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JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I should start by saying a read a lot of current event stuff, mostly online. I subscribe to two newspapers, three magazines, five political/economics/tech news substacks and I have three relentlessly informed children sharing info and articles with me (along with baby pictures and dumb memes.
This is to explain why I've become aware of a groundswell in opinion, but can't point you to the sources: the idea that as we get deeper and deeper into the Age of AI, we are all craving real experiences, happening live around us, with other people. People with no Instagram filters, even!
In the years immediately following the pandemic, multiple prognosticators were opining on the end of dinner and cocktail parties. But guess what? They seem to be back from the dead and doing fine, even if it's potluck and mocktails instead of sirloin and martinis.
I myself have seen a surprising uptick in the numbers of readers attending author events. I honestly thought showing up in a library or bookstore was going the way of the horse-drawn trolley, but it seems folks still want to turn up for the ride. The last few I've gone to (one for me, others for several authors) there were couples or groups in the audience who were clearly making an evening of it, with dinner and/or drinks before or after.
My fabulous and endlessly energetic sister Barb put together a fun event designed to bring some attention to her Coldwell Banker office, and to benefit Lucky Dog Animal Rescue in Alexandria, VA. (Barb is the most dog-crazy person in our family, which is really saying something. She always has 3-4 pooches, each one with some weird disease or defect. If no one else will adopt That Dog, my sister will.)
It was a flash mob dance to Thriller in downtown Alexandria, VA. The Realty firm paid for four or five hour-long lessons from a local dancer, and Barb and her colleague got a local brewpub and a pizza joint to donate beer and pizza for the participants. They were hoping to get 50 dancers; they had to stop admission after they signed up 120. The city of Alexandria agreed to close off one block for something like half an hour, which was a problem when two thousand spectators showed up for the fun.
Keep in mind, this was a random Saturday in October! Everyone in involved in the event was gobsmacked, the restaurants and stores in the area did a roaring business, and the shelter raised over $5,000. Win, win, win.
When she and I were talking it over, we kept landing on the idea that people were hungry for real-life experiences. For getting out with their kids, or their friends, or their families, and doing something that wasn't on a screen. I'm sure ChatGPT can tell you anything you want to know about Michael Jackson, or the song Thriller, but it can't put you in the middle of a crowd of dancing zombies. Thank heavens.
What do you think, dear readers? Are we entering an era when being live and in person becomes more and more important? And what recent examples can you share?
Wow . . . kudos to Barb!
ReplyDeleteI'm not particularly surprised that people feel that "live and in person" is so important. We spent a day at Colonial Williamsburg recently . . . sure, you can read a book or sit and the computer and learn all the facts about life in colonial times, but all the people wandering around there would tell you that it simply is not the same as being there and experiencing it in person. It may be "just" a reenactment, but being there was obviously important for a lot of people . . . .