"Draggin' Main"... How Social Networks Kill Social Activities

Recently my brother and I were discussing the fact that kids don't "drag main" any more. If you go through a small town at 8:00 on a Saturday night, the streets will be deserted. No cars, no honking horns, no horseplay on the sidewalks. My how things have changed in the last 30 years.
For those of you out there that are too young to know what I'm talking about.. I'll explain...
Every Friday and Saturday night in our small community, teenagers would gather in town. We'd run our dad's car, our hot rods, and farm trucks up and down main street U. S. A. for hours at a time. We'd try to time our "drag" so that we could meet the pretty girls at a turn around spot.. and stalk.. I mean.. follow them to Sonic hoping they would stop and we could start a conversation. Each time a buddy drove by, they'd get a "beep" of the horn. Occasionally we'd park on the street and then several others would gather and we would discuss our evening, where we wanted to hang out, whose house was deserted and primed for a "get together" or tell stories about ball games, school and activities. It was "social networking" at it's finest.

In the computer age things are different. Kids don't need main street anymore. They have text messages and Facebook to fill their social "needs". Modern teens just tap some buttons to find out last night's score, where the "party" is or who is out on a date with whom. Although this is much "greener", not burning fuel up and down main street, it is a bit sad that the memories and nuances of main street are gone.
The new age of social networking has also hurt other forms of entertainment.  People need people right?
In the days of yesteryear, folks would gather on porches and pick guitar have ice cream and swap stories. If you wanted a date, you'd go to a target rich environment like a dance or  a church. Now society has become so lazy that all they do is "tweet" or "post" in order to get their social fix.

How does this affect the entertainment business you ask?

I'll tell you. The entertainment business has largely become a butts in the seat business. In the glory days artists would tour to bring  attention to their record on the shelf and hopefully boost sales. Since there are no records on shelves any more, that marketing model has flipped. Now artists sell downloads in order to prop up their tour. Artists are even urged to GIVE their music away to try and create as many advertising "impressions" as possible and entice people to their shows. Record labels are now taking a piece of the touring $ pie because that is the only way any artist makes any money these days. ..... and there in lies the problem.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to get the population out from in front of their computer to go to a live venue.

Internet marketers will tell you it's the wave of the future.. or present.. however concert ticket sales are down, music sales are down, and very few artists are able to find their way to make a living in today's market....

Case in point... A friend of mine recently promoted a benefit concert in a medium sized town. He had 3 very good indie artists with a moderate amount of name recognition. He bought  ads on "Facebook" and ran the proper demographic formula to reach the target audience. In a few weeks the ad had garnered over 1 million impressions. However not one ticket was sold from the outlet that was taking on line orders. WHAT?  A MILLION people saw the ad and NONE of them bought a ticket? That surprised everyone involved. The problem wasn't the artists, or the cause.. the problem is what society has turned to for social activities. Society by and large does not attend anything any more. They would rather watch a boot legged youtube video of a concert shot on an iPhone than sit in the seat and feel the kick drum rattle their pant leg. They'd rather get tweets from their friends that actually do things, about ball game scores rather than take the trouble to put on decent clothes and go to the ball game themselves.

I know.. I sound like an old fogie.. well maybe I am.. but I can't help but think that without actual human contact (by this I mean being in the same room with people) our society is becoming more fractured. We are afraid of those we perceive as different, because we have never actually met them. We can reach billions of people with a key stroke but can we really affect their lives and introduce them to art, music and social activities if they are only experiencing them in cyber-space? Can new artists bring audiences to their feet, make them laugh or cry on youtube? Is our society losing it's heart and soul because the rest of the world only exists inside a box?

I wish I had the answers. My career in the entertainment business depends on it.. but I don't feel alone. I hear from countless artists, managers and venue owners that are fighting the anti-social aspects of social networking. We'll find a way.. some how.. until then I'll run the movie in my mind of a hot summer night in my '67 Firebird, running up and down Okemah's main street. Honking at friends, chasing the girls, and listening to music. "Down On Main Street"...

Until next time... beep beep... Cloudwatcher signing off........