This says so much of what I feel. I was a dept. chair in a university when the Internet arrived, and people WANTED those desks.
Sometimes when a power outage looms I rather hope it will be 10 days as that will be enough time for people to remember the times they don't remember. The panic last power outage I saw people frantically in their cars to charge their phones. That that was the first they people did seemed sad to me.
A few years ago, on vacation, I accidentally took my phone into the ocean (it was in the non-waterproof pocket of my Tommy Bahamas beach chair, which I used to sit in the surf). For nearly a week I didn’t have the thing. It was great.
Ultimately smartphones are still such a new thing, hopefully the shine will wear off a bit and we’ll collectively arrive at a better, tool-based use of them.
Recently I dialled right back on the torrent of <opinions> <arguments> <takes> and suddenly began treating the Internet as a library instead. I'm researching one sprawling, but specific, subject and finding people to talk to about it. Weirdly, this feels kind of new. It's as if I had previously mistaken the Internet as a place to be and act, rather than a wonderful library. I like it very much, this way.
Yes, I agree with all that. Internet is great but phones are qualitatively different even from a laptop in an undesirable but compelling way. I've damaged my device and using a very slow emergency one now that does not even download some apps while is v slow with others -- and it feels better but I'm struggling against a growing compulsion to buy a replacement. Essentially I use it for 2fa, email and as a phone. I've installed WhatsApp though so my 2nd biggest timesuck after reading articles/blogs/newsletters, is text conversations with Internet People is still a thing. Struggling with these two a lot.
I feel the same way, Daniel, albeit thank you for spending some of your precious internet time on my Substack! 😜
I have no social media on my phone (and barely use it in any manner), and even deleted the Substack app, so I can only ‘work’ via desktop. That said, I’m always making notes and always mentally connected to the internet, albeit my job requires me to be on top of news and constantly generating ideas and perspectives.
I felt much less mentally cluttered before smartphones, in particular. Sometimes I dream of the peace of living on a remote island in Scotland, but it would be too cold, I’d be too bored, and I’d be eaten by a wild bear that isn’t even native to Scotland.
I feel so lucky to have grown up before the internet. It’s so much easier to treat it as a tool we can use and then set down, and not the air we breathe. Your chef’s knife analogy is perfect.
Today I’m going for a hike near a medieval castle and then up a small mountain. And I will not be online! (Unless I get lost or twist my ankle or something.) The world has plenty of wonders!
This says so much of what I feel. I was a dept. chair in a university when the Internet arrived, and people WANTED those desks.
Sometimes when a power outage looms I rather hope it will be 10 days as that will be enough time for people to remember the times they don't remember. The panic last power outage I saw people frantically in their cars to charge their phones. That that was the first they people did seemed sad to me.
A few years ago, on vacation, I accidentally took my phone into the ocean (it was in the non-waterproof pocket of my Tommy Bahamas beach chair, which I used to sit in the surf). For nearly a week I didn’t have the thing. It was great.
Ultimately smartphones are still such a new thing, hopefully the shine will wear off a bit and we’ll collectively arrive at a better, tool-based use of them.
Recently I dialled right back on the torrent of <opinions> <arguments> <takes> and suddenly began treating the Internet as a library instead. I'm researching one sprawling, but specific, subject and finding people to talk to about it. Weirdly, this feels kind of new. It's as if I had previously mistaken the Internet as a place to be and act, rather than a wonderful library. I like it very much, this way.
Yes, I agree with all that. Internet is great but phones are qualitatively different even from a laptop in an undesirable but compelling way. I've damaged my device and using a very slow emergency one now that does not even download some apps while is v slow with others -- and it feels better but I'm struggling against a growing compulsion to buy a replacement. Essentially I use it for 2fa, email and as a phone. I've installed WhatsApp though so my 2nd biggest timesuck after reading articles/blogs/newsletters, is text conversations with Internet People is still a thing. Struggling with these two a lot.
I feel the same way, Daniel, albeit thank you for spending some of your precious internet time on my Substack! 😜
I have no social media on my phone (and barely use it in any manner), and even deleted the Substack app, so I can only ‘work’ via desktop. That said, I’m always making notes and always mentally connected to the internet, albeit my job requires me to be on top of news and constantly generating ideas and perspectives.
I felt much less mentally cluttered before smartphones, in particular. Sometimes I dream of the peace of living on a remote island in Scotland, but it would be too cold, I’d be too bored, and I’d be eaten by a wild bear that isn’t even native to Scotland.
I feel so lucky to have grown up before the internet. It’s so much easier to treat it as a tool we can use and then set down, and not the air we breathe. Your chef’s knife analogy is perfect.
Today I’m going for a hike near a medieval castle and then up a small mountain. And I will not be online! (Unless I get lost or twist my ankle or something.) The world has plenty of wonders!