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| Flowers? Collectively adored. |
That resonated.
When was the last time you laughed together with a group of strangers?
Thanks to our phones, it seems to me that modern collective experiences are typically fragmented, often encountered alone. Plus, they seem predominantly negative, rife with distractions, misinformation, political upheaval, and disasters, thus the modern desire to withdraw, isolate, and protect ourselves...alone.
A Gen X kid I definitely grew up alone, but I also recall sharing most of life's emotional experiences collectively, both positive and negative. We all watched the same weekly TV shows and imitated them. We all knew the Vulcan salute and said, "Nanoo, nanoo." I grew up loving The $6 Million Dollar Man so fervently that most of the playground stunts my classmates and I did, were in slow motion. Even outside my grade, these behaviours were common to my entire school community, and I suspect some of you reading this can relate? That's a key difference between then and now: community.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked my adult son if we could watch Happy Gilmore 2 together. He grew up on Adam Sandler movies and, back then, we watched many comedies together. The film, as expected, was delightfully stupid, a genre we can both get behind. But the point of that experience? Nostalgic bonding.
It seems to me that the modern world is sorely parched for bonding opportunities, especially among strangers. This made me wonder: what do we all collectively adore? Flowers? Kittens? Will Farrell? Silent Book Clubs? Hockey-playoffs?...?
And how might we bring back bonding?
21 comments:
Much food for thought here, thanks! The last large "collective" experience I had was going to the opera at the beginning of June. And a much smaller gathering of Poetry Club attendees every week at a local seniors rec centre.
That's a good question.
Though tastes vary, I think music is a good place to start. Live music venues are good places to gather and share experiences.
I once blogged about my favorite childhood toy: the Steve Austin doll with see-through eye and roll-up skin on the arm, concealing his bionics. Needless to say, I was a huge fan of The $6 Million Dollar Man.
My friend and I don’t bind over kittens. I stop to pet, but he is a dog person and dog only it seems. You’re right, it is good to share a laugh. Wifey and I don’t do it often enough, possibly because our favoured humour is very different. She likes visual humour while I find fun in words.
Damn good question. I never saw Happy Gilmore 1. I asked my husband if I needed to see that before we watched Happy Gilmore 2. He laughed at me. Then when we began to watch I realized why I didn't need to watch the first one. But we laughed. Stupid laughing is fun too. I am thankful that my spouse and I laugh a great deal but you're correct, collective laughing and sharing is much better but then again, I'm a baby boomer, what do I know.
I was talking about this with my spousal unit last week. People don't seem to have the same openness that they did. Is it because of the easy anonymity of the internet? The fact that our faces are looking at screens instead of who/what is around us? Also, although I don't think it's necessarily new, people aren't listening. They're waiting for a pause so they can talk and tell you their own stuff. They don't want your stuff.
I attended the Blue Jays baseball game yesterday. The seats were organised by my company's retirement club, so I bonded with lots of fellow retirees, and also with just over 43,000 strangers in our universal support for the home team. Sadly, the team lost.
Great examples.
Definitely.
Were you in love with Jamie Somers too?
Despite small differences, it's the sharing laughs that's important.
Stupid laughing (whatever your generation) is the best.
This resonates too.
Sounds like bonding to me.
...I've never enjoyed crowds, I'm a bit of a loner.
Codex: I don't know either.
In my opinion, things started going downhill long before phones became prevalent. Back when there were fewer media outlets it was common to have collective experiences.
In the late 1970s people would watch M*A*S*H, Charlie's Angels, or The Love Boat and talk about it the next day. A decade later it was Dallas, Miami Vice, and The Golden Girls.
Today the only communal watching event I can think of might be the Super Bowl or a playoff game if your team is involved.
Good question.
I could use more people to laugh with. It's hard to do it by oneself.
That's a fantastic point about the fragmentation of modern collective experiences. It's so true that the moments of shared joy and laughter with strangers seem much rarer now. I love the examples you used, especially the slow-motion playground stunts. That feeling of a shared cultural experience, whether it's a TV show or a movie, seems to have been replaced by a million different niches.
It’s an interesting question about what we collectively adore now. Maybe it’s things that go viral for a moment a funny video, a meme but they lack the staying power of a shared TV show from decades past. Bringing back that sense of bonding would be tough, but maybe it starts small, in our own communities.
By the way, I just put up a new post. Feel free to check it out at www.melodyjacob.com.
Don't you just love how Melody Jacob uses AI to leave comments? Yes, sarcasm.
I love to have a good laugh and want to see Naked Gun but my husband is not a fan of movie theaters, he's too tall for the seats, so we'll watch it a home eventually.
The last time I laughed so hard my face hurt, was watching "Puppetry of the Penis" at the Winspear Theater, years ago. It felt good.
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