Performative nights out have become the theme of every weekend — we go out just to watch people circle up and wait for fun to arrive on its own. Eyes wander just for no conversations to start. Nobody’s dancing. Nobody’s even trying to talk over the loud music. Everyone’s just standing. 

Watching a hundred people waiting for something to happen rather than taking initiative is a dull, draining experience. It’s just boring. When an environment feels stagnant, going home is always an option, yet people still choose to go out.

We’ve lost the point of what a ‘night out’ actually is. You might as well spend it dancing, talking to people, actually doing something with the sleep you’re giving up. Instead of filming it for people who aren’t there to enjoy it, you should be enjoying it yourself. If you’re going out, you better be dancing and making the most of it. 

Half-showing up costs you the real experience and leaves you with a story that’s edited instead of a memory that’s yours. The point should never be to prove that you went — it’s to actually be there when you have the chance.

Among our generation’s desperation to appear effortless and nonchalant, head nodding as dancing and silence have been a common sight on nights out. Like it’s embarrassing to have a good time. 

An April 2025 Vox piece on why no one dances at clubs anymore makes the point that clubs, and adjacent spaces, exist for dancing. But because of the prominence of social media and phone usage, everything is content to post. It becomes a priority to look cool and be seen instead of being actively present. 

And while people are focused on filming for their Instagram stories, they’re also scared of being filmed themselves. It’s not just apparent in the club: Tyler, the Creator said this summer that the fear of being filmed is quietly killing Instagram, and a natural form of expression “is now a ghost.” They stand at the edge, performing stillness because it feels safer than being seen waving your arms around offbeat.

Anjali Rodrigo, a sophomore majoring in global health, has noticed the same pattern on nights out with friends, and suspects the night itself is rarely the issue. She describes how nights where the focus is content, taking pictures and appearances, the night feels shorter and less fun. It’s a letdown instead of a good memory. She proposed that “every night out could look exactly the same if [they] were just dancing and having a good time.” 

But nobody’s actually watching you. Everyone ends up being too busy trying to look good for themselves; no one is actually having fun. The stranger you’re worried about judging you is worried about the same thing, looking at their own phone instead of at you. 

The very fear everyone’s protecting themselves against — looking uncool, looking obnoxious, trying too hard — is exactly what they end up looking like anyway. 

Los Angeles nightlife is already oversaturated with the influence of social media. The constant photos and videos that share the not-so-flattering angles posted online for everyone to see have created the self-consciousness we all experience. USC’s “work hard, play hard” mentality inhabits this mindset, as more people push themselves to go out every night. 

A night out becomes one more room where every move feels surveilled, one more place where fun becomes synonymous with a photo to prove it. You don’t just go out; you go out where you might get spotted, tagged or added to a story. Actually dancing — badly, off-beat, with no angle and nothing to post — is closer to taboo than it should be. 

A 10-second blurry video of yourself two-stepping badly to a song will not dictate others’ perception of you. The people worth impressing aren’t sitting in a chair pondering whether your rhythm is aligned to the music — and if they were, dancing badly wouldn’t be the thing that is stupid in the situation.

You should be enjoying yourself. You are at the helm, setting the tone for whether tonight actually becomes fun or just another story about how it looked fun. Nobody else is going to dance first. Nobody else is going to make the night good for you. You get one version of tonight, you can either spend it standing at the edge of the floor performing a good time for nonexistent spectators, or you can just go have one.