Gossip

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Enjoy the video. [music] I think I know too much about people I don't personally know. On top of that, I think I know too much about people who aren't even relevant to my sphere of interests.

This is definitely due to the ease of access of media on the internet. Not to say a little tea isn't nice. You know what I'm saying?

Sometimes a little cup of that, ooh, you lying about what? Earl Grey tea is a nice treat on a random Thursday night. Personally, I'm a fan of gossip.

Hold up. Wait a minute. Hear me out.

not necessarily speaking it, but I'm one who likes to gather anecdotal information from people. I believe the negative part of gossip comes from blindly believing rumors and secondhand information. Of course, it's easy to fall into that bias if it's the only source you have.

But when I open my doors to gossip, I feel like I get to play this miniame of what truths am I willing to let through these gates? Who believes what? Who told you these facts?

What do you mean they'd appreciate it if you don't tell anyone about this? That's starting to sound like manipulation. Congratulations.

You may have a pathological liar in the friend group. Listen, guys, I get it. Many of us were raised not to talk behind someone's back.

But from experience, I've found that strictly following this mindset without critical thinking tends to protect those who are actually guilty of the accusation. Is it gossip if it's true? Plus, if it leads to talking in front of someone's back now, that sounds weird.

If it leads to a confrontation and clarification of any misunderstandings, then isn't that a better outcome than lingering on suppressed thoughts and feelings? That being said, this really only works in a personal setting with a network of people that you actually know and can directly communicate with. With social media becoming a staple in modern life, it has become increasingly accessible for a completely faceless stranger to know about another stranger's personal life and in turn potentially develop a parasocial relationship with them.

Take it from a guy who's made a career out of storytelling on the internet. On one hand, it's fun to share stories as if we're gathered around a campfire. On the other, it's a little weird to have this many people at a campfire, but I like to think I have the mindset to not overshare sensitive information that doesn't necessarily add value to the story.

Overall, social media has proven to be quite exhausting for me. On the side of uploading personal content, I'm terrible at keeping my following, the majority of which are strangers, updated about the current events of my life. Sure, I share stories about major events that I've experienced, but not the day-to-day stuff and recent things that I've been up to.

For example, after I had a really bad fall from bouldering a few years ago where I helicopter crash landed on my ankle, I got into playing volleyball and it's become a major >> hobby of mine these days. >> And also, for a bit, I was heavily invested in the Digimon TCG and even competed at nationals in 2023. Maybe I'll make a video about those.

I don't know yet. My updates are so sparse that I'm usually assumed dead until further notice. Immediately after hitting the upload button, I just cease to exist.

I have no object permanence. I am only in this realm in short bursts of time. The thing is, if I were to put myself in the shoes of someone following me, I don't think I'd care too much about what I would be posting about.

Is that anxious thinking? I just don't think my daily life is that interesting. Sure, I have this platform, but I live a pretty mundane and uneventful life for the most part.

I don't party. I love being at home. I'm extremely introverted.

I just like keeping to myself. And when I do go out and do things, I forget to take photos and videos because I'm just in the moment and I'm lazy. From my understanding of human behavior, we post and publish things for some level of validation, even if it's the teensiest amount.

It makes sense. When you share something with someone, you're leaving yourself open to some level of criticism. And with the power of proper framing and limited context, which is built into the tools of the internet, we're able to present things in a manner that narrows possible critiques to mostly positive ones.

When people show and tell, they usually aim for some sort of praise or positive feedback. They don't try to show and get on. Usually, admittingly, that's kind of the basis of my whole channel.

For years, I've been sharing stories of my life with you guys. Stories about relationships, experiences during public events, butts, working in retail, you name it. And as genuine as I wanted those stories to be, I can't claim that they are all 100% free of all bias.

They are all true, of course, but they were presented with my truth. Social media has also been tiring as a consumer. So many trends to keep up with.

Endless memes in the palm of my hand for that easy dopamine hit right before going to bed and contributing to my insomnia. I catch wind of so much drama between parties that have absolutely nothing to do with me. Why do I care if some guy cheated on a speedrun in a video game?

>> It does not affect my life in any way. If it affects yours, that's fine. You can care about it.

I'm just wondering why I do. Why did I read that tweet longer about person A talking about person B cheating with person C? I'm not in that alphabet.

I'm so uninvolved. I'm like person gamma. But then why did I proceed to look up multiple YouTube videos to get the perspectives of drama channels that report on it?

And then I scroll down to the comments section to read the opinions of other people that are as uninvolved as I am. Was I going to discuss this with someone later? Would that even be a meaningful conversation?

Hey, did you hear about blah blah blah saying racial slur for the seventh time? Blah blah. No, I haven't because I don't watch or support this stranger.

So, are you saying you don't care about racism? You don't care about sexism, poverty, war, climate change, AI art, endangered animals, abbleism, my mother. There's a term in Filipino Tagalog chismiss.

It means gossip or rumors. And it's the base word of chismosa, one who gossips, which is what we call all the aunties at the fam jams gathered in the kitchen while the dads are in the backyard drinking and the kids are upstairs playing on the Nintendo 64. I feel like I've become Aita Chismosa.

Every time I go on Twitter or X or whatever, there's that little Pandora's box of trending topics, and one is usually an anime spoiler, but sometimes it's someone's name. Sometimes a name I'm not even familiar with. So, why do I click on them?

Because I'm a chism mosa. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. We're at an era of easily accessible knowledge where anyone can share anything and everything to everyone.

And while I believe in many cases that's a positive thing, like the ability to teach yourself almost any skill, learning about cultures you've never experienced, looking up how to efficiently clean sticker residue. There's the other parasocial side of the internet that I found myself unhealthily indulging in. I have been drinking too much chronically online tea and I have a little tummy ache.

H what's that? Oh no. I I simply mustn't.

It can be scary being on the internet. It's not always so easy to keep your personal info from getting leaked by these data chismosas. They can get your full name, phone number, home address, social security, and just handing it out like food samples.

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