the time I did attend, a lot of its spirit had leaked away
I’ve been going for 25 years, in a row! I agree that some of the spirit has leaked away. And, it’s still there, in the exquisite moments, the hugs, the random conversations, the art, the desert, the living community.
lol sorry for terrible grammar here btw!
There will be less people who remember what it was to not have phones on the dance floor. It seems that there is a movement growing to reject phones in a small number of places but I feel the ones posting for the purpose of clicks and ridicule should face more consequences. What are your thoughts ?
Brilliant post. Let’s extend the phone ban to all communal spaces, might just help accelerate the decline of social media, and honestly, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
You’re right but really crazy that these are the discussions we have to have
It is crazy. I am regularly stunned by the ignorance surrounding this topic. =(
Thanks for your refreshing essay.
Alas. most contemporary clubs (I've been to) have an altar-congregation dancefloor setting which is abhorrent to say the least.
Be that as it may, it can be challenging to argue with, and convince people to see the light if they've been in darkness all their lives.
Thank goodness for clubs (Copenhagen Culture Box, et al) that still enforce the stickers and no-camera policy, may their reign be long.
Oh, one more thing ... I think the phone sticker movement is growing and snowballing. I think we're turning a corner on unquestioning acceptance of surveillance technology at parties, and I see more and more clubs (even in notorious Ibiza) announce phone-free nights, series, seasons, or forever policies.
Yeah, it’s like the classic DFW quote: Two young fish swim past an older fish, who asks them, "Morning boys, how's the water?" After the older fish swims away, the two young fish look at each other and ask, "What the hell is water?" … I have typed my fingers raw trying to explain this online to the new generation, but it wasn’t until I came up with video proof that some of them finally started to say “ahhh! this is what we’ve been missing!” Which is of course ironic, because I don’t want video anywhere near these excellent dancefloors.
This is a brilliant piece. Thank you. And the thesis goes so far. As well as being an elder burner/raver, I do men’s work and have sat in thousands of men’s circles and a key piece to allow men to open up is to help them feel safe enough to tell the truth. But the patriarchy polices with context collapse and shaming and outing. So men have learned/been programmed to believe safety is silence, when in truth, silence is the abyss.
Deep bow.
Thank you for reading it and for sharing this with us about men’s relationship to silence. It’s one of the underappreciated elements of men’s struggles to express themselves.
Imagine being unable to read long form content for the purpose of forming a cogent argument.
Why don't you take a(ny)paragraph - or even a sentence - and engage with it? It's much more fun to be dancing on the dancefloor rather than sniping from the sideline.