The internet is all porn and you might not even realize it
You may have not realized it but the 2 hours you just spent scrolling up and down Facebook was more than likely 2 hours spent looking at porn.
What?! Yes. Let’s begin with some etymology.
There’s a very important difference between pornography and porn. Looking at the dictionary definition of the former, it says:
por·nog·ra·phy
pôrˈnäɡrəfē/
printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.
For the sake of where this is going, let’s look past the fact that it’s got to involve literal sex, we realize a much more important aspect to it: It’s meant to “stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.”
That “rather” is crucial. Pornography isn’t meant to be both sexy and intelligent, it’s made to be so purely sexual that it’s only purpose is to arouse and leave you otherwise intellectually void. That contrasting conjunction is so powerful that it brought about a second definition for word “porn” and it’s defined as:
porn
/pôrn/
television programs, magazine, books, etc. that are regarded as emphasizing the sensuous or sensational aspects of a nonsexual subject and stimulating a compulsive interest in their audience.
By that definition, it’s abundantly clear why the internet is pretty much entirely porn at this point. There’s an obsession with sensationalization and titillation from both the average person and the big media houses. News outlets write bold, sensationalist headlines backed by little to no research or value. On the other hand, social media is almost exclusively pictures of people in beautiful places (destination porn), exercising at sunset (exercise porn), or eating beautiful things (food porn) being shared to the entire world just to illicit likes and comments. Even the “news” is increasingly becoming a pile of amateur videos documenting violence (disaster porn).
Of course indulging in such things from time to time is not necessarily terrible, but this phenomenon has become an epidemic. We’ve sunk ourselves so deep into a time-starved culture that the only way we can get each other’s attention is by prying out the ooh’s and aah’s (enunciate with a level of perversion to your choosing).
What helps solidify this use of the word porn are similarities between articles on how Facebook is depressing and how pornography can cause depression. Of course, the studies featured in both of those articles are on-going, so scientifically we can’t draw to hard a conclusion but we do see noteworthy patterns. Both make you want to keep returning for more because they promise enjoyment, but really you end up feeling less satisfied than when you started. Both have symptoms of creating anti-social tendencies and preferring the digital counterpart to the real thing. Both are totally unrealistic interpretations of their respective real life version (read this chilling article about this runner in UPenn and how she faked her life through Instagram).
“But I think there’s value in taking beautiful photos and sharing them!”
-Distraught Instagrammer
There is of course value in taking a good photo and sharing it — but that’s not really what’s happening here. If it’s truly made out to be art, then people would try and iterate on it and try to add some creative expression. Generally the same crap is being redone, as-is no less, then being shared for some form of social validation.
It’s not all bad of course. Some of the porn categories, such as product porn and food porn, can be used to great effect as an article header for a review or recipe. Tech vlogger, MKBHD, and foodie group, ChefSteps, are great examples of people that took advantage of this trend to lure people in and then offer genuinely useful information in the process.
The argument here isn’t being done pointedly against hipsters that send out pictures exclusively of the happy moments of their day. It wouldn’t be so obnoxious if they’re at least putting in the location of where to find that amazing burger, or provide a how-to guide on their latest furniture hack. The argument is against the need to show people something that’s not particularly actionable or thought-provoking beyond the desire to want it.
This porn is the equivalent of the difference between you saying something stupid like “something is the best” and a valid statement like “something is the best because <insert reason>.” Posting porn is akin to the former and if we consider a picture worth a thousand words, then you just said a thousand stupid things.
