hyper-self awareness/self-consciousness

I'm interested in this idea that I want to call "hyper self-awareness" but maybe it's really just hyper-self-conciousness. Maybe it's neither. But mainly I'm wondering if it's a new thing. I wonder if it's specific to the current generation.

So, we all know that irony is a characteristic of now. And irony is a product of self-awareness, right? You have to be aware of the thing in order for it to be ironic. But it's also kind of a product of self-consciousness. When people are doing something ironically, they are still doing it, but it's in a way that that doesn't make them feel self-conscious...as though...if they're aware of it they're in control of it? It's not acting on them, they're acting on it?

Anyway, so we know that's there. But of course, we're also aware that we do this (or people do it), so it's adding this other layer of awareness on top. And there seems to be this struggle to be completely aware of how you're acting, OR ELSE YOU'RE A FOOL. like, if you aren't thinking of every possible nuance and interpretation of what you're doing/saying, you are opening yourself up for attack and ridicule.

I think the blog HIPSTER RUNOFF is a maybe perfect example of this. The guy, Carles, is often ridiculing. He has one famous post "GIRLS NIGHT OUT" which basically details a hypthetical girls night out, which then causes people to be shamed if they do what he describes, or maybe causes them to think about it while doing it. Like, "damn I can't do that sincerely anymore, because I've read about it," and it causes the people to be self-concious about engaging in those activities. Like, after 500 Days of Summer, no one can now play house in IKEA, unless they do it jokingly in reference to the movie. (Fritz Lang actually has some quote about how he doesn't like porn because then a couple will watch it and do what it does, instead of "beautifully" coming up with it between themselves")

But even more, Carles writes in an incredibly self-conscious style. He's constantly quoting things that he knows/feels are cliches and such, so...he's using them constantly, but he's showing that he KNOWS they're cliches. But at the same time he's entirely dependent on them. It's entertaining, but after a while it gets really depressing to see how guarded he has to be in his writing because he's set himself in this position where he makes others incredibly self-conscious, so he has to be the most self-conscious of self-conscious ones, and it starts to seem like it would be impossible for him to legitimately enjoy anything

I don't know, I'm not yet sure what to make of it all. Just that while I understand the being self-aware thing as a good thing, it seems to cross over into this self-consciousness that makes authentic enjoyment impossible. That's actually kind of one of the themes of the blog, but I don't think he's really thought it through yet...like he points out how people THINK they're being authentic, but they're not...but just because people arrived at the same thing doesn't mean they arrived there inauthentically (although it can mean that).

I duno, it just really gets sad to read after a while.