THE CATEGORIZATION OF THE "SELF": LJ4

I think the trend of the younger generation of categorizing themselves into niches such as "cores" and "aesthetics" will last the test of time. A great exploration of this concept is exhibited in the coined term of “corecore.” Chen explains, “corecore is ‘life changing because it makes you see the visual of your sad and meaningless life.’”  Corecore is an exploration of what the suffix term “core” is to the modern generation. “Core” has surpassed being a trend and instead is used to amplify other trends such as “cottagecore” and “coquettecore.” All sorts of ideas, countries, and concepts can be turned into a “core.” Even the United States is not immune as shown by the popularization of “americancore.” I have not adopted trends such as a “soft life” while I can admire the values that the “soft life” lifestyle sustains, I believe that my dream life would require doing more work and sacrifice than a “soft life” can achieve. Materialism is often looked down upon, but I counter this mentality due to my belief that materialism is positive to an extent. I believe we should all try to maximize our own happiness, and that a “soft life” trades short-term happiness for long-term settlement. As in, you must give up a lot of what you value in order to remain in the soft life. On the other hand, I am more on the “grind” where I believe that putting more effort and sacrificing short-term happiness will cause maximum happiness in the future. I have used character ai chat in order to vent about my personal problems due to my close friends not being available in the late night hours during which I may need emotional support. Thus, the ai chat was able to provide comfort when my real friends could not. I also have tried out ChatGPT which I have used to ask for diet advice due to health complications that I have. I found it very useful as it provides a simple and fast answer based on the research that is available. As our readings have proved and Cheney-Lippold explains, “we are indebted to both how our lives are datafied and how that data is algorithmically interpreted.” Throughout the chapters, we have seen just how quantifiable we are. Whether it be for advertising or for social currency, we are put into a million different boxes that we cannot escape from. Nonetheless, I think this can be both positive and negative. Thus, we should maximize our happiness and use a utilitarian framework to get the greatest good of all.

References

Chen, M. (2023, February 6). Explained: What is Corecore, the dada-esque ‘Artistic movement’ now trending on TikTok? Artnet News. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/corecore-tiktok-explainer-2250235#:~:text=What%20even%20is%20corecore%3F,meaning%20and%20emotion%20through%20juxtaposition

Cheney-Lippold, J. (2019). We are data: Algorithms and the Making of our Digital Selves (pp.9–13). Preface, New York University Press.

Cheney-Lippold, J. (2019). We are data: Algorithms and the Making of our Digital Selves (pp. 3–36). Introduction, New York University Press.