Some Media Questions
WHY DID NOONE MENTION TO ME THAT RHIANNA IS PREGNANT?
There are, as we know two worlds that we exist in. The online and offline world. I am not here to discuss the merits of other worlds and the worlds within each of these because I’ve no doubt I would confuse all of us.
Last week Rhianna announced she was pregnant. How she did this is unclear, but I get the impression she just went somewhere and had her pregnant belly out underneath a pink puffer jacket. Jewelled chains were involved. Next minute. Chaos ensues. All anyone on the internet seemed to be talking about was the following facts that Rhianna is pregnant, Rhianna is pregnant with A$AP Rocky. Then as the dust settled, the memes about Drake started. Drake is upset. Drake is going to crash the baby’s christening like Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. Drake unfollowed Rhianna and A$AP Rocky on Twitter. On Instagram. Maybe both! They probably won’t care but lots of people think that this is worth sharing. But offline, no one mentioned to me that Rhianna was pregnant. In fact, no one even mentioned Rhianna. But the biggest news seemed to be this very story. To the point where I started mentioning it, in terrible not so smooth ways. I couldn’t comprehend that this was happening, and that people weren’t talking about it.
WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH THE DATA?
Earlier this week, over on Instagram, I asked what people would like to know about the media. One person (who also happens to be one of my nearest and dearest) mentioned they would like to know what media companies did with all that data. The current answer is that they sell it. They sell it on to other companies who would like to know us better to sell to us and make products. They would like to know what we want before we want it, to tell us we want it. The crazy thing about this data is what they are going to do with it in the future. Who knows? Will they sell our lifestyles? Our lives? I may seem like I am catastrophising, but this is the scary/unknown thing. I once heard a line in a media documentary that said, if you aren’t paying for the product then you aren’t the customer. So, if you use social media you are paying for it in your data, but the platform is not for you, it’s for advertisers and business’ who pay for your data. They’re the customer.
This will never not be mind bending to me.
WHAT IS NFT?
I don’t know. They are tokens you buy online but don’t own and in the future Louis Vuitton will make bags that are NFT only so you can post them on your Instagram but can’t use them to put stuff in and they will probably cost more than my car. Okay so seems I know a little bit, but I still don’t understand them. Mainly because I can’t get my head around why people would want them? Maybe houses of the future will have screens with NFTs in them instead of frames with actual pictures.
Wild.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO LEAVE SPOTIFY?
This last couple of weeks has seen more Joe Rogan rubbish. It has also seen Neil Young, and afterwards, Joni Mitchell leave the platform. The fallout from this seems quiet but noted. In my Twitter algorithm I have been presented with a few authors pull their podcasts. Last year was my first year with Spotify and this whole situation has made me rethink this subscription. I have been musing whether to return to Apple Music, but the situation just seems so f*cked. Like will musicians ever make money. As I am writing, it has become apparent to me that I don’t know enough about it to comment. I keep trying to think who would take their music off Spotify for me to leave the platform. Taylor Swift is a big one, and she has done it before. If all of them left it would make my life easier.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO READ?
My camera roll is filled with two things; accidental screenshots I take of my lock screen and screenshots of books I see on Instagram, and anywhere else online. Why don’t I use the save function? Because I use Instagram across two accounts, and I think it’s my little rebellion. Like no, I will not use this function you have provided me with. Anyway, this habit of saving books on my phone is really dictating what I read of late. And, you guessed it, has meant that all the books are pretty similar, so I am trying to claw my way back out and reset things. Problem is, I seem to do that offline by going to the library, scouring people’s bookshelves etc. so my algorithm is still skewed. This bothers me more than it needs to.
I have just realised that some of these questions are to you, some are to me, some are to me from me. Some are just general thoughts. If you have any questions you’d like to be explored, I’d love to hear them.
Natasha