Examples of Low Status Fun
post by niplav · 2023-10-10T23:19:26.212Z · LW · GW · 1 commentThis is a question post.
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Answers 13 romeostevensit 13 Linch 11 Adam Zerner 5 gwern 5 Jacob Watts 5 Adam Zerner 4 Ilio 3 Adam Zerner 2 niplav 1 Adam Zerner -1 lc None 1 comment
What is fun and what is high status are probably negatively correlated, and people probably mostly try to have high status fun. So I'd expect there to be several ways to have fun that are under-explored.
So, what are some example of things that are low status but potentially fun?
This is very much babble [? · GW], but try to keep it to legal and mostly moral suggestions (though with less strong constraints on the latter).
Answers
Whatever the outgroup does for fun. In highly educated online circles this would include drinking beer, riding atvs, hunting, street racing, eating deep fried food at an amusement park, blowing things up, etc.
I think anything that roughly maps to "live vicariously through higher-status people" is usually seen as low-status, because higher-status people are presumed to be able to just do those things directly:
- watching porn/masturbation (as opposed to having sex)
- watching sports
- watching esports
- romance novels
- reality TV
- Guitar Hero etc (a bit of a stretch but you're playing the role of somebody who could actually play guitar)
One exception is when the people you're living vicariously through are very high status/do very difficult things (eg it's medium to high status to be watching the Olympics, or The West Wing, or reading biographies). Conversely, living vicariously is usually considered even lower status if the people you are living vicariously through aren't very high-status themselves (eg reality TV or esports). Another exception to this trend is reading classic novels and history. I'm not sure why.
Schooling people who are Wrong On The Internet.
Lots of examples in this recent account of juggalos: https://chicagoreader.com/music/gathering-juggalos-insane-clown-posse/
I think the best way to cash in on the fun side of the fun/status tradeoff is probably mostly rooted in adopting a disposition and outlook that allows you to. I think most people self limit themselves like crazy to promote a certain image and that if you're really trying to extract fun-bang for your status-buck, then dissolving some of that social conditioning and learning to be silly is a good way to go. Basically, I think there's a lot of fun to be had for those who are comfortable acting silly or playful or unconventional. If you can unlock some of that as your default disposition, or even just a mode you can switch into, then I think practically any given activity will be marginally more fun.
I think that most people have a capacity to be silly/playful in a way that is really fun, but that they stifle it mostly for social reasons and over time this just becomes a habitual part of how they interact with the world. I don't expect this point to be controversial.
One of the main social functions of things like alcohol and parties seem to be to give people a clear social license to act silly, playful, and even ~outrageous without being judged harshly. I think that if one is able to overcome some of the latent self-protective psychological constraints that most people develop and gain a degree of genuine emotional indifference towards status, then they can experience much more playfulness and joy than most people normally permit themselves.
I know this isn't really a self contained "Friday night activity" in itself, but I think that general mindset shifts are probably the way to go if you're not terribly status-concerned and looking for ways to collect fun-rent on it. I think there's a lot to be said for just granting yourself the permission to be silly and have fun in general.
↑ comment by Jacob Watts (Green_Swan) · 2023-10-11T07:47:11.369Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
For specific activities, I would suggest doubling down on activities that you already like to do or have interest in, but which you implicitly avoid "getting into" because they are considered low status. For example: improve your masturbation game, improve your drug game (as in plan fun companion activities or make it a social thing; not just saying do more/stronger drugs), get really into that fringe sub-genre that ~only you like, experiment with your clothes/hair style, explore your own sexual orientation/gender identity, just straight up stop doing any hobbies that you're only into for the status, etc.
Trash television. Personal choice: Married At First Sight.
Dating people with disabilities, neurodivergents, low IQs, mental health issues, and/or your brother in law.
Some answers:
- Sex
- Butt stuff
- Hiring sex workers
- Engaging in sex work
- Being promiscuous
- Engaging in low status fetishes
- Asking out many people in your social circle
- Even if they're in relationships (?)
- Becoming very tribal/sometimes engaging in very tribal behavior
- Becoming religious
- Extract as much information as possible from people in conversations, never offer any yourself (being a detective in real life)
- This might include switching conversation topics very often, or pivoting to new ones
- Or alternatively have a "mandatory" pause after every response you get before you speak
- Walk barefoot
- Dumpster/restaurant diving
- Hitchhiking
- Marvel movies
- Pop music & meme music
- Picking your nose / ears & eating it in public
- Getting weapons to defend yourself with (including, but not limited to, getting really into swordfighting)
- Taking low status drugs
- Amphetamines, Opioids
- Not psychedelics &c, those are high status
- Drunk loud singing
- Buying & wearing the same clothes for your entire life
- Try to optimize ones masturbation
- Owning a ton of stuff (in case shit goes bad)
- Owning very little stuff (in case you need to move quickly, & for nimbleness)
- Having kids early in life
- Having many kids
- Donating to sperm banks)
- Sell one's hair (I think that should be possible)
- Sell one's stool
- Consume said stool from others to improve one's health
- YouTube/Netflix binges
↑ comment by spxtr · 2023-10-11T20:27:19.512Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
This is very much babble [? · GW], but try to keep it to legal and mostly moral suggestions (though with less strong constraints on the latter).
I downvoted, because
- Becoming religious
- Having kids early in life
- Having many kids
... are not low status fun, but long-term life decisions that should not be taken lightly.
- Extract as much information as possible from people in conversations, never offer any yourself (being a detective in real life)
- Asking out many people in your social circle
- Even if they're in relationships (?)
... are just "be rude to friends," which I consider immoral.
- Hiring sex workers
- Engaging in sex work
- Taking low status drugs
- Amphetamines, Opioids
... are probably illegal.
Replies from: niplav↑ comment by niplav · 2023-10-11T23:02:31.702Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Thank you for making this gradient way more legible! (Just fyi, I upvoted your comment).
I disagree that {becoming religious, child number/earliness} are against the spirit of the question. I believe that extracting as much information as possible can be done non-rudely, asking out people is rude. Not sure whether rudeness is immoral.
Agree on the illegality, although that really depends on the country/type of sex work.
Getting outraged about mindkilling stuff like politics.
↑ comment by localdeity · 2023-10-11T02:19:19.534Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
In some places like Less Wrong that might be considered low status, but I think that tends to be considered high status on e.g. Twitter.
Smoking large amounts of cigarettes in a party setting.
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