Social Trends and Liminal Friends

This summer saw the rise of a brief trend of ‘raw dogging’ flights on TikTok. While mostly in some pockets in North America of young adults, the trend encouraged people going on flights to listen to have no entertainment with them. Be it music, movies, or your favourite sudoku puzzles, you would have none of it and experience the flight without any stimulus. This trend has made me think about the influence of trends on real-world interactions in one’s social life.
 
What an insane title for a trend. Raw dogging, that is.

By the way, when I say trend, I mean it was one I had seen online and thus prompted what I’m about to yap about, like dogs at doors ready for their walk. I understand this wasn’t a profound trend but one that provoked my thoughts.

 

One might argue pilots are always raw dogging flights. To that, I say... sh.

 

Many online trends have a real-world cultural impact, from dance trends to the infamous Tide Pod challenge, during which we all learned why laundry detergent should not be eaten.

 

They affect different social circles differently. For example, as someone who doesn’t dance, I don’t care for how musical trends take off. They don’t connect to my lifestyle. However, if I see a general trend or one that creates an opportunity to be more social, I’m all for it. I’m talking about trends that change the patterns and changes in community behaviours, values, and norms over time from social interactions for the better. 

 

Those trends that affect the social environment in such a way are known as social trends.1 So, while dance trends also fall under the definition of social trends, I’m focusing on social trends that focus on societal change from the reserved social dynamics in our current society.

 

What do you mean by reserved social dynamics? 

 

When I consider the general Canadian populous and how the interactions at cafes–or third-place type locations in general–seem more influenced by awkward nods and smiles than social connection opportunities. 

 

Reminder: Third places are unique from the home and workplace and encourage social activity. Examples would be churches, cafes, libraries, and so on.

 

I see the ‘raw dogging’ flights trend as an opportunity to change how people view modern social interactions. This is due to my experience with flights resembling a liminal space and folks I meet who I attach to the liminal space when I reflect.

 

It’s oxymoronic. Attachments to something passing? It’s more nostalgic. I appreciate the folks I meet in those spaces, but I will likely never see them again.

 

I often meet those people, have brief but profound conversations about life, and never see them again. At least I haven’t seen any of those people again... yet. 

 

A liminal space is an uncertain transition between where you’ve been and where you’re going, physically, emotionally, or metaphorically.2 In this case, the airplane. 

 

Why such an interest in liminality and liminal spaces?

 

It’s the fact that I’m comfortably in my twenties now. A time commonly referred to as a ‘transitional period’ in a person’s life. I keep seeking out more exploratory conversations on transitions and liminality in life.

 

Many photos fill me with a sense of liminality like this one. Transportation, in my mind, sticks out as a way of going from one place to another and will end. Transportation is a form of passage, after all.

 

With social media trends catching on all the time, I would love for them—well, the positive trends—to become more social in society so that people can be more comfortable with one another. The nice people. The idea of social trends creating a positive impact on social behaviours so that circumstances like COVID-19, where folks were forced indoors and, by proxy, less familiar with social behaviours coming out of the pandemic, I feel like the opportunity is there.

 

But isn’t “nice people” subjective?

 

Yes, but I’m looking at the big picture for now.

 

The COVID-19 years, or as I like to call them, the dark ages, amplified social ineptitude. If you weren’t socially awkward or anxious, you started to feel it. If you already were, therapy was around the corner. 

 

Before I buzzed my head in a fit of spontaneity and regret, I’d sit by the window like a Rapunzel waiting to be swept away by some social excuse to come along. 

 

Those experiences during the dark ages were liminal times for the rest of our lives. What I mean is that the pandemic was passing. We didn’t know it, and it naturally impacted everyone. But folks went into it one person and came out of it another.

 

 

A photo taken by myself in the heart of 2020.

 

Now, we’re back to a new norm where in-person socializing has returned post-COVID in cafes, flights, libraries, you name it. It’s familiar to me but not so familiar to today’s younger demographics. The Dark Ages lasted about three years, including the lingering impacts.

 

So, I hope trends like ‘raw dogging’ flights might eventually lead to a more unified social community. Perhaps it’s the draw to simpler times with fewer stimuli?

But in the meantime, I’ll settle for Walmart adding to mainstreaming the relatively newer ‘y’allternative’ culture.3

 

Y'all (Country Genre) + Alternative (Goth Genre) = Y'allternative

A screenshot of the Metaverse “Walmart Realms” that uses the Y’allternative aesthetic in the presented characters.

 

P.S. 

 

An interesting tidbit about conversations with people I find myself in liminal relationships is that I could not find much academic research. I wonder why that is?

 

 

Sources:

 

1Meijerink-Bosman, M., Back, M., Geukes, K., Leenders, R., & Mulder, J. (2022, May 10). Discovering trends of social interaction behavior over time: An introduction to    relational event modeling. Behavior Research Methods, 55 (April 2023), 997–1023. 

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-022-01821-8

 

2Chaffee, B. (2022, May 13). How to Cope With the Liminal Spaces in Our Lives. Wit & Delight. Retrieved September 27, 2024, from https://witanddelight.com/2022/05/liminal-spaces/

  

3Berthiuame, D. (2024, May 23). Walmart expands metaverse, influencer efforts with Walmart Realm. 

Chain Store Age. Retrieved September 27, 2024, from 

https://chainstoreage.com/walmart-expands-metaverse-influencer-efforts-walmart-realm