4 ms·

This article brought on more sadness than I thought it would. As I have grown older and remember times like the one the author described I miss the quiet and pe

This article brought on more sadness than I thought it would. As I have grown older and remember times like the one the author described I miss the quiet and peace of an unconnected world. It is a pity that younger generations will never know the this feeling unless it is forced. The freedom of being quiet is sadly lost to the past.

torpfactory 9y ago
I think that in the future there may be a distinct division between people who have control of their own attention and connectedness and those who don’t. I already see a division between some people I work with - noses buried in their phones all day, and those who tune it out and get real, deep thinking work done.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- kristineberth 9y ago
  I have a sneaking suspicion that in the not-too-distant future there will be a very significant cultural backlash against all of this noise, all of this hyper-connectedness.
  - fiatpandas 9y ago
    Could you elaborate on your thinking here? My prediction would be gradually the hyper connectedness becomes the norm while the last generations who remember “quiet” die. Of course there would likely always be small fractions of the population who look to the past and practice mindfulness, almost like how people re-enact the civil war battles. But I would guess largely highly saturated connectedness becomes who we are, in spite of a vocal minority who long for a different way of living.
    - 0xBA5ED 9y ago
      Of course this depends. There's no guarantee people growing up in a hyper-connected world will fully embrace every aspect. It only takes a festering distaste in enough individuals plus a unifying voice to trigger a backlash.
    - groby_b 9y ago
      Can't speak for the OP, but on my part, it's less thinking, and more a feeling. The unthinking and uncritical wonder is gone. We're looking at all things technological with a more and more critical eye. More and more people are publicly speaking out about the idea that social media and hyperconnectivity are actively harming us. It feels different than most old ideas that I've seen die before. Yes, of course there's always an inevitable "good old times" moment, but this one... There's something lurking behind it. It's not just nostalgia, it has the roots of a fight seeded in it. We'll see. Maybe I'm now just old enough that this time, it feels different. But it does not feel like what happened to VHS, or the CD, or land lines, or any number of things that we've declared outdated in the last few decades.
- trevyn 9y ago
  This. We now have access to two worlds, where before there was one. And it is helpful to be able to choose which world to inhabit at any given moment.
  - scirocco 9y ago
    To keep track of your time spent in both worlds, I suggest the app Moments. It’s pretty scary to see
sillysaurus3 9y ago
Quiet and loneliness are synonymous. We've lost nothing.
- chrisco255 9y ago
  No they're not. If I spend time in quiet contemplation that doesn't mean I'm lonely. Unless it's for an extended period of time with no meaningful connection to another person, it's not loneliness, it's just quiet.
  - sillysaurus3 9y ago
    Unless it's for an extended period of time with no meaningful connection to another person Yes, exactly. The internet has been a cure for this, and we're lucky to be around for it. When books were invented, there was an outcry against the idea. "We'll never have to use our memories!" Yet books have generally been seen as a positive thing. Why should the internet end up any different?
    - kornish 9y ago
      There's lots of research to answer the question of why the internet is different than books. For one, books take extended periods of concentration to digest while many applications on the internet are being hyperoptimized to give a constant and frequent dopamine drip. I'd recommend perusing The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, which suggests that exposure to rapid and substance-less feedback cycles can actually change brain chemistry in undesirable ways. The book is a bit sensationalist, but is nonetheless a good jumping-off point for exploring the perils of internet addiction.
- throwanem 9y ago
  Solitude and loneliness appear similar only from the outside. With sufficient experience of both, one learns to recognize the difference.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
yowlingcat 9y ago
It's funny, I'm reminded of the Björk song. Being in my childhood home for the holidays makes me very terribly wistful -- I can think of the ways that I passed these times so many years ago, and it doesn't exist except in memory anymore. But I don't know if the freedom of being quiet is lost to the past. The digital detox is increasingly a thing now; the youthful are attuned to and aware of the manners in which they are marketed to. It's only natural that we begin to see countercurrents, and only natural that humans intentionally disconnect to be one with the world around them.

torpfactory 9y ago

I think that in the future there may be a distinct division between people who have control of their own attention and connectedness and those who don’t. I already see a division between some people I work with - noses buried in their phones all day, and those who tune it out and get real, deep thinking work done.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
kristineberth 9y ago
I have a sneaking suspicion that in the not-too-distant future there will be a very significant cultural backlash against all of this noise, all of this hyper-connectedness.
- fiatpandas 9y ago
  Could you elaborate on your thinking here? My prediction would be gradually the hyper connectedness becomes the norm while the last generations who remember “quiet” die. Of course there would likely always be small fractions of the population who look to the past and practice mindfulness, almost like how people re-enact the civil war battles. But I would guess largely highly saturated connectedness becomes who we are, in spite of a vocal minority who long for a different way of living.
  - 0xBA5ED 9y ago
    Of course this depends. There's no guarantee people growing up in a hyper-connected world will fully embrace every aspect. It only takes a festering distaste in enough individuals plus a unifying voice to trigger a backlash.
  - groby_b 9y ago
    Can't speak for the OP, but on my part, it's less thinking, and more a feeling. The unthinking and uncritical wonder is gone. We're looking at all things technological with a more and more critical eye. More and more people are publicly speaking out about the idea that social media and hyperconnectivity are actively harming us. It feels different than most old ideas that I've seen die before. Yes, of course there's always an inevitable "good old times" moment, but this one... There's something lurking behind it. It's not just nostalgia, it has the roots of a fight seeded in it. We'll see. Maybe I'm now just old enough that this time, it feels different. But it does not feel like what happened to VHS, or the CD, or land lines, or any number of things that we've declared outdated in the last few decades.
trevyn 9y ago
This. We now have access to two worlds, where before there was one. And it is helpful to be able to choose which world to inhabit at any given moment.
- scirocco 9y ago
  To keep track of your time spent in both worlds, I suggest the app Moments. It’s pretty scary to see

sillysaurus3 9y ago

Quiet and loneliness are synonymous. We've lost nothing.

chrisco255 9y ago
No they're not. If I spend time in quiet contemplation that doesn't mean I'm lonely. Unless it's for an extended period of time with no meaningful connection to another person, it's not loneliness, it's just quiet.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  Unless it's for an extended period of time with no meaningful connection to another person Yes, exactly. The internet has been a cure for this, and we're lucky to be around for it. When books were invented, there was an outcry against the idea. "We'll never have to use our memories!" Yet books have generally been seen as a positive thing. Why should the internet end up any different?
  - kornish 9y ago
    There's lots of research to answer the question of why the internet is different than books. For one, books take extended periods of concentration to digest while many applications on the internet are being hyperoptimized to give a constant and frequent dopamine drip. I'd recommend perusing The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, which suggests that exposure to rapid and substance-less feedback cycles can actually change brain chemistry in undesirable ways. The book is a bit sensationalist, but is nonetheless a good jumping-off point for exploring the perils of internet addiction.
throwanem 9y ago
Solitude and loneliness appear similar only from the outside. With sufficient experience of both, one learns to recognize the difference.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

yowlingcat 9y ago

It's funny, I'm reminded of the Björk song. Being in my childhood home for the holidays makes me very terribly wistful -- I can think of the ways that I passed these times so many years ago, and it doesn't exist except in memory anymore. But I don't know if the freedom of being quiet is lost to the past. The digital detox is increasingly a thing now; the youthful are attuned to and aware of the manners in which they are marketed to. It's only natural that we begin to see countercurrents, and only natural that humans intentionally disconnect to be one with the world around them.