Genuine reply and ingenuine reply
I'm going to try to keep this short.
I don't use social media beyond bearblog and limited discord. I do lurk on various sites where comments can be left on other's artwork or projects. I also see people who do use these larger social media sites interacting various places -- thus bringing those cultures with them. I see it in comments threads and etc.
Something I dont enjoy is the propensity of a specific kind of extremely low effort reply to people's work, thoughts, etc. Replying to people's work with memes, shit like "mommy/daddy" , or other things that signal how cool and funny the commenter is but say nothing about the actual thing posted. Things that could be posted without even looking at the work in question.
Having participated in smaller art/craft sharing places, sometimes these replies will pop up seconds after a user posts.
Its not about getting long extravagant replies, its about a short, genuine comment being something worthwhile vs. a weirdly aggressive meme or trendy word (replying "goated" to someone's post). Its like scribbling on someone's wall and moving on.
I'm not blind to the fact that this is just what people do. Its low effort, but theyre saying something. I would just really rather have radio silence, personally, than that kind of shit because "engagement" doesn't do anything for my brain. I like talking to people about things. About anything. Doesnt have to be me. I'd prefer if it were you. I just want to talk to YOU not an amalgamation of everything on the front page of tiktok.
There's a lot of current internet behavior that I dislike and this is one thing thats high up on the list. The allergy to genuineness and just saying something with ones own words rather than a regurgitated popular phrase of the week+ the weird pseudo arrogance that seems to permeate interaction (just another form of ingenuineness) its very tiring.
I'm searching for people and finding cut-outs. A person need not be "weird", or quirky or cultivate anything mysterious -- this is just more flavors of the above. I dont want the cultivated image. I want the person behind it. Whether they are utterly bizarre or go home and watch netflix every night. Tell me more. I want to know YOU.