When Did Youth Culture Dominate PLUS Silicon Valley Might Be the New Detroit PLUS The History of Surrogate Joy

How Youth Aged Out the Olds

As you may have heard, TikTok might actually be banned in the US. As far as I can remember, this would the first time in American history an entire major media outlet of any sort is banned. That it is so beloved by America’s teens and college students does not make this a smoother transition. If you’re a Gen Xer, imagine Reagan banned MTV. If you’re a Boomer, imagine Nixon banned FM radio.

This all begs the question of course of how the youth came to dominate mass culture to begin with. Up until the ‘40s, it was understood that broadcasting and film were to be like vaudeville: fun for the whole family. When Frank Sinatra appeared on the hit parade, teenage bobbysoxers were recognized as a new market that could be exploited. In the ‘50s, teenagers were aggressively marketed to with rock and roll music (to be played in their cars, which were driven by teens for the first time ever) and schlocky drive-in B movies that were titillating and sensationalistic like The Blob and High School Hellcats.

But even in the ‘50s, it was understood that the youth market was a limited market, like marketing to African Americans. No one expected either market to dominate American capitalism’s focus. It was not until the ‘60s and Pepsi’s “Think Young” campaign that older people started dressing like younger hippies, growing their hair just a centimeter above the shoulder and having swinger parties.

For sixty years we have lived in a youth-dominated culture. A crucial difference between this moment and the sixties is that FM radio grew out of disgust with mainstream American culture. The banning of TikTok could be a bizarro moment in which getting rid of an entire media outlet is the catalyst, not the result, of the youth questioning mass culture. Already, many TikTokers are talking about how the US is just as guilty of data mining as the Chinese. On a side note, the increased awareness that AI may truly lead to a dead Internet is causing many on Reddit and other forums to say that this might lead them to go online less.

This is not the first time youths have threatened to touch grass in recent years. The difference this time would be that they would be doing so not because they know they should spend less time online, but crave it anyway. Many TikTokers are laughing at the idea of going to Meta or Facebook after TikTok is banned. But where will they go? Some have mentioned TikTok alternatives but for what? Just for that app to get banned or go the way of Vine? No, this time they will be touching grass because they are bored with the Internet. Much like youths were bored with mainstream culture in the ‘60s.

Silicon Valley: The New Detroit

This week, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. Not a good week for Big Tech. A friend of mine compared Silicon Valley to Detroit and my mind was blown. In the ‘60s, Detroit was Motor City. End of story. All cars were American (Italian and German if you were a millionaire) and all American cars came from Detroit. Motown Records was modeled after its city’s world-famous assembly line process. No one had any reason to doubt that it would ever stop. It would be like saying that Florida would stop having oranges or Paris would stop exporting wine.

Similarly, in the ‘10s, Silicon Valley was the capital of the world. Some have said that we do not live in a capitalist society, but a techno-feudalist society with the major platforms as lords. This SVB moment would be like the ‘70s, when the Arab oil embargo helped push American consumers to prefer more fuel-efficient Japanese cars like Hondas and Datsuns. Detroit still makes cars and Silicon Valley will still have tech companies, but between the bank run and all the layoffs at numerous companies, Silicon Valley seems to have a very foggy future.

Surrogate Joy

From Sheila Liming’s new book Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time:

[…]Mark Greif’s argu[es] about how reality television is not enjoyable in itself but, rather, an efficient means of tricking the viewer into believing that joy can be derived from watching others experience it. Television, especially reality television, lets us eavesdrop on others’ efforts to hang out and experience leisure.

Reality TV is not the only example of surrogate joy that mass media offers us. When did it start? TV sitcoms in the ‘50s. Even though sitcoms emerged in the radio era, that was during the Depression, when people from different households would gather round to listen to one generous person’s radio (much like someone might host a Super Bowl party at their house nowadays). The ‘50s saw the rise of nuclear families in suburbs who felt a stronger bond with the family on TV than with their neighbors.

As mentioned in the block quote above, reality TV provided surrogate joy, starting in the ‘90s with The Real World. Many wanted to be cast members; even more loved getting caught up in the real life soap opera, as if they actually were friends with good-looking 20somethings in a NY apartment (yes, this was before Friends).

It may not seem to make sense that social networks would be a source of surrogate joy. These are your friends, after all. Wouldn’t you really be happy for them? Perhaps for close friends. But social networks are primarily comprised of acquaintances and coworkers. And while some of those connections aroused envy, some of those pictures of (simulated) happiness gave surrogate joy to those who aspired to be in Cancun instead of the office break room.

Podcasts have recently had a comedy renaissance, with many preferring to hear informal conversations between comedians (or even friends who make each other laugh) than the more mannered, studio-produced NPR style podcasts. Fast Company attributes this to the decline of third places like cafes and diners; the podcasts have now become surrogate third places where listeners vicariously enjoy parasocial connections with podcast hosts.

So far, the underlying assumption of this surrogate joy bargain has been that the consumer was getting it by observing humans. But Garbage Day sees a potential AI future where the web becomes “one big personalized web portal. A place that feels ‘alive’ but is actually completely walled off from other human beings.” Or, as I said, a truly virtual space where interactive chatbots act as surrogates for friends.

If ChatGPT can effectively take TikTok’s place, that is.