Total Entertainment Forever

Jason Parham, Wired (via Nick Heer):

The current era of content production prioritizes aesthetics over substance. We are a culture hooked on optimization and exposure; we crave to be seen. We live on our phones and through our screens. We’re endlessly watching and being watched, submerged in a state of looking. With a sort of all-consuming greed, we are transforming into a visual-first society — an infinite form of entertainment for one another to consume, share, fight over, and find meaning through.

Emphasis mine

I have nothing personally to add, just that I’m eerily reminded of Father John Misty’s “Total Entertainment Forever” when reading this.

And now the future's definition is so much higher than it was last year
It's like the images have all become real
And someone's living my life for me out in the mirror

No, can you believe
How far we've come
In the New Age?
Freedom to have what you want

In the New Age
We'll all be entertained
Rich or poor
The channels are all the same

[...]

When the historians find us we'll be in our homes
Plugged into our hubs
Skin and bones
A frozen smile on every face
As the stories replay
This must have been a wonderful place