A Slacker/Gen X Thesis On Lo-Fi Media And Pandemic

A Slacker/Gen X Thesis On Lo-Fi Media And Pandemic March 23, 2020
All of our curve-flattening and social distancing and use of new distributed media will mainstream lo-fi sensibilities. All of a sudden the Willie Nelson charity concert with expensive production values shifts to video-cam from the basements of artists in Nashville, no one is going to the movies, and everyone is on Zoom.
 
Embrace this moment. Make your mix tapes. Get your DIY on. Bust out the skiffle records. Punk your worship streaming. The high fidelity snobs have to stay home too.
 
Be yourself in all your analog warmth. That weird background buzz you can’t get rid of on your livestream. That’s just the hiss of a cassette tape. Got some videographer interference (like literally, a finger over the camera?) Call them intentional imperfections.
 
Remember, Marshall McLuhan did NOT say the medium is the “message.” He said the medium is the “massage.” A good massage can do wonders for the body. Makes you feel what’s there, really experience it.
 
So too with all our shifts to differently-mediated community. Lo-fi doesn’t get in the way, it’s not a problem. Quite the opposite, it’s a reminder there’s a “there” there, our media as extensions of our messy selves.
Do a rough job of it.

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