When a choice of teeny Gorilla Glass or a picture window makes a difference. Thinking about which reality you want to live in. A repost from March 2022.
Agreed. Although it’s been lovely meeting folks such as yourself and Mark via the small glass, it’s because it’s been a more purposeful interaction than mindless scrolling, so that I have more purposeful time with the outside world, too.
And it has been lovely! I am often suspcious of the social-media-ness of Substack, but it has served its purposes. I would never have been able to get glimpses of you, Bryn, and Tom and all the others without the platform. I'll never ben a complete convert to an internetted life, but there are uses, good uses within a human context and a grounded reality.
Twenty years ago I was working in a high-level job, getting great money and, after nearly two years, chest pains. I decided I could either end up being the richest man in the cemetery, or less wealthy but still alive. I opted for the latter (obv) and haven't looked back. So from my perspective you made exactly the right decision!
I think the richness of experience helps. If you have ways of looking at life that go beyond the standard fair that society often dishes out -- money, mainly, and prestige -- you have a better chance to find different pathways. The window in some way was a different pathway for me that morning. That, and I think the fear and nudge that my wife expressed. No one wants to be a husk. No one wants to be the richest man in the cemetery.
“...we have become abstracts, ‘internetted’ social media caricatures of the human beings we are in real life.”
What a finish! And what thought-provoking words altogether.
I sat outside last night with my husband by our fire pit (which is less “pit” and more bald earth we gather around when it isn’t sweltering) and finally set my phone down to enjoy the last 15 minutes of our time. I commented that I felt like I’d been on my computer or mobile device all day--which I had because I work in IT, and our small business is currently booming which means phone calls and sending quotes and receiving payments.
And then my brother called. The one I never hear from. So I took the call and we talked for an hour while I sat by the fire. It was a good conversation, but if I had left my phone in the house, my brain would have that time to decompress and that it needed. Time to just think.
I’m not sure what the solution is to this “abstracted” life.
It is a muddle, isn't it. I think our task is in some way a matter of turning the technologies into tools. The magical qualities distract and make us (I think) vulnerable to powers that really aren't present in the tools. They become, in a sense, golden calves that we throw ourselves upon. Complicated, as they should be, if they offer us a perilous power of sorts....
I read today that GenZ is opting more for "dumb phones" than has been the case before, and I wonder it that shift in the phone market reflects a desire to gain more control over the things we caress too much in our palms.
Been thinking about you, Holly, as I've been reading Sally Mann's memoir. I'm gonna review it later this month or next.
More dumb phones--perhaps there is hope for us yet. I'll never forget a day at work (IT at LSU) when a professor hurried into the Help Desk, clearly distraught. He asked to delete his email account and grew more agitated when told we couldn't do that. Turns out, he wanted nothing to do with email, cell phones, social media. He only wanted to be reached when he was in his office during his posted office hours--in person or by landline. And he was fairly young! That was probably the first time I really thought about what technology is doing to us. But I agree--there are valuable powers, too.
I've not heard of Sally Mann--adding that one to the queue as it looks interesting!
Yet another vote in favor of paying more attention to what is close at hand. I concur!
Agreed. Although it’s been lovely meeting folks such as yourself and Mark via the small glass, it’s because it’s been a more purposeful interaction than mindless scrolling, so that I have more purposeful time with the outside world, too.
And it has been lovely! I am often suspcious of the social-media-ness of Substack, but it has served its purposes. I would never have been able to get glimpses of you, Bryn, and Tom and all the others without the platform. I'll never ben a complete convert to an internetted life, but there are uses, good uses within a human context and a grounded reality.
Twenty years ago I was working in a high-level job, getting great money and, after nearly two years, chest pains. I decided I could either end up being the richest man in the cemetery, or less wealthy but still alive. I opted for the latter (obv) and haven't looked back. So from my perspective you made exactly the right decision!
I think the richness of experience helps. If you have ways of looking at life that go beyond the standard fair that society often dishes out -- money, mainly, and prestige -- you have a better chance to find different pathways. The window in some way was a different pathway for me that morning. That, and I think the fear and nudge that my wife expressed. No one wants to be a husk. No one wants to be the richest man in the cemetery.
Well put, Mark. "No one wants to be a husk" Exactly
“...we have become abstracts, ‘internetted’ social media caricatures of the human beings we are in real life.”
What a finish! And what thought-provoking words altogether.
I sat outside last night with my husband by our fire pit (which is less “pit” and more bald earth we gather around when it isn’t sweltering) and finally set my phone down to enjoy the last 15 minutes of our time. I commented that I felt like I’d been on my computer or mobile device all day--which I had because I work in IT, and our small business is currently booming which means phone calls and sending quotes and receiving payments.
And then my brother called. The one I never hear from. So I took the call and we talked for an hour while I sat by the fire. It was a good conversation, but if I had left my phone in the house, my brain would have that time to decompress and that it needed. Time to just think.
I’m not sure what the solution is to this “abstracted” life.
It is a muddle, isn't it. I think our task is in some way a matter of turning the technologies into tools. The magical qualities distract and make us (I think) vulnerable to powers that really aren't present in the tools. They become, in a sense, golden calves that we throw ourselves upon. Complicated, as they should be, if they offer us a perilous power of sorts....
I read today that GenZ is opting more for "dumb phones" than has been the case before, and I wonder it that shift in the phone market reflects a desire to gain more control over the things we caress too much in our palms.
Been thinking about you, Holly, as I've been reading Sally Mann's memoir. I'm gonna review it later this month or next.
More dumb phones--perhaps there is hope for us yet. I'll never forget a day at work (IT at LSU) when a professor hurried into the Help Desk, clearly distraught. He asked to delete his email account and grew more agitated when told we couldn't do that. Turns out, he wanted nothing to do with email, cell phones, social media. He only wanted to be reached when he was in his office during his posted office hours--in person or by landline. And he was fairly young! That was probably the first time I really thought about what technology is doing to us. But I agree--there are valuable powers, too.
I've not heard of Sally Mann--adding that one to the queue as it looks interesting!