Is this it? Or am I the only one having a hard time reconciling what the future supposedly will look like (already looks like) with my innate distaste for the sole focus on the superficial? I read two mind-blowing articles today, outlining, without critiquing, the way the young, beautiful and privileged (for lack of better epitets, because starlet at suggest some ind of accomplishment, no?) influence and control the rest of us.  One was Wired’s story on Kylie Jenner’s new app, that within weeks went to number one. What is her app exactly? A chance to look at her, her fashion choices, her snack choices, her beauty choices. All for only 2.99 a month. The other is NYMag’s portrait of a 16 year old NY girl (but based on the accompanying décolleté photos could pass as 25) who recently dropped ot of school, to ostensibly focus on her equestrian career, but seems to spend her time hanging in NY and the Hampton’s, with older kids, instagramming and counting followers. All worthwhile. She is a ‘nobody’, as opposed to Kylie Jenner, who is born into being known, but, in her circle, starting with the Riverside School and into other elite private schools in NY, she is somewhat of a celebrity, or as the article puts it “the Prom Queen of Instagram”. Now that is an accomplishment.

I also stumbled across a recent list of the “50 best people on the Internet”, best being a rather misguided term as many of the people profiled contribute shite all of value to the world. Just the same, that list, compared to the Ny girl and Kylie, covers people who work to earn their ‘fans’ and consequently generate various fan based income streams. The list ranges from Youtube gamers to Instagram meme makers (yes these exists) to genuine thought leaders and real contributors. The most notable was Brandon of Humans of New York, one man whose photographs and quotes of ordinary New Yorkers, and later ordinary humans from (to US citizens little familiar places such as Pakistan. Brandon is worth the exposure, the attention: HONY contributes to our understanding and , hopefully growing acceptance of others, Brandon has a cause and actually does good. Yay.

Now, my initial angst at embracing the future is the though of all the time kids, adults, people must spend perusing all these instagram accounts, blogs, vlogs, twitter feeds, ingesting the endless stream of noice and nonsense thrown at them. When there is so much mundane being celebrated, how will anyone learn to differentiate and appreciate when something really is worth the hype? When life is so plastic and elastic, so focused on fans and eye lash extensions, and skills and contribution seems to have so little value, when the bar to fame and adulation is laid so low, how will we know when someone is really worth listening to? When we mix the stupid and meaningless with the worthwhile, how will we know whom to heed? Just think about i, it is already happening: Trump, the one who spews gross inconsistencies an factual inaccuracies, is actually a Presidential contender, alongside educated, accomplished candidates like Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton. It is not a questions of necessarily appreciating the last two’s opinions and proposed politics, but recognizing that they, as opposed to Trump, has the intellectual credentials needed to do the job.  If we are already at a point when electors can not see the vast difference between the two, how will we be able to negotiate the future, the now, of endless social media, media, bombardment. Will reason and valuable content, knowledge and real contribution drown? What will be left to lean on, when all is so, so very superficial and meaningless, but after years of exposure, of elevating the mundane to meaningful, after presenting unworthy causes with space and attention, who will able to tell what is worthwhile, who is worthy, in te end? Where will it end? Does anyone really want it to? After all, ingesting the light, the airy and breezy, is so much less exhausting and tiresome than attempting to get through real analysis of real issues. We collectively chose the representatives, the stars, our adulation figures, so perhaps this is what we all want? After all no one forced NyMag to write about that girl, they deemed it worthy, and no one forces anyone to pay for insights into stars everyday lives and makeup routines: This si probably the best we deserve? Kylie for president! It would be glittery and shiny at least.