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The Cyber Wave Manifesto
The Cyber Wave is a digital publication tracking cyberculture. Our perspectives are informed by being raised through the Digital Age. Millennials and kids of Generation Z are fully aware of our perceived ineptitude: we are narcissistic, lazy, entitled, delusional, coddled (& that’s just from the first paragraph of a Times article). Yet, might these traits be adaptations to a world undergoing rapid technological change? In spite of the wealth of negative consequences of growing up digital, we (millennials & gen z) have forged online communities based on our niche interests, facilitating an explosion of digital creation and communication. Where would YouTube be without its troops of amateur vloggers, or Instagram without its legions of selfie-obsessed Kim-K wannabees, or Facebook without its sorority girls who post way too many frat party pics? We are the drivers of digital disruption, the creators and purveyors of the most important paradigm shift since the Industrial Revolution. As Cyber Girls in 2015, we seek to observe, record, and commentate cyberculture. How does cyberculture affect traditional media platforms, cultural norms, gender and sexuality, race, education, our economy, art, our psychological and physiological well-being? We don’t know yet. And that’s what we want to figure out.
- Laura
- Asia
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@charliexbarker
560k followers
CYBER GIRLS FIELD GUIDE Girls of the Internet Generation have built a global youth subculture through the collective wisdom of Tumblr & Instagram users. Perhaps their behavior poses a larger question: is our technology creating vapid self-indulgence or democratized artistry?
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AESTHETICS Various publications have lampooned cyber aesthetics in defining them as fleeting trends created by a valueless generation. Health goth arose to kill seapunk; normcore arose to kill health goth; vaporwave arose to kill normcore...and on and on. How can any of these aesthetics stand for something if they rise and fall in such rapid succession? But, doesn’t cyber’s absence of meaning mean something? Cyber youth are products of modern consumer culture. They can’t adopt grunge or punk anti-establishment attitudes because their identities are constructed by their relation to consumerism. Welcome to the future.
KAWAII
SOFT GRUNGE
Kawaii is a key facet of Japanese pop culture. Thanks to the internet, Kawaii has become a global trend and an i n fl u e n t i a l f o r c e i n t h e development of cyber aesthetics.
HEALTH GOTH
Originating from Portland pop duo Magic Fades in 2013, the Health Goth aesthetic fixates on futuristic monochrome sportswear, transhumanism, and net art. Health goth is not a lifestyle, nor is it a musical genre — it’s a visual aesthetic rooted in cyber culture epistemology.
2012: Tumblr erupts over Azaelia Banks’ take on seapunk. Was Rihanna’s seapunkinfluenced SNL performance of “Diamonds” the death of seapunk or the birth of vaporwave?
2014: Forever21 rolls out wannabe Health Goth apparel.
An outgrowth of the collective teen angst of Tumblr, soft grunge is a 21st century spin on 90’s grunge. Since its inception in 2010, it’s been ripped apart by cultural critics for commercializing grunge, which is fundamentally anti-consumer-culture.
NORMCORE
First dissected by K-Hole in 2013, Normcore rejects the over-saturation of the modern marketplace in adopting a plain unisex style.
SEAPUNK
Seapunk surfaced in 2011 as a part-music, part-fashion, partlifestyle trend. Its green and blue pastel-bathed imagery fuses oceanic elements with retro 90’s tech.
VAPORWAVE
A music genre and visual aesthetic that gained prominence in 2014, vaporwave is a dystopian interpretation of capitalism. It commonly features classical sculpture, 90’s web design, pinks, purples, blues, and Japanese script.
2015: The Year of Hilary Duff’s comeback. Her music video for “Sparks” features vaporwave-like production design.
NEXT MONTH:
FUCCBOI GUIDE
M a s s M e d i a ’ s Attempts to be CYBER 2014: Kylie Jenner — the reigning Teen Queen of Basic Bitches — debuts pastel hair, thereby killing soft grunge.
2014: Amid a press coverage storm striving to comprehend Normcore, GAP releases the “Dress Normal” campaign, aiming to position themselves as the original Normcore brand.
- Laura
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My 1st day of school my daddy was there in his Fila track suit Not sure why Kanye & I are up so early but we’re eating cereal & I’m showing him all of your sweet birthday messages. I don’t remember posting these Jerusalem pix. This was where Mary took Jesus 2wash him off after he died on the cross Locked inside a bedroom at Motel 6 blasting Madonna Erotica on repeat &rolling around in a Prada bodysuit at 2am Double date at the Waffle House Then we danced all night in the rain
- Alex
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- Asia
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maybe the internet raised us A youth subculture has risen from the edges of cyberspace. Young adults raised on Tumblr have, over the last few years, constructed an aesthetic that merges digital and IRL culture, which we’re calling “cyber.” The Cyber Girl is the alternative cooler sister to the uggswearing-Starbucks-obsessed Basic Bitch. She maintains a calculated online presence, but does so with an ironic finesse as if she doesn’t care. She worships Tavi Gevinson and follows Petra Collins. She has a compulsive catchword like ‘dope’ and shortens very to ‘v.’ She wears boyfriend jeans, thrifted tees, and dyed her hair blue-gray last week. She crouches next to a graffitied wall, posing for an unfiltered Instagram selfie. She shifts her pose, adjusts the laces of her white Adidas originals, and pouts her lips--striving to take the perfectly imperfect selfie. A couple of years ago, I began noticing an increasing number of girls on instagram with curated feeds chock-full of pastel colors and Tumblr-inspired fashion. With follower bases from 5k to 500k, these girls knew how to build an audience through instinct alone. Each girl had created a personal gallery of
Web 1.0
1990
coolness. What intrigued me was that these ‘popular’ girls were not the Regina Georges ruling suburban high schools across Middle America, nor were they adopting fads fabricated by a team at Te e n Vo g u e . T h e y h a d b u i l t a trendsetting infrastructure in the digital realm, independent of mass media control. This isn’t new news. Youth subcultures, from Beatniks to Punks to Emos, have operated in opposition to mainstream culture for decades. What’s remarkable about Cyber as a subculture is not necessarily its content or message but the means by which it emanates. The Internet. Smartphones. Apps. The Cloud. Social Media. Web 3.0 is here and it’s ruled by teenagers.
Web 3.0 is here & it’s ruled by teenagers. Most Cyber Youth I know were born after 1990. I think that the maturation of two radical technologies during their childhood has had a profound impact on their development: 1) the internet and 2) cable television. 1) Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. When Mosaic, one of the first web browsers, went public in 1993, internet growth exploded. In 1995, 16 million people had internet
Web 2.0
Information
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Participation
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access. By 1999, 250 million. We know the dot-com boom story and so on and so forth. But, what about the kids born during this revolution? What does it mean to know only of a world ruled by Microsoft and Google and later, Facebook? A world of instant gratification. As a kid of Generation Z, I can offer little insight, here. Although, I can say I have no idea who I would be without the internet.
2) Critics have equated the expansion of the TV market with the debasement of American culture. However true that may be, TV’s complex role in the shaping of post-postmodern consciousness cannot be underestimated. Our need to tune in says something about the human need for stimulation, the fear of being alone, the desire to connect. TV targets our instincts. The 1990’s saw a surge in cable television, leading to nichification of networks and content. Most significant, here, is the advent of kids programming based networks. For the first time, networks like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel were providing 24/hr access to content programmed exclusively for children. Plus, innumerable advertisements targeting kids. As a result, kids developed complex and dynamic relationships with brands.
So, what did the internet + cable tv create?
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An endless media consumption loop. Young adults are hardwired to flit from medium to medium, perpetually seeking stimulation. Yet, youth are no longer accepting mainstream content as passive drones. Long-respected brands are losing traction amongst youth: Viacom (MTV, Nickelodeon) suffers from audience erosion; Abercrombie & Fitch faces bankruptcy if they don’t acknowledge that 2004 polos are no longer in style; live-TV ratings are at record lows, thanks to young cordcutters and the proliferation of TV everywhere. What are brands doing wrong? Today’s youth are so attuned to the mechanics of advertising, having spent innumerable hours glued to screens, that they know when a brand is trying to sell them something. And it feels inauthentic. If subcultures are a subversive response to mainstream culture, then cyber is a response to our oversaturated media landscape. Cyber Youth reject brands. They are entrepreneurial. They make their own content. They set their own rules. Cyber Youth are brands themselves.
Portable
- Laura