This is hilarious.
I think I might love the guy in a strange way even though heās 29 (20 somethings - oy) and clearly is doing a theater piece for his life, but -
On TED - āideas no footnotes can support.ā Awesome.
On Palo Alto - āa horrible placeā You got that right.
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Funny picture accompanying the Boing Boing piece, Big Bang Theory is def not funny.
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I agree with a lot of your sentiments, but I also consider a lot of these side effects to be temporary. Humans first burned themselves before they ever learned to use fire more productively.
I think many of these problems are just a phase. The novelty will wear off and people will eventually adapt to use tech in more moderate, less obtrusive and more helpful ways.
I mean, like everything else thereāll always be downsides, but weāll learn to overcome many of them as we evolve to work through them. But, yes, in the meantime some of this is going to suck.
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Your optimism is heartening. Seriously. I donāt share it, though. The Internet is a bell that cannot be unrung, barring in my mind some kinda cataclysmic Loganās Run - type ending to things. āThanksā to computers in public schools, and ālearning as gamesā, now kids from even low-income families are computer literate (or getting there) by age 5 or 6. The Internet acts as mediator for their interactions with the world. Smart phones are basically mini computers as it is. Everything is being filtered through Social Media, āpics or it didnāt happenā, etc. 144 characters or TL; DR. Itās an embarrassment of riches, so much to choose from, so many options, that nothing worthwhile gets picked. I just canāt see a system like this being self-perpetuating; itās gotta collapse in on itself sooner or later. I donāt think the Human Spirit was cut out for this kind of thing. Sure, inventing fire and getting burned and learning how to use it is great, but I donāt think too many folks see The Internet as anything but a plus. Almost no one is anti-internet. The only way to voice a hearable criticism of the Medium is via the Medium itself. Itās inserted itself everywhere. Commercials (not even for computters!) with images changed by hands that come onscreen and finger āpage scrollā to the left or right. Totally unnecessary. But it puts everyone in mind of conceptualizing everything in a trope of computer interactivity. How much time do you spend online? How many times a day do you check your email? On āAn Idiot Abroadā, Karl got a call from his wife, asking how to use the DVD player. And he was in Chichen Itza. How freaking depressing is THAT?
Youāre very focused on all the negatives. I think itās more helpful to focus on the positives and negatives and weigh them both out. It also sounds like you may need some more space from your own computer and television if possible. Most people I know donāt know even a fraction of the memes youāve mentioned throughout this thread or only have a glancing knowledge of them. Then again, I know a very diverse group and not just people that have their smartphones growing out of the sides of their heads.
I had a friend complain to me about all the repeat commercials he was seeing on TV. I told him that was probably because he was over-watching TV. If youāre seeing a bunch of repeat commercials over and over again, itās definitely time to shut off your TV and expand your horizons a bit.
Like I said, people are already getting bored and moving on. Many are bored with Facebook and leaving it by the millions every month at this point and many more arenāt signing in very often. The novelty of social networks is wearing off and humans are evolving to apply more moderation in their approach to tech.
For example, I know many people who used Myspace back in the day (including myself) and got bored with it and ditched it. They then moved on to FaceBook and thatās now running its course for many as well. Myspace was enough of a time waster for me back in that day that it informed me to never even set up anything but a semi-anonymous lurker account on Facebook. When friends and family want to get in touch with me, I have email and phone.
Iām not really as optimistic as you portend. I think thereās lots of downsides to aspects of the Internet and I think thereās a lot of value in only using it in moderation. But, then again, you can apply that to almost anything.
I just can't see a system like this being self-perpetuating; it's gotta collapse in on itself sooner or later.Sure, like everything else. Myspace collapsed. Facebook will collapse eventually. Things get built up, people get bored once the novelty wears off, they move on and it dies. It's phases and evolution.
Everything is being filtered through Social MediaNope, not even close. A vast amount of things that happen in this world are completely untouched by social media. I go out on adventures all the time with people and the overwhelming majority of it is never "captured" by social media. Like I said, I think you really need a break from mass media and your computer, etc.
Iāll put it this way, if social media was involved in everything (as you say)ā¦ quite a lot of acquaintances I know would be āinternet famousā right now and celebratedā¦ or on their way to jail, prison, etc. and/or just wrapped up in public controversy. Hahahaā¦
So much more goes on outside here in the real world it might shock you. Hehā¦ Social media for the most part is just a tiny sliver of real life and nothing more. Thatās probably why so many people that consume too much of it tend to get unhappy/depressed. Itās just a small, blurry facsimile of real life.
The only way to voice a hearable criticism of the Medium is via the Medium itself.Nope, I've heard elderly people complain about it in coffee shops. :)
I don't think too many folks see The Internet as anything but a plusMost people I talk to have concerns about it. Everything from it being an unhealthy time waster if not used in moderation all the way up to worries about privacy issues. Or, just the fact that it's boring compared to getting outdoors into the thick of it and/or having actual social interactions in person.
Sure, thereās people that are unhealthily attached to their computers/smart phones/etc., but many more arenāt and/or went through that phase, got throughly bored from the rut and moved on.
Did either of your parents have a favorite Beatle or 'Stone?
Did that infuriate your grandparents?
waaaaaaitaminute ā youāre that TIMECUBE guy, arenāt you? !!!
cf Illustrated timeline of moral panics
But of course this one is different because: INNERNETS!
Itās easy to spot the Internet apologists because their pushback usually has little if any serious response value regarding anything Iāve said. Iām just the ignorant anti-internet guy so anything goes: snark, vitriol, guffaws at my expense. There are millions like you: do you realize that? Glib snark is the norm nowadays: doesnāt that bother anyone? I dig humor as much as anyone, but when all that matters is scoring a ābazinga!ā or making the newest and best Bon Mot, well, count me out. I appreciated Cowicideās responses. I donāt appreciate yours. But Iāll give you something else to ridicule, since that seems to be your bag.
Come up with something other than thousand-year-old ranting points (āWriting will make us forget and destroy culture!ā) and maybe Iāll take you somewhat near your word.
āGlib snark is the norm nowadays: doesnāt that bother anyone?ā
Itās the norm? You can assert that, without backing it up? Thatās a very pat, snide remark.
I apologize for not going on at length to refute your many baseless assertionsā¦ butā¦ theyāre baseless. And boring. You repeat what came before. Your grandparents lost faith when your parents liked the Beatles (or The Who or maybe even Eagles). THEIR grandparents lost faith when crooners came around, and THEIR grandparents lost faith when coin-op music-boxes put the hurdy-gurdy players out of business, and THEIR ā¦ etc lost faith when heiroglyphics promised to provide comfort and security in the afterlife.
The world did not end, even if their brains DID run out of their noses as a result.
Of course, that presumes that ānatureā exists outside of a continuum, and that our anthropological artifacts ā be they grooming behavior, fire pits, language, clothes, tools or small-cube satellites ā are not part of nature. Placed there by some un-natural being, perhaps? An intelligent designer?
I confess to never really understanding the ādisconnected from natureā argument. We are of the world, and cannot remove ourselves from it.
Iām glad this eventually sent me to the enjoyable article on Tim OāReilly. Although the article is a bit disingenuous in its descriptions of Stallman. [H]ighly idiosyncratic, to put it mildly is only the tip of the iceberg. Heās not just an idiosyncratic ideologue ā heās an offensive monomanical fruitcake.
We need a certain amount of those in some areas*, however, and I am a month in arrears on my FSF dues. FOR SHAME.
* although without the offensiveness, Iām sure.
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