[Click the Confidence Over Anger play button for multimedia effect]

If you know me, I’ve probably loaded you with endless film, tv, and book recommendations. 

I believe that it is accurate to assert that stories are the chief agent bonding all relationships together. Those stories are lived experiences that we share with or hear from others as well as films, shows, and books. I believe that stories which are packaged for sharing are more comprehensive and efficient means of establishing and maintaining commonality in relationships.

People recommend stories to those they care about for a variety of reasons. Regardless of the surface reason - to seem cool or in the know, to illustrate personality by establishing thematic or aesthetic associations - the underlying reason is almost always a means of connecting. 

We seek to share stories, or awareness of stories, so that people will know it will be easy to connect with us because we already share a common mythology. Otherwise we share in hopes that if others want to know us better they’ll take up our recommendation and share in the mythologies we have expressed appreciation for. Either way, we establish or knit a foundation for constructive relationships which we can use to work together and build incredible structures and accomplish feats which cannot be done alone - like landing mankind on Mars or securing peace, prosperity, and sustainability on Earth. On the surface we have something to talk about but, more profoundly we share an understanding from which we can build and grow beautiful endeavors. 

Every time we share a story with others we strengthen these bonds, crystalize our memory, and contribute toward a history. When we consume, or live, stories as a community they are our cultural software updates that help us network faster toward bigger and more complex goals. This is the societal role religions and myths have filled for eons from the times of ziggurats and pyramids to The Pantheon to the Hagia Sophia. Stories are, always have been, always will be, a major aspect of our social connective tissue and they are a representation of, and distribution mechanism for, our collective processing. As dreams are to the individual, stories of whatever form are to the community that consumes them. 

The more comprehensive and resonant the story, the more bonds can be built from it. The more specific or niche the story, the more empathy can be generated from it. When shared stories achieve their goal of building cultural foundation the collective thrives. Our companies act based on shared values, our governments waste less by building upon the past rather than canceling it, and harmony spreads. 

Story Technologies, Our Means of Relation

When made distributable with the advent of writing, stories began to convey accurately through time, via stone and cuneiform, and eventually through space via paper, press, and other modern communication tools. The type and degree of effect stories have also changed with new transmission technologies.The telegraph and telephone brought immediacy and range to direct p2p communication, while Radio broadcasts have inspired us to war and peace with regional distribution. “Until the 20th century, many people around the world lived in what can be referred to as a mostly closed social system...For the first time, people experienced the music and culture of people unlike them, heard new stories and radio dramas, and bonded with their nation over news reports during times of war. In the broadest sense, radio tore down the barriers and opened up vast new worlds that challenged and educated.” Next, film and TV arrived with the crucial visual component. “Now, viewers didn't just get descriptions of things, they got to see first-hand performances of dance, drama, and comedy. Moreover, television provided visual tours of other countries” and cultures. (Study.com)

Now, the internet. Online, the conventional constraints of space and time disappear. The internet enhanced collaboration, and enabled pay off of infinite curiosity by putting everything on demand. However, it has also fractured collective truth, and enabled mass social disruption via infinite distraction. We are constantly imbued with the paradox of choice.

Decentralized and on-demand streaming platforms have splintered traditional distribution networks. This splintering coincides with similar trends in personal communication platforms, religion, and political consensus, causing a painful rift in our cultural foundations resulting in a self fueling cycle consuming mindshare. The personal impact is diminished connection even with close friends over movies or shows we’ve watched. Without these shared stories serving as a connection more pressure falls on core tenets which are challenging to convey in even the most conducive environment. All these elements compound in a manner detrimental to the likelihood of shared in-person experiences. 

We are so out of sync. 

As our personal online story sharing platforms (social networks) have evolved, they’ve all gone from daily updates, public journal entries, blogs, or images in the present, to becoming ideological battlefields and news or link trees. Online social networks have become the fiery crucible in which the future of our societies modus operandi will be forged. Either the graveyard or the final proving ground of the promise of democratic republican government.

Learning By Story and Life

As our attentions have been split, our modern mythologies which are still shared at scale have hit upon discord between every demographic be it generational, ethnic, racial, or economic. The primary failings of modern mythologies, with Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones as major examples, are not inconsistencies, omissions, or pacing. The failings of these stories are the fleeting portrayal of grace and forgiveness, and a lacking depiction of the struggle of discerning ambiguities in light of an unprepared audience. 

In crafting stories simplification is necessary. “Drama is life with the dull bits cut out”, as Hitchcock would say, but the ambiguity and nuance isn’t dull; it just requires consideration and perhaps some ground work. With stories as our cultural updates, the recent manner of simplification and packaging of drama, sans careful study and analysis among consuming peers, has tremendous ramifications on the expectations we set for interpersonal, community, and distributed conflict resolution and avoidance. A big part of this is the widespread viewpoint that “stories are entertainment NOT education”. When taught and viewed as educational entertainment we not only improve the chances that education will be looked on favorably, but we also better prepare the population for a lifetime of learning opportunities and collective growth with the potential for getting in sync. We’re less likely to get caught up bitching about immaterial details rather than fleshing out how we can derive meaning for our lives and interactions with the world. 

We need to teach our communities to perceive story as far more than entertainment. We must teach that stories, no matter the form, are fun, yes, but more importantly that they are profound learning opportunities that are accessible and layered for all. When processed ideally, they present us the opportunity to halt our cycles of crisis. They are, after all, curated, processed, and crystalized examinations of the human experience.  

“On average, Americans aged 20 to 34 spend a mere 0.11 hours reading daily, which amounts to less than seven minutes per day.” And yet this trend has not seemed to influence the course of education very much. Once upon a time we had mandatory computer classes so that the new generation was prepared to use computers for work via programs like excel and word and ppt. Reading is still important, it’s still a primary means of idea distribution and communication, but video is quickly surpassing it in potency and importance and that is not yet reflected in our primary school curriculum.  

Regardless of the form of story, as packaged film, show, or simply a shared experience, the intent of the auteur, or planner matters. Intent is one of the most important and oft neglected elements of all present forms of communication and story experience when it comes to analysis, critique, or most commonly criticism. When a friend plans an outing/evening/event with intention and peers bring personal expectation rather than reading for intent, a disservice is done to all.

When we go into a theater and come out talking about what is wasn’t rather than considering what it was we are failing to consider intent and thereby missing opportunity to grow.