Socialize Via Constant Updates by Carlos Encarnación

   Recently, I’ve been reading two mangas that deal with problems regarding social situations. WaTamote deals with a social anxiety disorder, while Waratte! Sotomura-san is about ‘stereotype’ generated social problems. These mangas got me thinking about how we humans view the need for socialization and acceptance, and how recent advances in technology have changed our daily interactions.

   In one of the manga the main character wants to be popular, but suffers from social anxiety disorder, which involves being afraid to talk to people, she panics if talked to, or has to talk to someone. Social anxiety has many manifestations and most people probably suffer from it, some extreme case, other rather light that doesn’t affect them much. Some people may hide their hobbies, age, salary, studies, etc. to fit into a circle they think is comfortable. Still there is one type of social anxiety that I’d like to touch on and which has been the butt of constant jokes in several forms of media. Which is the ‘escape’ to formality in form of reading Facebook during group gathering (be it with family or friends).

   WaTamote actually omits one prominent ‘social’ activity: social media. It never once mentions social website such as Facebook. Waratte! Sotomura-san shows characters using Twitter, but is still narrative of ‘stereotype’ social problem when use. Everyone views the character Sotomura as a ‘delinquent’ cause of her clothing and form of speech (rough), but in reality she is actually sensitive girl that loves everything cute and things done by the rules. The manga makes joke of Twitter character limitations and the writing of Sotomura comes out as rough and misinterpreted that ‘followers’ thing she is telling her delinquent acts.

 This forms of ‘social problems’ the main characters of the manga got me thinking, what other current social problems young (and even adults) and I decide to analyze one of them. Let’s try this: go to a restaurant and look at the tables. You might notice a lot of the tables have people using cellphone, giving you a clear idea that most people would rather look at messages, Facebook, or website than the person in front of them. The need for constant information or amusement kills the quiet moment of simply looking at one another. That small but essential silent moment when you feel comfortable with the other person, even if nothing is spoken, is now considered an awkward moment we should always avoid. The need for constant information (in social media, that is), or oversharing, of what you are doing seems to be a syndrome where people ‘need to tell the experience instead of living it’.

  People seem to prefer reverting back into something comfortable that they already know and are familiar with by simply reading friend information, looking at funny pictures, or posting something themselves instead of speaking with the person in front of them. This seems to be the norm even if they are with a friend of years. I think this is one kind of social anxiety to deal with: not having something to say or thinking that everything you might say is silly or stupid. Just like WaTamote escapes her social anxiety by imaging ‘what if’ and blames other that she isn’t popular, we direct ourselves to a bright screen to escape the fear that we aren’t interesting, and in the process we might make the other person think they aren’t interesting. Slowly, we are creating a non-person-socializing environment were the only words we say are ‘Hello, is that a Galaxy S4?’ before seeing the post your friend from another state posted to his/her wall as means to socialize in life.

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Carlos Encarnacion has a BA in communications and marketing from Metropolitan University (UMET) and is currently an Audiovisual and Media Specialist working for several companies. 

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This week, Carlos has been kind enough to be the guest writer for Pop Trends, hopefully, we'll have him again

Comic Book Thursdays: Close Minded Adults, Open Minded Teens

 

Astonishing X-Men 51, variant cover

When I was a teenager, I bought tons of comics. Teen Titans and Young Justice immediately come to mind and even X-Men occasionally graced my shelves as well though I never got into it. Most of these stories were watered down versions of the regular, more adult titles and some were downright silly but occasionally they touched on serious issues. It was the 90’s after all and even though some subjects weren’t taboo, it still shocked people when things like drugs were in teen oriented stories.

  Considering how politically correct the world is nowadays, it’s strange that teen oriented storylines touch on issues adults avoid. Even more intriguing, is how open minded teenagers are to these sorts of issues.

  Let’s take an overused (and by overused, I mean everyone has posted some opinion on it) hot topic right now. Homosexuality in comics isn’t new, yet every time a character comes out; it’s cause for a moral panic. In 2006, Batwoman was announced to be a lesbian and people went ballistic. As a subtle joke, both her identities shared a name with a female Batman character designed to dispel gay rumors in the 50’s. Before the book was even out; people criticized it on every level. The same thing happened with Northstar and Kyle's wedding issue of the X-Men. People actually objected over the marriage and sexual preferences of fictional characters, citing them as immoral.

A Very Brief History of Young Adult Literature

Young Adult literature is becoming more and more prominent these days. You can't go to a bookstore, movie theater or even the internet without hearing about the latest young adult book in some way or another. Many people dismiss it as a new thing to market to impressionable teens or that it surged about with Harry Potter. Truth is, this genre has existed for quite some time.

And by quite some time, I mean more than a few centuries back.

Period Pieces in Comics- A Light Reflection on Maus and Pop Culture

When my two colleagues and I were discussing time period pieces, I was skeptical. I didn’t know what to write mine on, since I tend to dislike period pieces. I admit I like things with a history, but not history in general. There are some exceptions of course, in my case they are graphic novels.

Graphic novels and comics don’t always get the respect they deserve as a storytelling medium. However, they often present us with a semi-accurate portrayal of pop culture relevant issues.