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His son's reaction reminds me of the first time I quit social media. I remember just walking about, living my life, and then a thought would occur--a clever rem

His son's reaction reminds me of the first time I quit social media. I remember just walking about, living my life, and then a thought would occur--a clever remark or an interested photo I could take. And then I had to grapple with not sharing that thought with anyone. The thought would just linger in my head for a bit, then disappear, and there would be no record of it at all. That's been default for 99.9999% of human existence, and in a few short years of social media usage, it became a strange and foreign sensation. I'm glad I went through that to readjust and see just how much my mind had been warped. I use social media much less than I used to and I'm happier for it.

shantly 7y ago
That goes for passing, trivial questions, too. One pops in your head now, you itch until you answer it, because you can answer it. Pre-ubiquitous-web, fewer such thoughts reached the level of conscious awareness and they were rarely actionable, so, if not important, maybe you ask the people you're with ("hey, who was that guy in that one movie?") and if no-one knew or had the relevant coffee-table trivia book handy (so, most of the time), it went unanswered and the thought just went away. No itch. I also find I burn a lot of time on meta-media (best-lists and such) and low-value reading (cough) because there's a ton of it available at the command of a whim, where before one had to spend real time seeking out or paying for that sort of thing (magazines and such). It's a pretty serious indictment of my Web activity that I wouldn't pay any money at all for most of it, if the choice were to pay or not to have it (Internet service doesn't count—I pay for it for the few things for which it actually is very useful, not for those). Actually that word might best describe what we've done with this new environment: we've given vastly more power to whims. The Age of the Whim.
- Doxin 7y ago
  Sometimes I kinda miss just idly pondering a question and having to come up with plausible answers yourself. Of course I have the option to not look up answers -- which I often don't -- but then you still mis out on idly pondering with a group of people. Someone will have their cellphone out before you finish stating the question.
dosethree 7y ago
Social media changes the WHY people do things. They go out just so they can post a cool photo of them having a great time outside when really inside they are all fucked up.

shantly 7y ago

That goes for passing, trivial questions, too. One pops in your head now, you itch until you answer it, because you can answer it. Pre-ubiquitous-web, fewer such thoughts reached the level of conscious awareness and they were rarely actionable, so, if not important, maybe you ask the people you're with ("hey, who was that guy in that one movie?") and if no-one knew or had the relevant coffee-table trivia book handy (so, most of the time), it went unanswered and the thought just went away. No itch. I also find I burn a lot of time on meta-media (best-lists and such) and low-value reading (cough) because there's a ton of it available at the command of a whim, where before one had to spend real time seeking out or paying for that sort of thing (magazines and such). It's a pretty serious indictment of my Web activity that I wouldn't pay any money at all for most of it, if the choice were to pay or not to have it (Internet service doesn't count—I pay for it for the few things for which it actually is very useful, not for those). Actually that word might best describe what we've done with this new environment: we've given vastly more power to whims. The Age of the Whim.

Doxin 7y ago
Sometimes I kinda miss just idly pondering a question and having to come up with plausible answers yourself. Of course I have the option to not look up answers -- which I often don't -- but then you still mis out on idly pondering with a group of people. Someone will have their cellphone out before you finish stating the question.

dosethree 7y ago

Social media changes the WHY people do things. They go out just so they can post a cool photo of them having a great time outside when really inside they are all fucked up.