Always Connected. Always Alone.
When thinking about metamodernism – what it is, how one recognises it – I wrote down some notes on modernism and postmodernism. Along with thinking of the time spans and a few cultural influences, I wanted to come up with a pithy sentence on each of the eras. This is what I wrote.
Modernism – The Industrial Revolution to WW2
‘Always moving forward’
Steam Engines
Industrial Revolution
Newspapers
Talkies
Movies
Sci-fi: Metropolis Metropolis: The Enduring Legacy of a Pop Modernist Dystopia
Postmodernism – WW2 to September 11, 2001
‘Always watching passively as the future ends’
WW2
Nuclear War
Television
Sci-fi: Blade Runner Ramble City: Postmodernism and Blade Runner
Metamodernism- September 11th-Now
‘Always connected. Always alone.’
24 hours news
The World Wide Web
Smart Phones
YouTube
TikTok
Podcasts
Social Media
Sci-fi: Don’t Look Up In Defense of Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up: A Metamodern Reading
I thought ‘Always Connected. Always alone.’ was very descriptive of the metamodern condition and also contains the ‘both-neither-ness’ of metamodernism.
I used it to make an image in the infrathin…
