Demographics and Internet

Interesting topic this month.

The word Demographic is on my mind a lot lately... largely thanks to the Wrestling World totally breaking new ground in meta-esque wanderings into story lines of new-levels of self-parody of late that I think are very entertaining.

But, this article is not about Wrestling... I'm more interested in Demographics in general, specifically Age demographic as a whole, though, in this article... not just applicable to the Wrestling World.

I was looking at the age of Presidents the other day when elected and was sort of surprised that it was very uncommon for someone over 70 to be elected. With the upcoming election... whether the Red Team or Blue Team wins it... since both President candidates are over 70... it will only be the second time in history this has happened. A person being over 70 and elected President.

I always had this characterization of the President as the "Elder Statesman" motif and just thought like all of them were pretty old... but no... T. Roosevelt was 42 .... Lincoln was 52.... these guys were fairly young.

Referring to someone of 42 as "fairly young" by the way... would have been unheard of a hundred years ago. Global "Life Expectancy" in most first world countries is now 80 years old.... which in the 1800s was HALF of THAT.

Imagine your life expectancy (what all scenario-related factors of your environment suggest the age you will likely make it to) was 40 instead of 80? That's how things were even into the 1900s.... imagine this:

1-10: You're a Kid

10-16: You're a Student
16- 25: You get Married and Have like TEN kids
25-35: You farm or work or whatever... maybe like go to war or something.

35-40: Start thinking of the Great Beyond.

When you DOUBLE the life expectancy of a human shouldn't these factors double too? Something like:

1-16: You're a Kid

16-25: You're a Student
25- 40: You get Married and Have like TWO kids
40- 60: You work all day or whatever... maybe like go on a ten day fishing trip in Florida or something.

60- 80: Start thinking of the Great Beyond.

I think that's a much better Social Expectancy in regards to what's expected of you in regard to the doubling of the Life Expectancy in the first world.

I've had this in mind since the late 90s actually this New Demo for Ages...

A game that's come back in the fore front was actually the first time I ever thought about this. They brought back Final Fantasy Seven for young people this year... and back in 1997 the character "Nanaki" or "Red XIII" was the first character that made me think about levels of Social and Life expectancy variables.

(NOTE: I HAVEN'T PLAYED THE NEW FF7 YET SO I DON'T KNOW IF THE FIRST CHAPTER HIT THIS YET... SO SPOILER ALERT... AS I'M TALKING ABOUT THE 1997 VERSION):

Nanaki is forty eight years young in FF7, yet his "grandfather" the floating bald man Bugenhagen tells you that he is just a teenager. He is a 48 year old Teenager in Final Fantasy 7... why? Because his life expectancy for his lion-dog fire-mammal tribe is something like 500 years.

Nanaki's fire-dogs have 500 years to bustle and hustle around this thing called life... so 48 is like nothing for him. He knows he's completed about 1% of his life, if he dies of natural causes, so he has 99% of his life in front of him this fire-thing. His teen-years are like 20 until 200.

You have to take this into account before expecting social values of members of a society... if the life expectancy of a society of people is much higher... their norms for age strata can differ greatly.

It should be noted before we move on that... the first world makes fun of the third world's behavior often... by thinking things like "oh they have like ten kids and stuff over in those poor countries" ... that's because they are living still with a Life Expectancy of about 50 years old. There's regions of Central Africa where you are expected to live until about 55 or less... so those people will have kids at 16 and more of them... as they are living in the first model presented above. People should think about that stuff before judging the behavior of a less privileged country, I think.

The Internet!

Let us move on to the second topic, which is greatly related to the first mind you, and conceptualize Today's Internet..

We have a society where life expectancy has doubled in the last century... which is amazing yet still uncharted waters.

We have a society totally connected via technology... which is amazing yet also friggin' scary as heck sometimes.

We have varying demographics of Age strata which are still carving out the norms of these layers because living twice as long is unprecedented in any society... and we currently have really no clue what means what anymore... and everyone is confused as to what is acceptable and what is not.

This is leading to what I would describe as "Bizarre Heat" as people are sharing ideas, jokes, and opinions that only five years ago would have been commendable and interesting... but now are seen as hallmarks of wronghood.

To top it all off... you can no longer avoid the technology of the times as we do our taxes, shopping, banking, and everything else on the internet... making it ubiquitous in our society. All of these factors are compounding into total confusion.

I still view the internet as "goofy" and I can't ever shake that opinion of the internet. Growing up as a teenager using the internet of 1995 and on ... I will never not regard it as "goofy." I forget we do our banking and everything on here... because to me... the internet will always be totally silly.

I grew up in an era... to put this into perspective... where if "ranks" and traffic stats existed... the NUMBER 1 viewed website on the internet in my teenage years... was "GOATSE". Please do not look up what that was. Please, don't. But yeah, if in like 2001 you had the rankings and ad stats for the internet... GOATSE would be BY FAR number one in those. That is horrifying but true.

My generation can never take the internet seriously, it just can't. I see the sandwiched demos around me not coming from that mindset. People younger than me but also people older than me... don't view the internet as sort of dumb. We have to remember the internet from like 1995 to 2005 was for geeks and mentally-deranged bozosteins ... and most old people were never on it.

So.... if you're like me... and are in the demo of 35 to 45... you know what I'm talking about. We can never take the internet seriously, we just can't. We lived through the GOATSE era of it and even if someone was holding us off a cliff and telling us to take the internet seriously... we still couldn't. We know the unfiltered insanity of the internet like the our own backyards.

People aged 35 to 45 currently have a totally different view of the internet than anyone else. We Get the internet. I'm not sure people 15-34 and 45+ get it in the same way we do.

I'm seeing "Bizarre Heat" every day now. I feel bad honestly when I see it because I know it's because it's two clashing Age Demos that have no idea what the other person is saying. One of the biggest mistakes of people on the internet is assuming everyone on it is in the same demo, race, economic strata, etc. as you are.

So.....

A professor from Harvard logs on and must think "Oh I shall meet like-minded fellows who wish to discuss the topics of our times, old chaps!"

A seventeen year old kid smoking dope and playing video games logs on and must think..."Yo I am gonna log onto the internet and talk about video games and call people funny names because that's what me and my friends do in real life and it is very funny and it is cool!"

Next thing you know these two people are ARGUING on social media and they are not even speaking the same language almost! Meanwhile... 35-45 demo (mine)... is reading this stuff and sort of laughing at it because the disconnect is amazing.

Did you guys read that Harper's letter thing? I think that Harper's letter is short sighted, the one where all the professor people condemn internet behavior, I think it was short sighted because... they have to realize that when they go on the internet to share opinions on social media...they are NOT gonna meet fellow emeritus fellows who in retirement want to discuss the matters of the age... no ... they are gonna meet dope-fiends, frat boys, kooks, and crazy people.

Similarly, a cool kid who wants to go online and meet other cool kids to make fun of Japanese Cartoons and talk about which violent video game is more violenter than other ones... isn't necessarily gonna meet like-minded people... they might get into an argument with the retired emeritus from Yale about the nature of violence in video games and repeatedly call the Yale professor multiple four-letter words.

That's the nature of the game... you will rarely meet like-minded people on the internet. Plus, I know that people in-between the young-world and the old-world ... who grew up with the ironic and insane internet era ... tend to fan the flames of these flame wars unbeknownst to either party... because they know both parties don't "get" it.

Recommendations

Personally, I think the Young World needs to lighten up on its narrow-minded views. You guys are only young once... and guess what... you're not Nanaki fire-dogs... you live for about 80 years... so if you spend your young, wilder, fun, saladder days... playing video games and arguing on the internet? You need to realize that you're never gonna be young twice, okay? Like, you can play video games and argue on the dumb internet when your back hurts more... you know? You can be running marathons and doing back flips... and things like that only in your youth... so you shouldn't waste it.

I mean if you're gonna "cancel" J.K. Rowling because she has the "SHOCKING" view that males usually have weiners and females usually have giners.... then... you need to give people some leeway you know... I mean, I can't in any sane way call her opinion offensive.... especially offensive enough to be "cancelled" forever.

Then again, I don't know why super-rich elite intellectual types can just saunter onto the internet and pretend they own the place, either. I mean, they have mansions and millions ... and they're gonna come on sites that are basically catered more to lower income people to mingle and entertain themselves (Twitter is FREE, guys!) .... and be shocked that somebody doesn't agree with something that probably won them favor in an elite institution. They have to understand that The Dumb Internet is not an elite intellectual institution, okay? The internet is NOT Harvard of Oxford... it's the World of Goatse.

I think elite millionaires, honestly, can live with a little "Bizarre Heat" that the changing demographics of society and technology is bringing forth. Being an elite millionaire is surprisingly not as hard a life as they probably think it is.

My main recommendation for the changing times basically applies to the new "16-25" student demographic. I feel they, out of any new demo, has had the weirdest time out of anyone. If you are 16 to 25 right now... I can assure you that you've dealt with more psychological nonsense than is average. You probably feel like fish in the weirdest fish tank in history. You are the first generation who's lived in the total Show-Biz era and the first generation who's lived in the complete internet era.

I feel sorry for many of the talented people in their twenties right now who are expected to be perfect in the eyes of everyone... the eyes of everyone who interacts with their social media profiles... the eyes of everyone in media.. .the eyes of everyone on earth almost.

In the 80-year long life expectancy era, to adhere social norms of etiquette to a 24 year old would be the equivalent of if in 1950 someone smeared mud on a child of the age of 10 for saying a bad word or talking too loud. Twenty four in the 80-year era is what? They're in the 30% mark of their lives?

The thing I think is the worst of the changing demographic era of humanity in these deeply technological times is the stifling of really talented young people who in their twenties have already been through the "mob rule" insanity of internet culture and have given up on really being trusting of others and continuing being fun and socially engaging with others.

People in the their twenties, now, have probably had more psychological warfare played out in their fragile minds than any previous generation. The mob-rule, hive-minded, reality of their social lives is not easy to cope with. This is not the internet I grew up with in my twenties which was a counter-culture movement in many ways... the internet of today is a shame-based exploitation-based enigma and just a total minefield.

If you're 24, and you have already had multiple mainstream news articles written about you and your minor misdeeds in great detail... you shouldn't be too hard on yourself, ok? Especially females... you have so much to contend with in an exploitation based society to begin with as females in the show-bizz era.

One example I was reading about was T. Blanchard in the wrestling world who's career is apparently over now even though she was considered one of the break-out female stars of the era. I'm reading this thinking this person is in their 30s probably and can handle heat and stuff because she's from the wrestling world... but she's 24... like in today's society that's almost a teenager still. How can she be out of wrestling already? For your promising career to be just cut-off at 24 in today's age? This is something I find that should be changed. I think young talented people in their twenties who have small misdeeds need to be forgiven much faster.

I think S. Guevara, another 25 year old from the wrestling world who looked like would be cut off forever handled his situation well. I think his "vlog" video which addressed his mishap was sincere and I think other twenty year olds can learn from that. I think people in their twenties deserves these "second chances" in the media world. It's too hard to ask someone that young to already be perfectly politically correct.

In the cases of Blanchard and Guevara... to end the careers of people so talented at such a young age... is really something new to our society... and not in a good way.

One that I find so baffling was a Forbes article about an artist, not even really a super famous person in this case, but I guess known-enough to get their lives dissected on Forbes and other mainstream sources. She apparently drew female versions of gay-male characters from a "gay dating simulator" game. I mean, even myself as a Mr. Inbetween in the world of young and old... I could barely even understand the language used in this article or where the "Bizarre Heat" came from. Apparently one of the female versions of these gay-characters was over weight and that led to bizarre internet heat? I am going to just admit being Really Old here... I can't really grasp youth culture anymore to be honest.

I think the mainstream press needs to be cognizant of the age of the person they are writing about. That artist person seems to be quite young in that case. A shy twenty year old on the internet cannot comprehend why the mainstream world is talking about them. I mean I would give, honestly, in today's adjusted demographic stratas for Age in a 80-year life expectancy society... a great deal of thought as to the mental state of a person in their early twenties.... and not hold them to the same standards. Especially if they are not A-listers making millions of dollars... do they need their bizarre internet heat broadcast to the mainstream world?

I'm not really sure what mental things this total Show-Bizzed out, 24-7 media society is creating for people who have never lived in the pre-internet era. I don't believe a 24 year old person can come out of an extreme-vetting or extreme-mob-shame scenario as being a normal, adjusted, trusting-of-others, social creature.

Out of all the New Age Demographics our society is creating, I think 100% that 16 to 25 is going through things that no other young person in any other age had to deal with mentally. I think the young stars like Lohan, and Bieber, etc... were too young to be famous. Now, with that Forbes article about the artist for example, you don't even need to be a millionaire A-list celebrity to have the full media shlock treatment. If you're in that age group now you're basically living in a 24-7 media show-biz world.... it's weird.

I remember in my younger years people my age would make fun of the teenie-bopper celebs if you weren't a teenager anymore... now I feel bad for those kids now... like the total fish-bowlism the average Bieber probably lived through has got to be insane.

Alright so let's summarize-up my recommendations for these NEW 80-YEAR DEMO of AGE STRATAS for INTERNET USERS!

1-14: You're a Kid

You're a kid, you should never go on the internet, when you start using it your parents should install those programs where you can only like watch cartoons and stuff. The internet is a disgusting tapestry of un-ending nonsense and you should avoid it at all cost.

15-20: You're a Student

Share your ideas and opinions and stuff... make a youtube and get paid to like rate various onion dips for chips or something...

20- 27: Young Adult

Alright so you've been to school for a year or two and you know you've seen it all, in daddy's car thinkin' you'll go far but back east yer type don't crawl!

If you have a talent and want the whole world to know about it, the internet is a great place, but remember that it's a weird-ass dog-eat-rat world out there and your mistakes and misdeeds will be magnified beyond any level you could ever imagine.

That song "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics should be a staple in your learning diet at this age. That song is soooo true it's not even funny.

You're starting to go through the ringer a bit but keep your head up, ok? In the 80 Life Expectancy World remember you're still at like 30% of your journey. You don't know everything like you think you do... but fortunately you deserve second, or even third chances.

27- 45:

You grew up in the GOATSE internet and are a lost cause. Sorry, dude, our internet was so weird and no one ever made money with it... and it deeply ruined our minds and made us unrecoverably cynical and sarcastic ... but in the weirdest way... we still love it so much.

45 - 65:

You may have been on the GOATSE era of internet, but you were probably too cool and normal for it so you didn't live through the weird-ass times with us. You're on the internet now though and can't comprehend why the person on the other line isn't a retired professor like you who wants to talk about deep topics.... sadly, you must realize that many many internet users have no idea who you are even if you were famous like only 10 years ago.

65+

If you know how to use the internet, then you are already more technologically advanced than many of your age-mates.

Okay, that's it for today.