How We Respond to the Latest Generation of Media — An Introduction

Can you tell that I like poorly-Photoshopped collages?

Since this is an intro to a series of five essays that I’ve worked on for about fifteen weeks, there’s a temptation to spout wisdom I’ve gathered over long nights or wax philosophical about the nature of life that I’ve somehow uncovered at my laptop.

So I’m not gonna do that. I’m just a jaded twenty-one-year-old writer with a penchant for long, rambling essays about strange topics that end up in even stranger places. I don’t really have the authority to declare anything.

What I do have are essays that I cared a lot about for a long time that I desperately want to share with the rapidly-changing world. Essays that talk about media, including video games and memes, and their unceasing cultural impact on all of us — even those of us that don’t play any games or glance at the occasional spicy meme and couldn’t care less.

That’s kind of a lot to drop on a burgeoning audience right off the bat, so I apologize.

Now I’m immediately going to revoke my apology, because honey, you’ve got a big storm coming.

Let’s talk about nostalgia and its impact on individual and cultural identity. Let’s talk about Fortnite and the feedback loop of “kid culture” versus cringe culture. Let’s talk about profanity and increasing censorship in games and streams, let’s talk about the lasting impact of GamerGate on the personal level, let’s talk about Meme Review and the decreasing lifetime of memes.

Let’s find out, together, why any of this matters — or if it should matter at all.

And maybe take some breaks to play a game or two. I know I’m going to need one.