Online Talk by Keath Ósk

Well, I think more people are living within the virtual world rather than in real life. Like I think that's a good percentage of the world at the moment. And we're just not hearing a lot about people who are detached because, yeah, no, no, they are not online. It's still so baffling to me that there is no subject in school or like a mandatory subject for a lot of really young people to go through, to be able to navigate the virtual world. And I think that needs to be there. And it genuinely feels like living in a black mirror episode right now. I am really, really confused because I know I grew up with a lot of really good memories online. And it felt safer despite there being less, but I guess that's the thing. The internet used to be a place where the nerds reside and it's a safe space for people who can't have a community outside of it. But after COVID, everything just kind of exploded. And I guess I want to find my words. I suppose it's a constant thing being so exposed to the world or like a wider audience because this is my job. My job is to have an audience. And I've always kind of imagined it that if I were to pursue being a performer, ideally I would just be someone who busks and it gets hired from venues and lend my voice and search and have a community in person. I never imagined myself to be so engrossed within the world of the internet. Imagine the internet for me growing up is just, I have a special interest and I've taken this game and this community and I like to watch videos and so on and so forth. But everything important is within the real world, right? But within this job and how being a musician has become is that you kind of really just have to sell yourself online. And that's where the main market is. Like yes, thousands of people are rocking up to your shows. But you still have to advertise it online because that is where most people are looking. Like no one's posting up posters on the streets and and minding the posters and the bus stops. Like it's so surreal to me and it is very convenient for a lot of big companies. But within the world underneath them, it just feels so polluted. And everyone's just gotten so mean. Like this generation is the meanest of everything. And I grew up, I suppose what I'm saying is that I grew up being in the internet a lot and I'm sure that a lot of you had to. And I was about 15, 14 to 15 when I started really getting into the internet and at least the community is online. And I was often surrounded by people the age of 29 to like nearing their 40s. Like these people were the they were into the games that I liked and understandably so they were in the same generation as my dad or my parents. And at least like not that old but obviously an on older set of people. And they were the kind of people that were into books and D&D and Skyrim, Baldur's Gate. And like certain shows that I was in the same like the Witcher when they turned the Witcher into a series in Netflix. Just kind of that expected genre of media. And they've always been so careful around me knowing that I was young and I was welcomed. But of course with a lot of limitations and restrictions and I felt I felt really safe. And I've got I've got a lot of friends. It's so cute because I remember when they were when they would meet someone around my age they would match me with them. I'm like, you guys can interact and stuff. It's a little silly. But yeah, I guess my experience is just a lot kinder. And now that this is my job and I'm exposed to not just one community but the rest of the world. It oh my gosh, it's so stressful. Every single time I open my phone and look at my screen and there's just some bullshit that's going on. And I understand if it's like a whole universal thing but even like the kindest of people. And even strangers you don't know online who probably are very innocent. They get words, words, words. I suppose that people online are a day. It's just find a reason to hate to be quirky. And I suppose that's always been a thing even before like schools and bullying and trying to be trying to be bad for the sake of being cool. I sound like a millennia. I sound like an old person. But genuinely, this generation is bizarre. It's, I'm reading everyone saying, I really appreciate the conversation. I suppose I'm just really, really baffled. Like, what triggered this for me is, well, it's a conversation I have every single day. It's one of the constant stress that I have with my job. Every single time I'm exposed online, it's just like, even if it's not my post, it's not my post, like I literally just open social media everywhere. I look at so much negativity and it's not even about the news about the world. It's not even about climate change. It's not even about the war. It's generally just people finding ways to make something bad. Because for some reason, bad has more flavour than good. For there to be good, there needs to be bad and so and so and so and in and young. But like, I think the food's been spoiled way too much and I'm just, I'm just running. I'm just running. No, no, that's not the point of this post. Yes, I guess also, like, yes, it sucks because no one really understands how much someone's words or actions can affect and change others. Says by a shortcake, I love your theme of shortcakes, by the way, and the gifts that you use. So good. But yeah, to me, my understanding is it's less on them not knowing how their words impact. Others. But rather, what, like, what I want to know what goes on in their mind, like, what, do they hope to achieve? What was the reasoning? Where did you find this? Who are you copying? Who's comment or you copy pasting? Like, do you think that because you're saying all these things, that, that, what is the goal? I can't, I come to termin, like I've been like, I, how do I say this? I have enough experience within my job and my exposure with people that I know when someone is genuinely hating because they have a passion or like a truthful hate towards this subject, towards this person, towards this, this, whatever. And, and that could be back with the very, just, just a fireball reason. And I can also differentiate when someone is just saying things for the sake of saying things. Now, that's what's confusing for me. And I, I stumble upon that every single time, not just within my videos, but everywhere I look. Like, obviously, their words may there be hurtful, they don't weigh anything. But if they don't weigh anything, why say it? I want to know why. I want to know why this is the, why this is the way the virtual world has echoed no days. It's, it's such a, a fooling thing. Oh my goodness. Well, that's a noisy, noisy vehicle out there. I am so confused because I will say it, though. I will say it. Most of these people from what I've seen, from what I've experienced for the past many, many months, most of them 80% to a 90 Americans. I have never experienced such even, even racism because I'm Filipino. And even like two years ago, a year to go, that's when I started, it got really exposed. And of course, one of my main source of, like, audience is from America. It's genuinely, it's such a baffling thing because a lot of these media come from America. And I remember whenever I talk about, I talk about my culture and bring up something that's not familiar to a lot of people who lived outside of the Philippines, but because it was going through an international audience with most of it being American, because it's different, because it's cultured, that suddenly it's, it's weird and such. It's weird not in a quirky way, but rather, oh, you're not, this thing isn't familiar because this thing isn't American, which means that it is