Bring Back Gatekeeping
..the good kind. Yes, there is an appropriate kind.
I can already feel the hate on me as I write this but.. I think we need to bring back certain aspects of gatekeeping.
No, not the toxic, “name three songs off the band shirt you’re wearing or you’re a poser” kind of gatekeeping. I’m talking about the lovingly aggressive, taste-forward, slightly pretentious-but-in-a-good-way gatekeeping. The tastemakers and those who recommend with discretion. The kind of friend that’s a little too much sure, but made you watch obscure movies or anime because they wouldn’t shut up about it, and then you got it. The kind that said, “Here’s a CD I burned for you, I hope it changes your life”.
As a millennial, I remember the Before Times — before Spotify playlists were auto-generated and everything we watched came from “Recommended for You.” Back when you had to work a little to find your favourite things. When discovering a new band on your own or based on a suggestion from a friend whose taste you trust felt like pulling a rare Pokémon card. And honestly… this is what shapes our tastes.
Human Taste Isn’t Dead
Around the early 2010s, everything changed. Algorithms came roaring in like the messiah of modern culture. Spotify wanted to be your best friend. Netflix promised to “know your taste.” YouTube had autoplay. Social media started shaping our lives with “For You” pages that felt deeply personal… until they didn’t.
We tried to kill the gatekeepers. But maybe, just maybe, we need them back. Not just creators — curators. People who didn’t blindly follow the algorithm and what’s trending but instead stalked it, studied it, and cherry-picked the best bits with surgical precision. Folks who mined the recommendation mines for gold and came back with actual taste, not just trends.
These are the new culture custodians: newsletter writers with a God-tier radar for indie films or video games, TikTokers who explain deep discography cuts, podcast hosts who can draw a straight line from a forgotten shoegaze b-side to the cultural mood of post-9/11 suburbia, or explain how a 1970s Japanese city pop record quietly shaped the aesthetics of modern indie films — without flinching.
Your Obsessive Nerdy Friend.. Is Your Friend
Now, we’re living in a digital landfill. There’s more content than ever, and 90% of it feels like reheated leftovers. AI-generated blog posts, AI music, AI movie trailers, TikToks that are just echoes of other TikToks. The volume is deafening, and most of it isn’t of substance. The problem is, there’s no filter. The algorithm has no soul, no values, no opinions. It can’t tell you what matters — it just tells you what’s next. And beyond the internet’s amateur scene, we’re starting to miss — dare I say need — to bring back praise on quality journalism again.
That’s why we need that nerdy friend, the obsessive movie/music critic, the blogger with a niche, the YouTuber who refuses to monetize because they’re too busy yelling about some cult fandom. Oh and the substackers who do these for all of our interests *ahem.. subscribe*. These are the people with actual taste!
“I’m Not a Snob.. Just Passionate”
I’m not saying we go full snobcore and start insulting newcomers for not knowing enough. But I am saying: let’s celebrate people who REALLY CARE about the things we are consuming. Gimme the ranting blogger , the playlist purist, the cinephile with a Letterboxd list for every mood.
The algorithm isn’t our only friend. It’s a slot machine wearing a smiley face. With everything being easily available today, I feel we need to step back and have someone tell us “No, you’re not ready for this type of content until you’ve had some level of context”.
Give me the hot takes. The passionate arguments. The “you won’t like this album, but maybe one day you will” kind of love.
To that I say, bring back gatekeeping — not to exclude, but to elevate taste!
hi, yes thanks for reading! Get at me in the comments if you agree or strongly disagree.
I think the context that usually exists around the term "gatekeeper" will always make me a little antsy, but I will forever embrace the opinionated friend shouting about a game or book or show they like.
Do I always agree with their opinion? No. But I usually enjoy the thing they've recommended (even if not with the same fervor), and it has given me opportunities to watch/play/read/etc. Some really neat/fun things that I never would have crossed paths with otherwise.
Now that’s the kind of gatekeeping I can get behind!
The only problem is that nuanced concepts like this often get distorted, with people tending to take them to extremes. Until critical thinking becomes trendy again, we’re kind of doomed to be at the mercy of algorithms, afraid to step outside our bubbles.