Holy shit and I thought millennials and Gen X had it bad with how corporate our toys were.
I hate to be that person that's like "omg what kids like these days is poisoning them!" Especially because I come from the Mortal Kombat generation, but between Mr Beast, social media and shit like Roblox turning every hobby into a hussle I have to wonder what effect this will have on them.
Capitalism preying on kids was bad enough when I was a kid in the 90s and 00s (and from what I've seen from 80s cartoons, the generation before mine was pretty bad too), but it's a whole other level now.
Collapse is hitting hard and is only going to get worse though, so it is possible they'll go left.
I'm unconcerned. Influencers can only exist because of cheap energy - as climate change gets worse and fossil fuel resources get tighter and trade becomes decoupled the entire influencer "profession" will evaporate. No one is going to be watching Mr Beast when their power is intermittent and they need to work 14 hours a day driving for Uber.
What if those Uber drivers have "complimentary" slop constantly flowing into their maybe-rented-at-that-economic-point from influencers that have partnership deals with Uber, as a sort of "LinkedIn" with even more grifting?
The slop isn't for Uber drivers, it's for the people sending ride requests. The drivers get to go home to their single bedroom apartment with six room-mates and try to catch some sleep between their other job at Amazon.
That's what I was getting at because I already see it happening on some Lyft rides that I've taken: some deal where the driver is compelled to feel it is a bargain to stream
trash to the passenger during the ride from a screen affixed to the rear of the front seat.
Well it wasn't specifically
yet but it was a lot of bazinga brainworms I didn't ask for and didn't want.
Aha! Checkmate, fake liberal! You've participated in society, and can't critique it any longer!