Many of the big names in classical music came from privileged backgrounds. Others needed a helping hand. Dvorak (Slavonic Dances, New World Symphony) Just the other day, I found this:
"... the compositions of an unknown Czech composer fell into [Johannes Brahms[ hands in 1875. Fascinated by the work of the young Antonín Dvořák, who came from a small town near Prague on the banks of the Moldau, Brahms immediately had him come to Vienna and arranged for him to receive a state scholarship. For the then 36-year-old Dvořák who was eking out a meager existence as a music teacher and orchestra director at the Prague Theater, heaven had just opened forth.... "
Creating an addiction-based economy around capturing and monetizing the attention of kids and young people like this will have a cost for society that we will be paying off for generations, even if it literally ended tomorrow.
The opportunity cost alone of all those hours is staggering, without getting into the issues with self esteem, 'brain rot' or the fact that young people increasingly don't dare dance or do hobbies in public because they live in a panopticon of the mind, where everything you do or observe being done is assumed to be either performatively done for an audience, or involves massive personal risk of being surreptitiously recorded for the mockery and amusement of thousands of strangers.
Then there's the gambling, the body image issues, the parasocial influencer grifts... it's no wonder they're feeling burned out and demoralized. They live in a surveillance casino with no exits.
Many of the big names in classical music came from privileged backgrounds. Others needed a helping hand. Dvorak (Slavonic Dances, New World Symphony) Just the other day, I found this:
"... the compositions of an unknown Czech composer fell into [Johannes Brahms[ hands in 1875. Fascinated by the work of the young Antonín Dvořák, who came from a small town near Prague on the banks of the Moldau, Brahms immediately had him come to Vienna and arranged for him to receive a state scholarship. For the then 36-year-old Dvořák who was eking out a meager existence as a music teacher and orchestra director at the Prague Theater, heaven had just opened forth.... "
https://web.archive.org/web/20080820143636/http://filebox.vt...
It was the case in the recent past, see how many artists came out of Laurel Canyon and whose families happened to own properties nearby.
A massive amount of time is wasted on social media.
Visit the tiktok / instagram profile of any young person and you will notice thousands of hours invested in it.
It's just natural nothing else will be produced.
Creating an addiction-based economy around capturing and monetizing the attention of kids and young people like this will have a cost for society that we will be paying off for generations, even if it literally ended tomorrow.
The opportunity cost alone of all those hours is staggering, without getting into the issues with self esteem, 'brain rot' or the fact that young people increasingly don't dare dance or do hobbies in public because they live in a panopticon of the mind, where everything you do or observe being done is assumed to be either performatively done for an audience, or involves massive personal risk of being surreptitiously recorded for the mockery and amusement of thousands of strangers.
Then there's the gambling, the body image issues, the parasocial influencer grifts... it's no wonder they're feeling burned out and demoralized. They live in a surveillance casino with no exits.