A Mediated Existence
I’m primarily familiar with Thomas De Zengotita from his contributions to Harper’s Magazine. Salon conducted an interview with him about his new book, Mediated,
which I will likely pick up in a few weeks (I think that his central
argument is that we live in a world where everything we do is
performative; every act is full of self-consciousness). I found
this particular question and answer interesting:
section on “adultolescents” — and they’re also called “twixters” now,
I think — the people who drift around deep into their 20s, the people
who want to keep their options open at all costs. But the decision to
grow up is also an artificial one in the mediated world; it becomes a
decision just to be “busy, busy” and to naturalize our little
performances. So again, no way out of this dilemma?
Well, you decide.
That’s your demographic. But of course “deciding” is the problem
itself! Pretty soon, you’ll come to a point and say, “I can’t take this
any more,” living like a piece of flotsam, floating around in a sea of
options, and you’ll get married, or make some other commitment. Even
though it feels arbitrary, you’ll get scared enough to do it. Because
you’ll realize that nothing’s going to happen to do it for you or to
you. No puberty, no ritual moment when all the elders of the tribe
gather around you and slice your penis up the middle or something like
that to convince you that you’ve grown up. You just have to do it
yourself. Grow up, I mean.