Techno and the Psychology of Digital FOMO
George Orwell’s 1984 starts with, "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Nights of techno ravers end similarly: stepping out of the club after a long night at thirteen o’clock on a cold April day. Orwell warned us of a world cursed by surveillance then. Today, techno dancers seek shelter from them, one pulsating beat at a time.
To be clear, techno, as described in this post, is not the Calvin Harris or David Guetta you hear on the radio. Instead of melodic, techno sound feels extremely mechanical, cold and unemotional. No harmonies, no predictable drops, no stanzas, no choruses and no solos here.
Techno tracks do not even have a beginning or an end, the bass-drum just stubbornly drives forward until the lights turn on at 9 am.
Not long ago, techno was a fringe movement found only in the gritty outposts of Detroit and Berlin. Today, you can experience the sensation of techno at artistic installations in underground clubs and abandoned warehouses in nearly every major city. As such, techno draws a crowd unlike the Calvin Harris types of Vegas.
To understand what the techno trend is all about, let’s dive into the newfound motivation for psychological freedom in the digital world. Techno has more power over our minds than our footwork and it’s because of digital FOMO.
The Psychology of Freedom: From FOMO to JOMO
Just as Orwell predicted, the world is heavily surveilled. Techno provides an experience exceedingly rare in the modern era: freedom. Not only freedom from data surveillance but from the social comparison rampant on social media.
Our world is personalized through algorithms, hyper-intelligent face-recognition software, and browser cookies, which predict our every want - even before you feel a hint of desire. In some way, shape, or form, our personalities are sitting in a server room far away from ourselves.
Much of our willingness to surrender our data comes from wanting to share and connect through social apps. And this comes from a very natural motivation: to belong and to connect with our fellow humans. And if we can’t use social apps, we are missing out.
The fear of missing out (FOMO) hangs over our heads. Instead of going to a party with your coworkers, you decide to visit your friends. Or you see your neighbors taking yet another wine country trip while another neighbor flexes another family vacation. You see how much fun everyone else is having on Instagram and feel bummed that you missed out.
FOMO is such a potent force because, in our quest for happiness and fulfillment, we naturally engage in “what could have been” thinking. Cognitive psychologists call it counterfactual thinking. We may like the burger we’re eating, but a small part of us still wonders if maybe we should have ordered the steak instead. And when this kind of thinking is mapped onto the social world, it easily morphs into FOMO. You may really be enjoying your walk after dinner, but the minute you find out your friends went without you on a boat cruise? Suddenly, your sublime walk doesn’t seem so great. Everything’s great until you compare it to what could have been.
It’s an all too common problem. Here’s a solution for some: Visit a techno bunker near you. Techno clubs allow listeners to bask in JOMO, the joy of missing out.
Techno? More Like Tech-No
Though labeled as monotonic, minimal, and unmelodic, techno is enjoyed by many - both ravers and non-ravers. The culture that surrounds it provides an escape from the trappings of FOMO and digital glut.
Unlike dancing to Top 40, there’s no real standard dance style, which stifles the tendency for FOMO-based comparisons. Similarly, the dress code is inverse to that of Vegas club standards. You will be denied entry if you try and wear dress shoes and fancy button-downs. Cocktail dresses and heels for women are strictly forbidden. Additionally, darkened rooms with dizzying light shows make clothing style mostly irrelevant.
Want bottle service? GTFOH!
Clubs like Berghain, Berlin’s most secretive, hard-to-get-into techno club, strictly enforce zero tolerance for photography (by putting stickers over our camera). Blitz in Munich bans the use of smartphones altogether. The key takeaway is this: leave the virtual world with its likes and follower counts behind and experience the real world, the one where intimacy, belonging, novelty and good music is very much alive.
Techno may as well be called Tech-NO!
The world of techno is a world designed to be enjoyed free of comparison: The music is turned up, and the FOMO is muted.
Even though consumers today are molded to bank on likes by Instagramming their experiences, taking filtered selfies, or live-tweeting, the holiness of the privacy-driven, smartphone-free techno culture still lives up to its name.
Techno’s Impact on Tourism and Marketing
In 2018, 280 clubs in Berlin managed to amass over $1.6 billion in revenue. Over 3 million tourists, roughly the size of Berlin’s population, come for the bunkers alone.
With techno music as the best-selling genre on Beatport (dance music streaming service) as well as being known for its cultural evolution (starting from a cult-like tribe to attracting millions of tourists of bunker go-ers), it has also become a popular medium among brands to attract customers.
Many ads are full of techno-infused music: the Porsche ad for the new Macan featured the thrilling beats of Dutch DJ and producer Bakermat, travel search engine Kayak featured London’s DJ duo Eli & Fur and car loan and leasing mobile app Fair used the thumping beats of Australian Alison Wonderland’s “Here 4 U” for its Super Bowl 2019 ad.
Brands try, but techno’s not the same in the mainstream. There are barely any ‘stars’ in techno. Many techno producers seem to be comfortable with anonymity. The producers work together in changing constellations, often changing their pseudonyms and ensuring hardly any photos and details about them become public.
Skip the FOMO-fueled pressure of our daily lives. The data trail can stop at the entrance of the club. With Big Brother unable to watch our every move in techno bunkers, you can bet our modern-day Orwell would surely have mad footwork. See you at thirteen ‘o clock!
What’s Next?
References
Electronic Beats (Telekom): Munich’s New Techno Club Is Banning Cellphones, Telekom Electronic Beats
Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2008). The functional theory of counterfactual thinking. Personality and social psychology review: an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 12(2), 168–192
Groove: Clubkultur Berlin 2019: Studie zum Berliner Nachtleben, Benjamin Kaufmann
Sneppinger, D., King, J., Marshall, E., & Uysal, M. (2006, October 16). Modeling Iso-Aholas Motivation Theory in the Tourism Context. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249701095_Modeling_Iso-Aholas_Motivation_Theory_in_the_Tourism_Context
The Telegraph: Berghain: How to get in Berlin’s most exclusive Nightclub, Scott Campbell
Watson, K. (2019). IMS Business Report 2019. Retrieved from https://www.internationalmusicsummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMS-Business-Report-2019-vFinal.pdf
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