Alright, homebodies, this essay is directed at you. If staying in is the new going out, as proposed by contributing writer for the NYT Style Magazine Molly Young in 2016, then it is definitely time for a backlash. Yes, I know you have a nice comfortable couch. Yes, I know you have a lot of shows to catch up on. But why should fantasy characters get to have all the fun getting pummeled by zombies or kidnapped by sterile rich folk or having their intestines sucked out by nefarious space aliens? Make some drama of your own in the dimension of what I like to call Actual Reality. Fantasy is a treatment for mediocrity, not a cure.
Okay, yes, I suppose you have a lot of good arguments in defense of your precious homebody existence. Reality is becoming obsolete, you say. You can do just about anything on line that you can do off it. You are saving money. You are creating less pollution. Your social life is better than ever. Never mind that sitting at home all the time is like test driving your coffin. Seriously. Just like a dead person. That's what you are; in the world but not of it.
My friend, you may not be aroused by macabre philosophical jostling, but here's another angle to consider: the facts are in, and being around other humans is just plain better for your health. Social fitness is as important as physical fitness, and the virtual world is simply not offering the same benefits. Face to face communication is as important as eating fruit, and just as you cannot eat a virtual strawberry and get any vitamins, you cannot be face to to face on a screen and get any pheromones, or whatever the social equivalent of a vitamin may be. Besides, there is a loneliness epidemic in full swing. According to experts, social isolation could be worse for us than smoking. There have been serious studies linking it to chronic disease. The cure? Grab a friend and go consume some local live original art. Don't have any friends? Go out. Consume some local, live original art. Maybe you'll meet some along the way.
You know what else is good for you? Stepping out of your comfort zone. Creating new pathways in your neural net by expanding your personal experiences will strengthen your brain and protect it from pathology. Go see something even if you haven't a clue what it is. Maybe you'll discover something so good it changes the course of your life. Maybe the middle aged lady on stage strumming a worn-out guitar and singing about her cat will utter something you never thought of before. Maybe you'll think it is terrible all the way through but talking with your friends about how something sucked is still a valuable experience from the perspective of your neurons. Yes, enduring thirty minutes of a disheveled guy on a stage, thrashing a washboard and driving a vacuum cleaner while reciting angry poetry may not move you but it will stimulate you. And, who knows? Maybe you'll be inspired to take up the tambourine and the sewing machine and write some angry poetry of your own. And won't you be sad when nobody comes to see you?
A related point, since it is also in the spirit of enrichment, is that you can spice up the same old bland smoothie of existence by tossing a little serendipity to the mix. Nothing will happen if you don't get out of the house. Nothing weird. Nothing fun. Nothing scary. Nothing ridiculous. Nothing spontaneous. No close encounters. I mean, maybe your pipes will burst and flood your living room and you'll have to build a raft out of popcorn and electrical cords to escape but the probability of that is low. What stories will you have to tell? About the time you sat on your couch watching Netflix and spilled your beer? About the time you ordered a burger and they left off the pickles? The time that your clicker stopped working all of a sudden? The cure for your uneventful existence? Go consume some local, live, original art.
Not convinced by the health angle? How about an economic one? Do you feel inclined to support small business? Then, for crying out loud, why won't you support local artists?
In these parts, there are thousands of great artists, writers, film-makers, poets, musicians, new and old, offering up their body of work, pouring out their souls, struggling to promote themselves despite their melancholy, introverted temperaments, and you probably don't know they exist. Thousands of potential famous people (you saw them when they were just starting out!) Its as though there is a beautiful treasure chest of gold sprinkled throughout the region in plain sight and nobody is paying it any mind. What does it cost to see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway or to score a couple of those Hamilton tickets? The popularity of these performances indicates that you will leave house for an artistic experience, so I know you like art, but only if it is sanctioned by the power elites. When it is independent, right under your nose, so much more affordable and arguably just as entertaining, you don't seem to value it at all.
Homebodies, the world needs you. Artists need you. Get out of the house. You may not get pummeled by zombies, or kidnapped by space aliens but your brain will thank you and you may even live a longer, healthier life. Be of the world, not just in it. Go consume some live, local, original art.
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