Why I reject the cultural climate

In conversation today ( a real one too, none of that text/email/facebook/ whats app &c malarkey) we got talking about the culture of today (Don't I always end up talking about culture?) and how if we don't have the latest smart phone, twitter, facebook, &c, we are deemed to be some alien sub-species that people read about in very old history books.

 

I was lucky enough to be born in an age before Internet even existed. I used to play outside, in the sun! If it was snowing, I threw snowballs! I knew my neighbours and most of them were my auntie!

 

Unfortunately I chose to write as an expression of my art and seemingly to get 'stuff' out 'there' you need social networking sites to push yourself forward. Saying that I try to follow the cultural climate as little as possible.

 

Talking heads telling us what 'art' is, how to dress, what phone, what laptop, what to eat, drink, think! We're walking blindly down a slippery slope to Orwell's '1984' and it is the minority that are rebelling against it.

 

I have an old Nokia that doesn't even have a camera, I do have an Ipod, but it is ancient and very handy for the gym. I have a P.C. but not an Ipad. There are certain things we 'need' which has meant when essential, I have moved with the times, but in the main I always keep in mind this analogy:

 

If I'm stranded on a desert island, do I really care if I have the latest brand phone, designer clothes, poshest house, eye wateringly expensive car, or any other frippery. I reject this materialist culture with a passion and if people want to get snarky about it, who cares, my kids are on a collision course for the pain of materialistic greed, someone has to take a stand and it may as well start with me!