Occult Lever and Parallel World Group
Over the weekend, I listened to a podcast episode about young people's online divination: EP03 Online Divination "Miracle": Post-00s Pointing the Way for Post-70s - Jump into the Rabbit Hole.
Online divination has become a career choice for young people, and most people would say that it all starts from a pure curiosity. Low entry barriers, zero costs, high returns. Most diviners start by self-studying, basically spending two or three days watching videos on Bilibili or reading a few books. The majority of clients on Xiaohongshu are post-00s who have self-studied for a few months. It is not difficult for them to develop tarot from scratch as a side job or even a full-time job, and it has good prospects. Nowadays, young people tend to have more social anxiety, and this kind of requirement that does not require leaving home or face-to-face interaction may be more suitable for the current market environment.
However, after in-depth research on this podcast episode, it was found that the clients are distributed between the ages of 25 and 55. The topics of divination for young clients always revolve around "love," while the group of people in their 40s focuses on family and children issues. But these groups have a common characteristic, that is, many times, what clients want is a pure emotional communication and venting. Diviners are more like a sounding board.
Because they basically have no other way to vent. Sometimes they can't talk to their parents, can't talk to their friends, and don't have the resources and funds to seek professional, long-term psychological help. At this time, diviners may play a small healing role. - "Online Divination 'Miracle'"
After listening to this episode, I also thought of the "Occult Lever" mentioned in the 2022 Big Social Trend Observation Report by Youzan Consulting.
Confused people project their emotions towards the unknown life onto the stars and flowing water, and incorporate occultism into the key decision-making process of daily life with an attitude of "believing without being lost." - "2022 Big Social Trend Observation Report"
Occult Lever has the following three characteristics:
- Using occultism as a small life interest
- Believing without being lost
- Using occultism to complete self-awareness education
Contemporary occultism is more like a tool of positive psychology - with an unverifiable fulcrum, young people seem to be able to lift the huge stones that hinder their lives and suppress their destinies. But at the same time, people also regard themselves as the "measure of all things" and refuse to give up their own agency: a bad sign is considered inaccurate, an inappropriate temple is considered ineffective. It is precisely because they feel confused and lost that young people seek the help of occultism. If things go against their wishes, they feel even more powerless and will not indulge in it. - "2022 Big Social Trend Observation Report"
In addition, young people who accept occultism are not simply seeking answers to a single question. As analyzed in the podcast above, sometimes they hope to have a sounding board and complete self-awareness education through the language system of occultism, tracing and reflecting on "why am I like this" in the ever-changing destiny, and thus finding the coordinates of self-identity.
Online divination can be said to be a tool of positive psychology for social alienation labor pressure, and a similar phenomenon is the popular Douban Parallel World Group last year:
These groups not only organize forums based on topics and interests, but also directly establish a "parallel world" that exists parallel to the real world based on the groups, which is amazing.
The article "Douban Parallel World Group: Human Imagination of Time Travel Hidden in Various Media Miracles" analyzes why there is such a phenomenon:
- From Monologue to Carnival: The Shaping of Social Media
- From Imagination to Action: Temptation of Embodied Participation
- From Escape to Return: Reflection on Living Conditions
The first point is about the collective carnival of social media.
The second point is about "embodiment." In other words, people who are immersed in it seem to be joining a video game, manipulating the "body" in the parallel world through posting, replying, and creating rules. In this way, the reorganization of time and space in imagination becomes a tangible and participatory embodiment, which is precisely the most attractive aspect of the parallel world.
The third point is similar to the occult lever, which is an escape from real life, and the act of escape itself implies reflection on reality.
On the one hand, the atomization of life brought about by urbanization has led to an increase in people's sense of loneliness and alienation. On the other hand, a variety of new social issues emerge in the public's field of vision, highlighting various social problems. - "Douban Parallel World Group: Human Imagination of Time Travel Hidden in Various Media Miracles"
According to Marx's view, in the process of labor, people produce something that is opposed to and restricts themselves due to their own activities, which is called alienated labor. As the growing pressure of alienated labor entraps young people, the uncertainty of objective reality and the sense of helplessness of subjective individuals make some young people view contemporary occultism as a positive psychology tool that provides emotional value.
Parallel world groups and online divination are typical representatives of such tools.
On social platforms, young people express their alienation predicament to fellow occult enthusiasts, exchange confessions, empathize with each other, comfort each other, and find solace together - to some extent, "doing occultism" is an important way for young people to resolve negative emotions, just like various entertainment and leisure activities. - "2022 Big Social Trend Observation Report"
However, in addition to parallel world groups and online divination, these various media phenomena born from social media, which is a fantastic place, are actually sparks ignited by the encounter of human practice and the potential of various social media technologies. And these things are shaping our daily lives at the same time, creating new imaginative spaces for us.
I thought of Neil Postman's theory of "the medium is the metaphor" in "Amusing Ourselves to Death": the choice of media will in turn change ourselves, and the choice of what kind of media leads to what kind of outcome.
When we don't know how to understand ourselves, we create the mirror of occultism and the scenery of the parallel world, and interact with ourselves through projection. In this way, we supplement self-awareness and enrich individual meaning.
Cherishing the present daily life, looking inward and backward is also for better outward and forward looking. In any case, reading more books and thinking more will always be the right path.
Weekly Recommendations#
Technical Article: How Blink works#
This week, I was looking at the code of Blink and found a very good article online: How Blink works. This is an article produced by the official Chromium team, which introduces the internal design and implementation details of the Blink module, an important module of the Chrome browser kernel. For those who want to understand the internal implementation of the Chrome kernel, this article provides a good starting point.
This Week's Record#
Recent Viewings#
- Finished reading: Science Fiction | "Memory Traveler" | ★★★★☆
- Watched: Movie | "The Room of Matsu" | ★★★★★
- Watched: Movie | "Before Sunset" | ★★★★☆
- Watched: Movie | "Red Chili" | ★★★★★
- Played: Healing Game | "Dorfromantik" | ★★★★☆
I really like the healing style of Dorfromantik~
Recent Code#
TypeScript 21 hrs 1 min █████████▋░░░░░░░░░░░ 45.9%
TypeScript React 19 hrs 56 mins █████████▏░░░░░░░░░░░ 43.6%
C++ 1 hr 21 mins ▋░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 3.0%
JSON 1 hr 8 mins ▌░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 2.5%
JavaScript 56 mins ▍░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 2.0%
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