Photo courtesy of Andrew Miller.
Breakaway last weekend showed that while festivals can still be fun, social media and Gen Z’s need to look cool are ruining the experience.
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By Andrew Miller
TAMPA, Fla. — It’s no surprise that we have entered the performative era. As we’ve all learned during our adolescence, it seems innate in human nature to prove to others that you’re “cool.”
Social media has made this problem a hundred times worse. Jayne Wilkinson, a senior at the University of Tampa, explains just how badly she saw this issue at the Breakaway Music Festival this past weekend.
“Not living in the moment has taken over,” Wilkinson said. “The rise of being too cool has robbed people of using music festivals as a space to have fun.”
Wilkinson noticed an increasing trend in the number of people who stood still to the music, phones out, rather than those who participated at Breakaway.
Cole Schmidt, a student at the University of South Florida and an attendee at Breakaway, shared how festivalgoers, after being on their phones, then sat down right in front of him, despite being packed shoulder to shoulder.
“A girl started sitting on the ground next to me right at the barricade when she was done getting her video,” Schmidt said. “That’s extremely dangerous, and she could’ve gotten injured, all for the Instagram story; it’s not worth it.”
Not only are these posters over-curating their experience, but they are also not having any visible fun or participating in what the festival is all about.
Being at Breakaway was a big wake-up call. Students at UTampa know that we have a very strong influencer presence, and many of the students here enjoy posting photos of Tampa in a curated way.
Many UTampa students did the same at Breakaway, which, as Wilkinson said, is not the vibe for this space. She clarifies that using your phone is not the issue, but only using your phone is.
Emily Doreste, a student at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been going to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival for the past three years. In that time, she has seen a steady increase in the number of people who are just there for their feeds.
She explains just how opposite it is to be glued to your phone at a festival, rather than joining in the fun.
“Music festival culture is about connection and unity,” Doreste said. “It’s not only disconnecting those filming, but it takes the rest of us out of the vibe as well.”
Could you argue that social media is the catalyst for this change? You could, but millennials, who have equal access to social media as Gen Z, are still proving they can have a great time.
“Millennials are the kings/queens of music festivals,” Doreste said. “They are the ones who set the vibe and structure.”
Shown by these party-animal millennials, the problem is not social media. It could be because Gen Z is currently in a more developmental stage of life, such as undergraduate UTampa students, so the need to look cool is more prominent than it is for millennials.
Say what you will, Gen Z is letting social media take them out of these festivals and tamper with the overall atmosphere for everybody.