Obsessed with a desire to avoid the chaotic, social technical life of modern society, hipsters find themselves in the state of "maybe" that Carly Rae Jepsen is famous for, but instead of about a lost love, it is about technology and the relationship of people with technology.
Hipsters ride fixed-gear bikes, shoot pictures with Polaroid SX-70s, swear by Craigslist, use Viber or Vippie to talk (not Skype) with a faux analog handset plugged into a cell phone, and wear flannel shirts and kitschy cable knit sweaters from the local thrift store or Aeropostal (shh). They exude the age old inner conflict in the hearts of woman and mankind between the group and the individual, but favoring the individual. To opt out or to embrace? Don't try to second-guess them.
Some present-day philosophers believe that the popularity of hipster culture may be important for American economy. How? The US needs to more high school graduates with potential, attitude, and curiosity necessary to be software engineers, graphic designers, and Wikipedia editors ... who mix the best of the old with who knows what is new.
Life as a hipster is complex. They keep online sex diaries and play with Instagram incessantly on old Tandy desktops (or Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the lastest i-Whatever when no one is looking) in an Occupy Low-tech/analog Media and Device World. Institutional management in growing a country's economy may be detrimental and claustrophobic, at best and counter-productive to a world that needs more ideas and shockingly practical innovations, but self-starters like hipsters could meet this criteria, maybe ... especially with social media mass surveillance as is, in place, but not really.
A Cracked magazine writer's words about Hipster Douchebags (coined by the Slays), "This is about looking like you traveled back from the not too distant future. A future populated by douchebags."
If you are 25 - 35 years of age or act like you are, have larges sums of disposable income and have not bought a house yet, then you are the demographic that Apple markets to. You could be a hipster. If you mostly use your smartphone on speaker mode in public, you are not hipster material. They only do that in private. If you watch Doctor Who and listen to George Jones in your attic and, LOL, suddenly have an epiphany of who you really are, you should have been a hipster. They wear ear plugs at concerts and wear their skinny jeans with hems folded neatly three times under and tucked up behind that great big tongue on Chuck Taylors.
Study Slavoj Žižek. He is the most popular philosopher of hipsters. Wikipedia writers share that critics believe he "constantly recycles old ideas which were scientifically refuted long ago." Like low-tech gadgets, that is seductive. It saves hipsters from information-overload, massive stimulation, and the often depressing anonymity of fast-paced city life. Besides, no matter how often people say we are never alone with Facebook, online social networks do not replace street corner, front porch, and neighborhood cafe conversations and community. In fact, hipsters are not afraid to strike up conversations with people they do not know, and they don't mind sitting at communal tables German-style at restaurants. Pass the currywurst, maybe.
Speaking of German things, the July, 2012 Hipster Olympics was held in Berlin. Over 8000 opt-out kind of people gathered to cheer on lackadaisical participant competitions. What did they do? They built mustaches out of duct tape, cello tape and construction paper. They sprinted around turntables. They did the standard broad jump with relaxed textile shoulder bags. This year 2013, they should add a pseudo Mash-Up event where each participant brings found low-tech and high-tech materials with an objective to create new wearable tech that doesn't look like tech. (Opposite of steam punk fashion!)
It's hard to look back at you, baby, but here's my number (to my favorite thrift store), so call me, maybe.
