A quick scroll through one of Tumblr's 39.5 million blogs is likely to reveal pictures of food, clothes, movie stars, and other specimens of pop culture. Harmless, right? Don't be so sure.
Since its launch in 2007, Tumblr has established itself as one of the world's most popular social networking and microblogging sites, especially among teens and young adults. Even prominent celebrities like Lady Gaga and Zooey Deschanel of New Girl fame have joined. It's popular, it's fun, and it's growing by thousands of new members every day -- so what exactly is the issue?
My main complaint with Tumblr lies in one of its integral features -- the "reblog" button. Reblogging allows users to post material from blogs that they follow onto their own pages, automatically giving credit to the original poster. Though the intent of this feature may have been to facilitate sharing whatever it is that Tumblr users enjoy viewing -- one of the most important characteristics of successful social networking sites -- all that it's really accomplished is the systematic destruction of innovation and creativity among the younger generation of Internet users.
While that might sound like a bit of an exaggeration, it's not without premise. No matter how much interesting and creative original content is posted on Tumblr nowadays, it's hard to see past the millions of blogs that are filled with nothing but tired, recycled content, some of which has already been posted by tens of thousands of other users. While many in the Tumblr community claim to use the site to promote individuality and self-expression, very few seem to make an effort to uphold that principle. The fact remains that there is very little creative justification for reposting something that has already been seen more than a few times.
That's not even taking into account the matter of intellectual property and the ease with which Tumblr allows it to be violated. Although reblogging a post will automatically link it back to the original blog, there are entirely too few restrictions preventing users from simply saving a picture and reposting it as their own. Even for users who aren't so blatantly violating the rights of the original creators of what they're posting, Tumblr's format places far too little emphasis on crediting those who supply all of its original content. The people behind the real creative efforts present on Tumblr are consistently lost in a shuffle of reused and reprocessed material, in the end receiving only a fraction of the credit and praise that they deserve.
The real problem runs deeper than doling out credit for blog posts. The issue at the heart of the matter is one of a lack of encouragement for innovation, a quality that is all too important in a world that develops more potentially threatening problems with every passing day. Instead of placing value on conformity and the development of an increasingly homogenous population, as I would argue Tumblr does, we as a society should be focused on fostering an inventive and ingenious spirit in the next generation of scientists, artists, and world leaders. What we really need is not people to do more of the same, but rather figures that will challenge our beliefs and ideals in unprecedented ways. It is only through this kind of intellectual novelty that we can learn and grow as people, both individually and as a society.
While it might seem strange to detect such deep-seeded problems in such a simple concept, it's important to remain aware of what our actions say about us as people. I'm not suggesting that Tumblr is some sort of evil institution that has to be stopped at all costs -- quite the opposite. The Internet is and always has been one of the world's greatest platforms for fostering creativity, and Tumblr doesn't need to be any different. If a more significant sector of Tumblr users were to make an effort to either recognize those who supply the most original content or to create some of their own, it could become a fantastic way to both disperse and promote individuality and inspiration. It's all in how you use it.
I disagree with the quote the author is talking about. Lack of encouragement? it is anything but lack of encouragement. For the first time teens are communicating in their teen realm that is free from prying eyes and free from nagging adults and overbearing teachers. For example a teen writes about a software problem. Someone jumps in to help him with the problem by telling him go to github and put the following script, the scripting or whatever was told was done, and the teen returns to thank the one who shouldered the teen. The teen is then asked to go back and remove the older problem before proceeding to carry on. Now that's both innovative and qualitative stuff on Tumbler. The internet is ever so expanding and there will be good stuff and bad stuff. Lets not discourage the teens not to explore new sites.
I took an art history class in high school. I saw painting after painting of people who lived in a time when clothes were sewn by hand either by a tailor or by the person who was wearing them. And guess what? Within classes of any given culture there was not a lot of diversity in what people were wearing.
90% of the people blogging on Tumblr or anywhere are not going to produce innovative or creative content even if they are stripped of the ability to cut and paste other people's creative work. Why, because 90% of the people putting out content on the Internet are simply not innovative or creative when it comes to authoring digital content. They may be innovative cooks, innovative dancers, innovative landscapers, just not innovative digital content creators. The people who are cutting and pasting are doing so because that is all they can do in the medium of digital content not because the medium of Tumblr has weakened their creative impulses.
You are generally free to share information online. Tumblr just has a button for it. Many users also manipulate content before reblogging. Many interesting movements, like the "We are the 99%," have roots in Tumblr. It seems reactionary to dismiss Tumblr as derivative just because it has an automated feature for sharing, an accepted online practice.
Also, I feel bad harping on a grammatical mistakes, but it's "deep-seated" not "deep-seeded."