The Modern Age 'Painfully Oversaturated''

Apologies If Some Of The Language & Points Made Might Offend Some Of You Out There, I'm Not Writing To Please, I'm Writing To Express My Thoughts

Ladies and Gentlemen lets face it, metal detecting is quite simply the best hobby in existence, there's nothing quite like it. We all do it for different reasons, for me it's strange how therapeutic removing items from the ground can be. Even if it's just trash, on my long term permissions I know that the more trash I remove the higher chance I have at discovering treasure. The more "open" your ground is, the better, so it's for a purpose. One thing that really amazes me about my pasture fields is the way they can spit up targets from spots you've hunted heavily and on other days you stumble across nothing. It's as if the ground decides if it's going to reward you for your efforts or continue to hold on to the treasures for another day. That's why I love using all my different machines and why I own rather a vast coil collection, it's good to switch it up and fire different frequencies into the ground.

For many out there metal detecting is something that can be filled with nostalgia and fond memories of years gone by. Since my dad died its become more important to me than ever because he got me in to the hobby at a very young age. Metal detecting brings back memories of the times we use to both go out for the day hunting. My Mum always worked on Saturdays so in the summer me and dad would drive deep into the countryside and go and metal detect on land we had permission for. It was all quite convenient because most the land we had was behind a number of country pubs so we'd always have a good pub lunch. We were friends with all the landlords because I played in a band that gigged regularly around all the pubs in East Sussex where I grew up. 

Back in those days, 'the later 80's' things seemed so much simpler, life was more private and people lived their lives within the world around them, their conscience wasn't being infiltrated by technology and the population wasn't walking around with their smart phones fused to their retinas. People weren't consumed as much with trash reality television and distractions, they seemed to be living in the moment. There wasn't the information overload that we have forced down upon us like today. There wasn't so much discourse and ill feeling because, unlike social media, many people didn't have the nuts to say shit to your face as opposed to hiding behind a screen name online .. oh and there was no platforms other than the television for people to force their political views on you. You know politics is theatre ... right?

"Living in the moment" is becoming a thing of the past, everyone is either holding there phone up recording or walking around with a GoPro on their head, "me included". Having said that though, I do go out metal detecting a lot without filming any of it and, to be honest, I prefer it that way. I still look upon my YouTube channel more as a 'demonstration' of performance using machines that aren't widely known about, as opposed to an ego trip "look at me everyone" type of thing. I think I've explained it enough in the past why I'm doing what I do. Subscribers, likes and views mean shit to me, I'm putting information out there, it's up to you if you can be arsed to watch any of it.

Lets Get Back On Course

In the 80's and the 90's I actually think we were far more self sufficient in regards to both our imagination and how we chose to live our lives and occupy ourselves, we didn't pass time distracting ourselves with the meaningless. In many ways so many things were in their infancy and everything appeared very organic, things seemed as though they were built to last and you got a lot for your money. Looking back at the old metal detectors, there was something fascinating about the way they looked, they had a very organic feel about them. For me, still not in my teens, I hadn't really seen a proper metal detector up close until we went and got my Fisher 1265x, there was something magical about them. I was intrigued by the dials, gauges and switches and the audio made me visualise their internal circuitry, which for the time was cutting edge. 

When you had a machine you didn't think about it being the best or the worst you just got what you could afford at the time and you, very simply, went metal detecting. You didn't have a constant wasp in your ear telling you that 'said machine smokes the other', you didn't have endless and mindless comparison videos. You also didn't have clueless 'hick-town' types dictating to you what you should and shouldn't be using. You quite simply went metal detecting without all the bollocks that comes with it nowadays. Moving forward to the present day, everything in our life is so painfully over commercialised and oversaturated. Actually there are times when I wish I could lobotomise myself to help me manage with how fucked up society is. Even being dosed up to the eyeballs on various antidepressant medication still doesn't pacify my desire to turn my back on society and buy a shed on a deserted island where I communicate to the outside world solely by smoke signal.

One element of metal detecting that I will always remember was that feeling of expectation when you hit on a target and it ended up being a coin, it felt magical to think the last person to have dropped it was the last one to have touched it, you were grateful for any good finds you got. Nowadays I find a lot of the mystery has been removed, like everything now, metal detecting has becomes so painfully commercialised to the point of over-saturation. Social media seems to attract so many people into doing things that they probably wouldn't of thought about by their own accord. Before the internet you actually had to have imagination and come around to specific ideas and interests on your own. That's why years ago metal detecting was very much a 'fringe' hobby, I genuinely don't think it was on many peoples radar. 

Don't get me wrong, there are positives, there's so much more information out there about machines and you get to read up and look at things in action. That sure as hell beats looking at a picture in a leaflet and trying to imagine how 'said machine' would function, also it's much easier to find like minded people all with different knowledge bases. So as things have moved forward so has our ability to choose and decide what we might want to use. But all of this comes with a downside. Due to the commercialisation a lot of the mystery has been removed, when I started you had no real idea what you were going to find and you didn't really know what many of the older coins even looked like. This meant that digging them was all the more exciting. 

But now with YouTube and Instagram etc, you're regularly seeing people find stuff which in turns takes the mystery away. Along with this there now seems to be what I call metal detecting lingo, no longer is it called a Roman Fibula, it's now known as a "fib" and a hammered coin is now known as a "hammy". If you find a silver or a Roman coin it means "you're on the Roman" and "you're on the silver, if I'm going to be honest all these terms make you sound like a fucking idiot. I find it strange how certain behaviours spread so easily, but I guess if you're always looking for acceptance and to be part of a group then it's to be expected. 

The other down side is the whores and the sycophants, the people that will do just about anything for some sort of sponsorship or recognition. I can usually spot these people a mile off, they have product banners all over their profiles, never say a bad word about the machine they're using and are usually kitted out head to toe in branded clothes, I can't take these people seriously. To me it all comes across as desperate ... oh and if you use a thumbnail in your videos of you with a surprised look on your face and a click-bait title I instantly select the "don't show me anything from this channel" option. Do I sound negative? maybe ... but I've got to call things the way that I see them. 

When I use to discuss things with my dad he always say that "times change", I agreed with him on some level but I was more of the opinion that "times are engineered to change". When I was at school I didn't have to put up with half the nonsense that youngsters have to deal with these days. Their minds are being warped with ideas cooked up by think-tanks and government departments, to shape the future in the way you want it to be you've got to target tomorrows generation today. I look upon it as psychological manipulation, which is the same as marketing and we all know what effect that can have. It's marketing that keeps you buying that magic machine that will find, 'pretty much the same stuff in the ground as the ones you already own'. Again, this demonstrates how commercialised the hobby has become, what's going on in wider society intertwines and connects to what we choose to do in our life. 

So what's the answer to real fulfilment in an oversaturated and over-commercialised world, I can only express how I try to navigate myself through it. You've got to know who you are and hold on to your identity the best way that you can,"Don't Drink The Kool Aid", your identity is sacred and the only thing you have that is truly your's. In metal detecting, live in the moment and appreciate every piece of treasure that you find, don't quickly disregard it and rush forward to find the next. If you love a machine, be it old, analog or 'whatever', don't let others make you think that you need to be using the latest and greatest, sometimes you've got to go back to move forward. Finally really try your best to 'be here now', the world isn't going to end if you don't feel like posting a video of you digging a "hammy" or a Roman "fib".