To Wander, Not Search.

I wanted to approach this task as effectively as possible. The intent was to wander aimlessly the internet embodying the persona of a flâneur. To begin on one side of the internet and end on another. I felt that if I were to begin a google search of something, I had been curious about, I would not have a similar experience as a cyberfâlneur. Remember, wonder with no end goal other than to explore.

I sat in my darkroom scanning the premise for something to inspire me. It is difficult to just search without a cause. This kind of searching has been stripped from the norm; my generation was trained from a very early age to search when we want to know something. Not for the pleasure of just searching.

In my room, there is a fish tank. The filter for this tank sounds very similar to a waterfall. I had finally found something worth wondering for. The first couple of results were very similar to each other, all blog posts of the best waterfalls in the world. I found a trend in the number of waterfalls reported. It appears the audience to these blogs prefers things in 10’s. I was ultimately hesitant to click on any of these blogs. I find them to be confrontative to disconnecting to the outside world. A well-known YouTuber Cody Ko describes much of this content as FART content. Fuck Around, Relax and Travel. This plays into the phenomenon of daydreaming and envying the lives of many others instead of pursuing your own. Ultimately, I avoid this manipulation and click on the only link that is far from this matter. I end up reading about a waterfall’s symbolism.

All cultures have their own interpretation of the waterfall. This gist is: water is one of the four elements that provide us with life on this planet. In fact, it’s the element that breeds life and evolution. Which many cultures concluded, is associated with continuous creation and renewal. After finishing up this article, I click on the next suggested reading. How waterfalls are made.

The formation of a waterfall is rather quite simple; I found it plays a vital role in its own symbolism. Water is a powerful force that moves across land mass eroding softer rock and separating it from harder elements. The unsupported rock falls and leaves an overhang for the water to flow off of and into a pool of fallen earth. This is associated with evolution and change over time. Bits and pieces of the land are molded by water to create a new landform, greater than the last. Through destruction and trial births a grand formation.

As my wondering continued, I found many articles on the meaning of certain topics. I don’t see this coincidental. Humans are constantly searching for understanding, for comprehension. Perhaps even on topics, we are not meant to understand. The demand for this content is predictably high. Mankind wants to make sense of things, of everything. Even generational differences.

My next journey led me to a quiz that categorizes you into different generational groups. I know which one I am meant to belong to. Gen. Z, the generation right after millennials. I suppose I was curious which generation I truly belonged to, despite my birth year. I am sure this is due to my generation tendencies to revive the past. Truthfully, I am relieved I am not labeled a millennial, but I am not sure If Gen Z satisfies me either. I take the quiz, searching for affirmation.

This isn’t the first time I have taken this sort of quiz. It’s a common trend, individuals searching for answers instead of concluding their own. I am asked pretty obvious questions. That wouldn’t take much to write up myself. I sense I am getting to the end of the quiz when the final advertisement pops up and ruins my quiz. It forces me to start over and if this wasn’t my first rodeo perhaps I would of. I have learned from my mistakes, I know it’ll happen again. Just like it did on all the other absurd quizzes I have taken. I guess I will never know.

That is their goal. To keep us from knowing. As soon as we get our answers we’re on to the next item. From a marketing standpoint, they will do whatever it takes to keep us there. To feed us more ads, to make more of a profit. But now I know, and I am too, on to the next item.