KARAN

I just read your piece for The Wall Street Journal on the word of the year and online culture and feel even more excited to be in conversation with you. I’m most interested in your take on how language is shaped by the digital age in real time. Of course language has changed ever since its existence, but the evolution (devolution?) of language in the last five or so years have been immense. As someone who works with words pretty much every single moment of their life, this deeply concerns me. And I think you’re capturing that concern as perfectly as possible. Given your work, how do you see this “devolution” of language affecting how we express cultural and social critique today? Are we losing something in the process, or is it simply a necessary adaptation?

HEIDI

One thing I’m not obsessed with is how everyone is “so obsessed” with everything, and how everything is “life changing” or a “run, don't walk, necessary buy.” Sure, “everyone” is hyperbole here, but that’s another thing – many internet audiences don’t pick up on literary devices. If you don’t speak in a straightforward and very literal way on social media, be prepared to be misunderstood! And when the biggest social media creators are influencers who make money from selling products, they can’t afford to be misunderstood. So the cycle repeats as the vocabulary remains limited and repetitive, and the structure and intonation feel like a flat copy and paste formula adopted by millions across social media. It’s not so much the fault of any individual influencer or creator, but the capitalist culture that places selling at the forefront of everything. Social media is short-form and fast-paced with content optimized for engagement over artistic integrity, and selling only works if the words are understood by the masses. From my perspective, the biggest byproduct of this de-evolution is a loss of identity and the art of language.

Yet with all of this said, there is still a lightness to the cynicism, and I see both sides of the coin. While there is this concerning deterioration of language, there are also silver linings of value. For instance, some of the formulaic formats of internet language littered across social media comment sections might be repetitive and a step back from individual expression, but it does create a sense of community. And I’m not talking about the oversimplification and homogenization of descriptors like “I’m obsessed, it’s life changing, run don’t walk, it’s so good,” but the comedic applications of common phrasing to different scenarios like “how’d you get this footage of me” or  “born to be (insert reference), forced to be (insert reference).” Someone once described it to me “as an inside joke everyone is in on.”

KARAN

You call yourself an “Accidental Poet” and that’s funny but when I first encountered your work I just thought “woah, such a fresh voice in poetry!” I love what you do and I’m especially intrigued by how spoken-word and poetry are evolving in these spaces. Spoken word and poetry have long been powerful vehicles for personal narrative, often grounded in trauma. However, there seems to be a shift toward using these forms for cultural criticism and social commentary in ways that are more humorous than what’s often looked at as “trauma-dumping”. How do you see this shift playing out, especially in the digital age where virality can sometimes eclipse substance?

HEIDI

Thank you – as one of my followers told me, my journey to poetry has been poetic in itself! My first video that led me here was a strung together nonsensical sentence of all of the ridiculous fashion, beauty, and social media trends of the moment. This struck a chord with the collective, as there is this growing frustration with the constant of being sold yet another trend to buy, all while feeling like the world is burning.

With so many people scrolling similar content, it makes sense that there is a shift from hyper-personal narratives to those that express shared frustrations. The entire world went through a pandemic within the past five years, and I think there is collective residual trauma that lingers societally – which is especially visible in the way we use social media and interact with one another. All to say, I think the words are still grounded in trauma, but it makes sense that there is a shift from personal to cultural and generational narratives. It doesn’t feel like a trauma dump when it’s being absorbed by audiences who feel like the words are an expression of their same thoughts. I’ve even had people direct message me saying they’ve sent my videos to their therapists so they could be better understood and helped.

As for where this shift is going, more people seem to be craving quality over quantity. I think of social media content as food and nutrition. When fast food chains started popping up everywhere in the 1950s, they were celebrated for their speed and convenience. The nutritional impact was less of a concern, even as ingredients started becoming more and more processed throughout the years. It wasn’t until much later that the negative health effects of frequent fast food consumption made their way into public knowledge. Now, many people try their best to opt for foods of higher quality or nutritional substance. Social media is relatively new, and I think we are just now understanding how an overconsumption of  “low-substance” content can be harmful to our health. I think we’ll start to treat content like how we treat food, being more selective and mindful of the “nutritional value” of the content we consume, scrolling in moderation and ensuring that it feeds and sustains the mind. But, I’m not a researcher, only an observer, so this is my aspirational HOPE for what is to come.

KARAN

There’s a growing trend on platforms like Instagram and TikTok where creators use the platform not only to share their thoughts but also to critique the platforms themselves. In line with Audre Lorde’s famous quote, “For the master's tool will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.” How do you see artists and writers using the very tools that shape our online experience to challenge or expose the limitations of those tools? How can this act of self-reflection evolve into something constructive for future dialogue?

HEIDI

I’m aware of the irony that I critique social media on social media, but that’s where the most pertinent audiences to reach with these messages live. I’m not trying to dismantle the house as much as I’m attempting to draw attention to some of the negative spaces within – the shadowy rooms that suck us in and start to haunt us. It’s about finding the good spaces and guiding others to do the same because whether we like it or not, social media plays a crucial role in modern culture.

I don’t believe it to be in an artist's nature to sit in blissful ignorance in the sunny rooms of a house, knowing that the other half of the doors are locked with something haunted behind them. If we refuse to adapt, the shadows will creep out and reach us regardless, so I think it’s best to face them, maybe even get stuck, then take time to reflect the feelings into art that draws eyes to the structural issues. I want my tour of the house to be from the writers and artists – it makes for a better experience!

With all that said, I like the Audre Lorde quote, but I also think we can’t sit on the curb and analyze all that we don’t like about the house from the outside and think that is enough to change it. If we want to see a change, we have to do it from the inside.

KARAN

No matter the disagreements we have with the ethics of these platforms, Instagram and TikTok have given rise to a new wave of poets and spoken word artists. How do you perceive the role of these platforms in shaping modern poetry? Insta poets are famously hated in our circles, but who can say they haven’t opened up doors for countless teens? On the other hand, Tom Waits quote comes to mind: “Bad art is ruining the quality of our suffering.” As humans, we’ve always suffered in one way or another, and art is the channel with which we express that suffering. Are these digital spaces providing a unique opportunity for poets to engage with broader audiences, or do you think they are limiting the depth of the conversation? How do we reconcile these two seemingly opposing forces? Does the need for quick consumption limit the depth of these critiques, or can brevity become a strength in this context?

HEIDI

Social media platforms have brought fresh eyes to poetry, and it’s no secret that poetry is not as popular in American culture as it once was. For that, I think the positives outweigh the challenges. Whether the literal words are of a certain depth or not, they still serve as a potential gateway into poetry beyond the digital medium – and there is depth in that potential dive. I don’t think the forces of appealing to a broader audience and limiting the depth of conversation are opposing as much as they are both swirling around together under the weight of capitalism. I’d venture to say it’s not bad art that’s ruining the quality of suffering, rather it’s capitalism and consumption culture ruining the quality of suffering by commoditizing, repackaging, and selling our own suffering back to us. If we don’t suffer in some way, however small, then how would we be convinced we need to spend money on something to alleviate the discomfort, or to be better, or to be a happier version of ourselves? All in all, I don’t think it’s the fault of the artists and their art as much as it is the systems that reinforce a surface culture that doesn’t dig too deep.

This might sound ironic coming after that analysis, but I also think we limit ourselves when paying too close attention to what everyone else is doing in the industry and what appeals to the masses at a given time. Awareness is good, but too much might take time, love, and authenticity away from creating!

KARAN

Given your reflections on language and culture, what do you think are the primary challenges for modern poets or spoken word artists or influencers (aside: how do you feel about the term “influencer”?) trying to express complex social and cultural issues within the constraints of a brief, often visual, format that is fast moving and does no good to our attention spans? You speak at lightning speed in your videos which is something I love too and is part of your charm. But when does the criticism of our collective-ADHD, fucked-attention-spans lives turn into something that feeds those very problems? Is the space for slowness shrinking?

HEIDI

Along with many other writers, I find it difficult to maintain poetic integrity when feeding an algorithm that chews up words and spits them out. If you get the attention-grabbing recipe for content just right, you might get a taste of virality, but it can lead to an addiction to the sweetness of exposure that strays you from your original flavor. You have less than one second to capture attention on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and this doesn’t bode well for a lot of poetry that stays true to itself.

I use the speed at which I perform some of my words to amplify the message, mimicking the high-speed scroll and calling attention to the fast lives we are all living. Yes, it’s feeding into our short attention spans, but it works to get people to listen, exposing this very thing. I typically will tack on a digital-friendly, attention grabbing introduction at the top of the message I want to share, then some seconds in, I start exploring the deeper context. It doesn’t feel like it takes away from the integrity of the poem at its core, it’s more of a bait and switch for my words to be heard. By playing into the fastness, then sometimes switching into a slower pace, it might just be creating space for slowness. As I’ve captured audiences on social media, the performances of my words have evolved. Now, I also try to layer in slower pace pieces that stay true to the page.

KARAN

If we look ahead, what are your thoughts on the future of language in the context of digital communication? Especially now that LLMs are becoming part of our lives more and more. How do you envision the evolution of language impacting the arts, particularly poetry and spoken word, in the next decade? I invite you to make prophecies without any restraint!

HEIDI

In a world of technical perfection and catering to diminishing attention spans, I would like to believe the pendulum will swing to open-ended messiness – poetry that doesn’t tie everything together into a nice, neat, mass-produced bow. Out of curiosity, I plugged timeless and critically-acclaimed poems into ChatGPT and asked for a grade. The grades were average to good, with both compliments and constructive criticism. Following, I did the same with a couple of mine. With no intention of taking any advice, ChatGPT prompted the same direction, which was to tie it together at the end, bringing my words to an obvious conclusion. But the beautiful thing about art is that it doesn’t need to have a clear beginning and end. An open ending is an invitation for personal connection and interpretation, and as we rely more and more on LLMs, art becomes so cut and dry. LLMs can be powerful, helpful tools, but I fear too much dependence could lead artists down a spiral to perfection that takes the messy humanness out of their original work.

I also envision more value placed on spoken poetry and in person performances, as a wavering human voice might become refreshing among computer-refined typed words. I see a yearning for mistakes and messiness in our future– the things that make us human!

KARAN

You’ve been a vocal critic of many elements of online culture, yet also an active participant within it. How does this tension between being part of the system and critiquing it shape your own artistic practice? Do you find it liberating, or is it an ongoing struggle?

HEIDI

In a way, this tension is what is responsible for propelling me forward. I draw inspiration from the tension to catapult my words forward. I feel like I’m bungee jumping into the internet, observing with a higher perspective, but also diving headfirst, becoming disoriented. Either way, I always have the safety of the cord that connects the two. In the end, the dual experiences of immersion and observation are what shape my artistic practice. By learning to look at it this way, I find it liberating.

KARAN

I sense a lot of Bo Burnham in your work and would love to know what you think of his work. Additionally, what are some of your artistic influences?

HEIDI

I consider this such a compliment! I take a lot of inspiration from Bo Burnham’s bittersweet balance of critique and comedy that brings both an anxious gulp and a light sigh of relief. Other than that, I sort of unintentionally stumbled into my current structure that has now become very intentional and feels unique to me. I draw inspiration from everywhere, but also nowhere specific.

KARAN

Finally, Heidi, we’d love for you to recommend a piece of art — perhaps a song, a film, a book, or a visual artwork — that you think everyone should experience.

HEIDI

For artwork, I’d recommend Hilma af Klint’s paintings! I saw them curated at the Guggenheim a few years ago, and it was the first time I felt like I truly understood abstract art of this nature. Her paintings convey themes of spirituality, the balance of femininity and masculinity, and larger learnings from the universe. The mystical messages coded within her whimsical brushstrokes just clicked with me. In a world of instant gratification and straightforward explanations at our fingertips, I think it’s worth it to disconnect and challenge the mind to create its own meaning without the influence of anyone or anything else.

For reading, a friend recently mailed me her copy of Ways of Seeing by John Berger. She said she had to read it in art school, but as someone who did not attend art school, it’s a fresh perspective to me! Chapter 7 on publicity images and the impact on our culture is especially interesting. Keep in mind, the book is from the 70s, so social media hasn’t even come into the picture yet. If you’re looking to stop buying so much, this chapter exposes the images and ideals that keep us chasing a dangling carrot.

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Heidi Becker is a poet and content creator, and the author of Once Upon a Midnight Scroll (Andrews McMeel), her forthcoming and debut book featuring poems based on her viral social media monologues and spoken word pieces. Amassing nearly half a million followers across Instagram (@heidiunhinged) and TikTok (@heidsbecker), Heidi is best known for her signature high-speed performances that blend satire and societal critique with honest emotional confessions. Exploring the hypnotics of social media and its wider impact on culture, unattainable beauty and body ideals, the commodification of identity, and the chaos of the modern world, Heidi’s monologues have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Yahoo News, Her Campus, and more. Prior to sharing on social media, Heidi owned a vintage clothing store and spent more than seven years working in the public relations industry.

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