Joy Doesn’t Always Need an Audience
The hype of the awesome show of Backstreet Boys in Vegas makes me thinking that the return of 90s singers and boybands might be happening because they finally have time to focus on music again. And their fans? Many of us finally have the time to enjoy it too. At least, that’s how it is for me. My daughter is grown up and has her own things going on now. That means I can go out with friends, go on vacation, and even attend concerts again. And maybe, this season of my lives is the perfect time for rediscovering the things I used to love.
Speaking of concerts, I went to see Bruno Mars in Jakarta last year with my daughter. The venue was completely full. I had festival tickets, so we had to queue for hours before getting in. And even after we got inside, we still had to wait another hour or two before the show started. After all that standing and waiting, the moment he came on stage, everyone around me pulled out their phones and started recording. Not just short clips, they recorded almost the entire show.
I’m short, but I had actually managed to get a really good spot close to the stage. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see much because of all the phones in the air. I ended up watching most of the show on the jumbotron. Bruno even asked the audience to enjoy the moment. He posed for us and then kindly asked us to put our phones down and enjoy the show. But of course, many people kept filming.
Honestly, if you’re going to watch the whole concert through your phone screen, you might as well stay at home and watch it on YouTube, right?
The upside was, since everyone around me was so focused on filming and not moving much, I had plenty of space to dance. I was the only one dancing and enjoying myself, and because no one wanted their video to wobble, they gave me space. So that worked out well for me, haha.
Even my daughter had her phone up the whole time. I had to nudge her once in a while to stop and dance with me. I am pretty sure I was the only one dancing in our area (as you can see the in this clip). And also, Bruno Mars was awesome!!!
Nowadays, it seems like everything has to be turned into content. And it’s not just about live shows. That pressure to post the perfect moment in social media shows up in the smallest parts of life too… I still have so many photos from last year that I haven’t posted yet, just because I feel like I need to curate them first. And by the time I get around to it, the moment already feels like it’s passed.
It’s the same with blogging. I used to just write and hit publish. Now, I worry that I might accidentally offend someone and end up facing the wrath of the internet. So, I write… and then I save it as a draft.
Even with social media, there seems to be so much strategy behind it. I just post what I like, in the moment. But my daughter told me that it actually matters when you post, who likes your posts, and who views your stories. Omaigat! All these extra layers make me hesitate even more to post anything.
What I’m trying to say is, with how fast technology is moving and how strong the pressure is to always be online and visible, sometimes we forget to just enjoy the present moment. We get too caught up thinking about what others might say or think. And maybe, one of the best parts of growing older is realizing that joy doesn’t have to be posted to be real. Sometimes, it just needs to be lived.
One Comment