Social media has redesigned what cool means. At least that is what I see when I venture into those spaces. All of these kids calling themselves social media influencers or whatever… They are selling a brand that they think is cool or fashionable and the younger kids see that… …and want to do that to…

Whether it is a tik tok trend or some reel on the book of faces or a video short on the tube of you. The person making or watching the media seems to think it is cool, hip, totes adorbs, whatever the youth slang is of the day… No dissent here with their cool. I just find it all amusing.

Is that my Gen X sarcasm or is I just too old to care about algorithms on social media? If you saw my algorithm on the book of faces it contains many Gen X influencers as I find their humor far more relatable… or something musical… birds of feather… I guess. Well to answer the question, probably a little of both.

My culture of cool in my teens and twenties is extinct. Since all of my teens and most of my twenties was devoid of technology and viral memes of any kind. Our/my values back then were completely different. In my hometown it was cool to buy the hottest tape from the Sam Goody and play it in your sports car or truck and cruise down first avenue with the windows down trying to look cool for the girls or the boys (whatever the passion.) I remember two Van Halen albums that were all the rage during the summers of 84 and 86. One was 1984 and the other was 5150. Yes, my cool nerdness cruised the street before my graveyard shift at the Shell Station in my 1979 Chrysler Lebaron a few times playing both of these albums.

It was also cool to take a road trip and drive to that location without a shirt on. Just shorts or pants and shoes… If we passed some cute girls on the road we gave a peace sign and turned the stereo up. We played Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Miller Band, Guns and Roses, Poison, or some other hot band of the time. Glasses, long hair, shirt off, skinny white boy, self deprecating nerd coolness all the way!!! I was just missing cowboy boots…

When I was in high school it was cool to rebel against the establishment. We had a lot of students at the high school that would smoke between classes on the S curve to the East of the building. They thought they were cool… Skipping class, specifically study hall, was easy to do. If we couldn’t get a library pass, or a pass to the music building, sometimes we would just take a walk over to the Island park to the North of Campus and be bums… It was different… It was an adventure… it was cool…

Back in the late 1980’s the mullet hairstyle really became a way of life. If you could feather your bangs to the side, you were rock n roll cool. The girls even poofed up their hair with Aqua Net Hair Spray. They were cool!!! Where a rock band t-shirt and some faded or acid wash jeans with some homemade rips, and we were cool. Or in this case, I am wearing a suit. One of three surviving photographs of that mullet. I was cool there for about 30 seconds!

Once we turned eighteen and we didn’t have to follow a curfew, it wasn’t uncommon to find a friend who did not have his parents home and we would hold a low key party… There was always a friend to get the beer or liquor. Lots of pandering and canoodling went along with that party… It was cool… …as long as we avoided detection.

It didn’t matter what group of friends you had in school. There was always room for a form of coolness. Like the movie The Breakfast Club we all found ways to be cool or to be liked by others for who we were. There was some bullying, but most of the time we were all just trying to survive our teenage years. It all seems so innocent. It was a simpler time, and we had way too much freedom. That freedom though taught us how to be responsible for ourselves. No one was supposed to get hurt or get busted for that matter. We were cool…

Now the culture of cool is all electronic. Snapchat streaks, followers, trending, hash tags, and short videos that Ray Bradbury predicted in his book, Fahrenheit 451. The cell phone is an accessory of style, rather than a functional device for communicating. Preteens follow make up advice from influencers so they can look older. They buy products they endorse on their page. The video has become commodity of self. It is a form of human trafficking in a way, but for the voyeur.

I can’t really understand how the younger generations feel so down about themselves over the number of likes on a post. It isn’t rocket science. It is voyeurism as commodity. Why does this culture of cool even exist? Why make oneself a character on a video screen? Is this the new MTV?

I prefer the content creators that actually make content that helps people. The political action commentators that explain the budget of the USA, or poking holes in propaganda. The men and women who use social media to search for the missing, or cleaning of a waterway, roadway, park etc…. Content creators that focus on music, art, and film. Finally the creators who disseminate actual research that explains the behavior around us. For me, this is a better form of content than the two dimensional voyeurism and capitalistic narcissism… …is it really that cool?

Yes, I am being a bit nostalgic for the simpler time. An analog life was so much richer than the digital one. I would rather have a conversation with friends over coffee than use social media. I would rather listen to the side of an album on my stereo than stream it on Spotify. I don’t need AI to create anything. I have the skills to create something out of nothing, because I learned how to use my imagination to create my culture of cool.

Was everything better back when I was younger? No, not by a long shot. There was lots of work and struggle. Long hours for minimum wage, graveyard shifts, no weekends, lots of two and three job summers. When we decided to have fun, we had fun together. I don’t see that from the kids as much anymore, but maybe that is from me being comfortable at home by myself without the distractions of the economy… …I don’t see that cool…

I just know the culture of coolness is way different for the younger generations. Speaking of coolness, I was driving through a few neighborhoods of some middle class communities within Iowa. The subdivisions that I drove through (for geocaching btw) were all the same house, but different colors. Rows and rows of homes in the $200-300K range. The people walking outdoors were all caucasian. They wore similar outfits, cotton fabrics, soft colors, and form fitting. The dogs they were walking were doodles or small toy breeds. It was very ordinary. There is nothing cool about suburban ordinary. It reminded me of the movie Pleasantville, but these folks sure seemed to think it was cool.

Now what is far cooler is an old neighborhood with great diversity. Restaurants, movie theaters, small stores, and people from all walks of life living their best life in buildings and homes that are all unique or historic in some consequence. Sure, there may be some crime nearby, but it all depends on the people who live there. What will they tolerate? That is cool. I have lived that suburban or rural suburban existence… It is mind numbing. Living in a completely rural area (neighbors 3 miles away) or in the city in an old section of town is way more interesting. You have to use your imagination or just appreciate the environment for all of its beauty… That is cool… That is my neighborhood of coolness… Maybe we need some social media influencers to rave about the classic neighborhoods versus the new model home HOA sameness… Whatever the case… Each generation has their own culture of cool… Mine is definitely nerdy old school cool… …and I am okay with that…

Now I want to listen to Van Halen…. …so it goes…