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The older I get - the more I crave tactile experiences. I was glad he mentioned the experience of listening to albums (well, it’s not the listening that’s so ca

The older I get - the more I crave tactile experiences. I was glad he mentioned the experience of listening to albums (well, it’s not the listening that’s so calming after all - he is right on that). Everything has trade offs and as time goes on I value the benefits of technology less and less. I believe this has more to do with age than any sort of absolute value judgement. I should stop at the grocery store on the way home.

yamtaddle 4y ago
> Everything has trade offs and as time goes on I value the benefits of technology less and less. I believe this has more to do with age than any sort of absolute value judgement. For me it's long observation of tech improvements not improving happiness or contentment. More choices, more efficiency—just means more time trying to decide, and that you're expected to do more and context-switch more in less time. I think there was probably a sweet spot somewhere along the line—or probably a bunch of sweet spots, for separate things—and in many respects we're way past it now.
- admax88qqq 4y ago
  Are the tech improvements truly the cause? Or are you just becoming less happy/content as you age. The stereotype of a crotchety old person comes to mind. The Douglas Adam's quote comes to mind https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/39828-i-ve-come-up-with-a-set-of-rules-that-describe https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/39828-i-ve-come-up-with-a-s... “I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    It's less that they cause unhappiness, than that they often do little to improve it. Different, not better.
  - karaterobot 4y ago
    This quote comments on our prejudices about technology, but has nothing to say about whether or not a given development in technology is actually good or bad. Things don't always have to just keep getting better, and often, in practice, they don't. So, the challenge is to firewall our immediate response to something in tech from our overall evaluation of it.
  - adamisom 4y ago
    People actually get happier as they get older though. I think above 45ish.
  - dilap 4y ago
    I did a quick google and found > The total number of teenagers who recently experienced depression increased 59% between 2007 and 2017. The rate of growth was faster for teen girls (66%) than for boys (44%). (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/12/a-growing-number-of-american-teenagers-particularly-girls-are-facing-depression/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/12/a-growing-n...) So that's some evidence that we really are getting less happy. I would say the biggest change over that time period is smart phones became ubiquitous.
syntheweave 4y ago
All I have to say is: a variety of stationary and a well-lit writing surface, and my tactile needs are mostly spoken for. There's technology in stationary too, but it's unsurprising. There are only so many ways of applying pigments and dyes to paper, and if you put serious money into the supplies you top out on practical utility very quickly.
- pwdisswordfish0 4y ago
  It's "stationery".
Barrin92 4y ago
I've had the same experience for the last ten years when I had just turned twenty. I don't think it has to do with age, it has to do with the abundance of tiresome and exchangeable digital content mostly over the last decade or so. Young people too are more looking for tactile media, smaller shops, smaller communities to chat with even, and so on. Handcrafted content is becoming more popular even within digital media.
jl6 4y ago
Technologists have long pushed a vision of some kind of totalitarian digital convergence, where all your needs are satisfied by a device, and no other non-device solutions need exist. Some of this was good - it's a genuine benefit to have phone, camera, notepad, calendar, calculator, music, weather forecast, etc. all condensed into one handheld device. But the vision isn't content to stop at sensible integrations. It pushes for things like all human interaction to be tech-mediated (social media). It pushes for blocking out the real world entirely (VR). We shouldn't be throwing out tech where it's beneficial. But we should know where to stop.
- smcnally 4y ago
  > We shouldn't be throwing out tech where it's beneficial. But we should know where to stop. Using tech and delivery media where it works is up to creators and consumers. Our preferences, biases, and vested interests are in where we choose to invest time and other resources. This isn't proprietary to magazines, platforms or tech. Pursuing conversations about what do we *want* to do? what *can* we do? what *should* we do? sheds light on the Where and How. "Luxury Media" purveyors can choose to be a magazine, app, or ps5 title, or they can choose to be where people will find/read/watch/play with what they're making.

yamtaddle 4y ago

> Everything has trade offs and as time goes on I value the benefits of technology less and less. I believe this has more to do with age than any sort of absolute value judgement. For me it's long observation of tech improvements not improving happiness or contentment. More choices, more efficiency—just means more time trying to decide, and that you're expected to do more and context-switch more in less time. I think there was probably a sweet spot somewhere along the line—or probably a bunch of sweet spots, for separate things—and in many respects we're way past it now.

admax88qqq 4y ago
Are the tech improvements truly the cause? Or are you just becoming less happy/content as you age. The stereotype of a crotchety old person comes to mind. The Douglas Adam's quote comes to mind https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/39828-i-ve-come-up-with-a-set-of-rules-that-describe https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/39828-i-ve-come-up-with-a-s... “I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  It's less that they cause unhappiness, than that they often do little to improve it. Different, not better.
- karaterobot 4y ago
  This quote comments on our prejudices about technology, but has nothing to say about whether or not a given development in technology is actually good or bad. Things don't always have to just keep getting better, and often, in practice, they don't. So, the challenge is to firewall our immediate response to something in tech from our overall evaluation of it.
- adamisom 4y ago
  People actually get happier as they get older though. I think above 45ish.
- dilap 4y ago
  I did a quick google and found > The total number of teenagers who recently experienced depression increased 59% between 2007 and 2017. The rate of growth was faster for teen girls (66%) than for boys (44%). (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/12/a-growing-number-of-american-teenagers-particularly-girls-are-facing-depression/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/12/a-growing-n...) So that's some evidence that we really are getting less happy. I would say the biggest change over that time period is smart phones became ubiquitous.

syntheweave 4y ago

All I have to say is: a variety of stationary and a well-lit writing surface, and my tactile needs are mostly spoken for. There's technology in stationary too, but it's unsurprising. There are only so many ways of applying pigments and dyes to paper, and if you put serious money into the supplies you top out on practical utility very quickly.

pwdisswordfish0 4y ago
It's "stationery".

Barrin92 4y ago

I've had the same experience for the last ten years when I had just turned twenty. I don't think it has to do with age, it has to do with the abundance of tiresome and exchangeable digital content mostly over the last decade or so. Young people too are more looking for tactile media, smaller shops, smaller communities to chat with even, and so on. Handcrafted content is becoming more popular even within digital media.

jl6 4y ago

Technologists have long pushed a vision of some kind of totalitarian digital convergence, where all your needs are satisfied by a device, and no other non-device solutions need exist. Some of this was good - it's a genuine benefit to have phone, camera, notepad, calendar, calculator, music, weather forecast, etc. all condensed into one handheld device. But the vision isn't content to stop at sensible integrations. It pushes for things like all human interaction to be tech-mediated (social media). It pushes for blocking out the real world entirely (VR). We shouldn't be throwing out tech where it's beneficial. But we should know where to stop.

smcnally 4y ago
> We shouldn't be throwing out tech where it's beneficial. But we should know where to stop. Using tech and delivery media where it works is up to creators and consumers. Our preferences, biases, and vested interests are in where we choose to invest time and other resources. This isn't proprietary to magazines, platforms or tech. Pursuing conversations about what do we *want* to do? what *can* we do? what *should* we do? sheds light on the Where and How. "Luxury Media" purveyors can choose to be a magazine, app, or ps5 title, or they can choose to be where people will find/read/watch/play with what they're making.