i've been thinking a lot about having a real counterculture in the modern day too. idk how it would exist but i think it's fairly obvious that it wouldn't be able to come from social media at all, but beyond that it may involve an outright rejection of smartphones. back to flip phones and downloaded mp3s, or cassette players. this is just kinda my own fantasizing but also i basically live like that anyway so idk

Offline living absolutely crucial- my dream countercultural movement involves reinforcing physical community spaces as well as community action, incredibly regulated and minimal internet contact and no smart devices turned appendages, and more analogue ways of spending dead time. Games, arts, books, social interactions, hobbies, a return to previously established subcultures. Less a unified movement with a label and a specific set of interest but rather a push for a broader paradigm shift in our ways of thinking, doing, and living. My mom told me once about how when she was a kid in the 80s/90s the hot thing to do in town as a youth was drive up and down the main highway in town- if you saw anything going on anywhere you'd pull over and see whats up: cruising! Cruising sounds fun! Or regularly meeting with acquaintances in cafes or rec centers! Public spaces! Every day i wish i could go back in time to go to a real og arcade! Needed change goes beyond personal responsibility with this- there would have to be a concerted activist effort to sort of degrow and reform our cities and towns. But thats kind of end game. And absolutely under no circumstances can it have a name or a uniform. Hippie, beat, goth, punk, grunge, all names lost to commodification/being defanged. I dont know how else to articulate this it just absolutely must hinge on actions and not any generalizable term. Destroy aesthetics. Necessary (compassionate) gatekeeping also essential bc of this. Tldr shirk commodity embrace the humane. Not just alive but Living. I'd like to be living. I dont know how this could be organized without relying on the internet though honestly.... ppl are kind of helpless and well it would seriously be COUNTER culture.. i think id like to try though. I cant live if i dont have People who i can Live with im realizing