I understand that doof culture has long needed a way to help find one another, and therefore, a doof stick was invented.

Once the humble flag of your group of friends or a supportive message from friends and fans alike, the Doof stick has now become an issue, and it’s impacted on the one thing we all agree is vital to the party – the music.

I think a lot of us have been in the music industry long enough to know when a certain substance, attitude, or “fad” has started to negatively impact the overall experience that we all share.

I first noticed this at Strawberry Fields festival; something was “amiss” with the overall sound quality. It wasn’t as though the stages hadn’t been curated properly, which is something we music snobs would probably note down at the time and then later debate amidst well-deserved after-work drinks and park down. No, this time it was the ever-growing popularity of the Doof stick! Mostly large flat square meme-inspired nonsensical in-jokes and trashy hilarity that is freely flowing throughout the festivities and embraced.

I’m no expert, but I do have some good music nerd friends of mine who’ve devoted their lives to creating, maintaining, and elevating the scene in various ways, mostly sound engineers.

I’m not pointing this out to name and shame you for wanting to be a part of the community, a part of the culture, and I definitely think it’s awesome being able to find your friends easily when partying with 20,000 other punters all doing the same thing – but can we please use our creative forces to create a functional party beacon that works as designed and also doesn’t stop reverberations traveling from the front back to the stage? There’s also the phenomenon that we as punters are now unable to see the acts performing due to mass eclipse that individually would be fine but together, unlike our beautiful community, has formed a wave that hinders the ability for us to connect to the performers by being able to see them and impacts on the overall quality of sound.

I could be wrong about this – but let’s just agree for a moment that I am correct in my thinking. We should try and create a long-lasting piece of art that won’t just last one festival and end up on the campground only to be thrown away by the volunteers and workers by the end of the event.

A better idea would be to strip it back and just have the traditional party Kane’s design being an actual stick-like design instead of the flat square monstrosity that’s taken over the screen!

Also, have your spot when out partying. Figure out where you and your good pals best navigate to: front left? Back right … centre-right? Middle just toward the back?

Every thing with intention, creative inspiration, and invention are all things that can and are expressed at these incredible events, so let’s draw upon that to help induce a better environment for everyone!

Long live the Doof, long live the power of community, and long live our continued commitment to these spaces, the insights that they hold, and the memories they’ve created.

Written Jasmine Speers 

Punctuation edited by ChatGPT.

#stopthebots #prohumen