Gone in a Fortnite: The Rise of Junk Culture

Human Chimp receives Bright and Shiny Object

A 13 year old kid wins a Fortnite Cup after spending entire half of his waking life for the last two years playing on line. Think about that. In his room, passing the day and evening along with 150 million others virtually running around in circles. My modest opinion on this?

We are all doomed.

In the past spending eight hours a day doing anything meant you were doing something that assuredly made you healthier, wealthier, or wise. In 1955, spending most of your day playing ball, practicing piano, socializing with friends, or just thinking about the universe got you somewhere. Now the only thing our entertainments provide is good muscle memory. Meanwhile, social skills, intellect, and muscle mass rot, literacy falls, obesity rises, and our body politic is expressed on twitter feeds. This is beyond argument, just follow the trend lines and it is easy to see how our society is barreling off a cliff.

Fortnite for Hamsters

Before the industrial revolution, the concern of our ancestors was the lack of calories, now our concern is with empty calories. For culture, the trend is the same. I guess we are chimps after all, with evolved brains that allow us to understand the world when not otherwise distracted by bright and shiny objects, which are getting brighter and shinier by the hour.