5 ms·

Global connectivity is amazing but a part of me has this feeling of losing something. It will be no longer possible to be away from everything unless you seek i

by mrtksn 3y ago

Global connectivity is amazing but a part of me has this feeling of losing something. It will be no longer possible to be away from everything unless you seek it actively. Overall it’s a good thing but it still makes me sad in a particular way that I don’t have a word to describe it.

colordrops 3y ago
> It will be no longer possible to be away from everything unless you seek it actively This has already been the case for most people for decades. The change is a matter of degree rather than some new paradigm shift.
- mrtksn 3y ago
  There’s a difference between turning off your phone and going somewhere outside of the major population and have no option but be disconnected.
  - grecy 3y ago
    Just don't bring your phone. If you must for emergencies, bring it turned off locked away, and promise yourself you will only take it out in an emergency. But then you didn't need one for emergencies before it was possible, so I'd argue you still don't need one.
    - mrtksn 3y ago
      That would be irrational, the trick of going somewhere far away is that you rationalize it through something else and you don’t have the option to have the Internet or the phone. No one goes somewhere far away, explicitly for being disconnected, that’s an implicit goal. Otherwise, you can just turn off your phone do I have to leave it.
      - grecy 3y ago
        so, uh, I lived in the Yukon for 4 years and have spent months in the Arctic Circle and all over AK and Yukon. I drove from Alaska to Argentina, I drove right around Africa and I drove around Australia, including the world's most remote 4x4 track - 1,050 miles in ten days without seeing another person or vehicle. I, umm, know a thing or two about going remote without communications.
        mrtksn 3y ago
        I’m glad you know things but different people can have different motivations.
    - lxgr 3y ago
      > But then you didn't need one for emergencies before it was possible, so I'd argue you still don't need one. No, people didn't have phones, satellite messengers etc. Nor did we have penicillin or water filters, and as a result, people sometimes died from (by today's measure) trivially preventable causes. So that's not a very good argument for not bringing a phone or satellite beacon/messenger on a hike – permanently connected and livestreaming, turned off and at the bottom of your backpack, or anything in between. The choice is all yours!
  - ghaff 3y ago
    I think that qualifies as "seeking it actively" though.
    - mrtksn 3y ago
      Implicitly, maybe. However, being disconnected is usually just a perk of getting away. The problem with getting disconnected is that we don’t want to do it, we are afraid of missing out and we usually invent other activities to rationalize it. In a sense it’s a bit like enjoying the radio in traffic, taking the long ride home after work. This is not something that you would rationally do unless you have to, but there are some benefits that people are still seeking from it.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Things have shifted though. I took multi-week international trips in the 90s where no one expected to be able to reach me (especially not easily) and certainly not as a matter of routine communication. Maybe I'd send a postcard. A lot of people today expect that most travel maintains some degree of connectivity back home, especially if something urgent/serious happens.
Difwif 3y ago
Don't worry. We will normalize intentful disconnecting for periods of time out of necessity. It's far too obvious that being hyper connected 24/7 is bad for our health. We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever.
- doublerabbit 3y ago
  > We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever. Yeah we will. Why wouldn't we? > It’s not the L3 connectivity or texts from loved ones that harms us. Yeah it is. The fact that you feel you need to "announce" yourself real time is depressing. Can you not deal with being away from your loved one. Are you that clingy that you need to be in touch 24/7? Or is it trust issues? "Hi hun; love you, ill be back in a few days" does wonders for a relationship. What's wrong of explaining your vacation after you touch base?
  - Difwif 3y ago
    Agree with your comment on L3. The only exception I will make is communication in true life/death scenarios. Even then I understand the desire for some to intentionally disconnect that too. >> We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever. >Yeah we will. Why wouldn't we? That's why I called them cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes used to be ubiquitous. We have dramatically reduced smoking and it's now more normal to not be addicted to cigarettes. As we better understand how things negatively impact our health we gradually adjust our behavior. This makes sense from both a natural selection stand point and by simply observing consistent advancement in healthcare. I don't claim it will go away entirely but it will be more socially acceptable to disconnect from the bad parts and you'll have better tools and support to do so.
  - Aerbil313 3y ago
    >> We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever. > Yeah we will. Why wouldn't we? We will until the civilization collapses due to humanity's smartphone induced apathy.
  - lxgr 3y ago
    > Yeah it is. The fact that you feel you need to "announce" yourself real time is depressing. Can you not deal with being away from your loved one. Are you that clingy that you need to be in touch 24/7? Or is it trust issues? These all sound more like L8 problems, to be honest.
sneak 3y ago
There’s still nothing stopping anyone from turning their phone off or leaving it at home.
- carabiner 3y ago
  Yes there is, it's lack of willpower. The source of all personal failings in the world.
  - syncbehind 3y ago
    >The source of all personal failings in the world. Oh yea, my kidney definitely died because of a lack of willpower. Indubitably.
    - mcpackieh 3y ago
      "Personal failing" has idiomatic meaning, it specifically refers to things which are that person's fault. Medical issues generally don't count as "personal failings". If you did something wrong that caused a medical problem, that could be a personal failing. For instance if your organ failed because you drove your motorcycle too fast and crashed, that could be described as a personal failing.
    - SirMaster 3y ago
      How is a dead kidney a "personal" failure?
- doublerabbit 3y ago
  There isn't, but most won't nor will they fight the urge of "i wonder what's happening on XYZ, I better turn it back on!"
  - Unfrozen0688 3y ago
    This is for texting, calls and 56k browsing at most. X wont load.
owenversteeg 3y ago
When I was much younger I also felt a profound sense of loss when I found that the Iridium constellation covered the globe. Thankfully our shared thought that you can't be away from everything is not true: caves, anything underwater or dense forests around the world are totally inaccessible for any satellite devices. Also, not sure if you've used any satellite devices but even in most conditions you're still pretty away from things. You have to set up the device with a view of the open sky and wait several minutes for a text-only message of a handful of bytes. Using it in a Costa Rican rainforest was almost impossible.

by mrtksn 3y ago

colordrops 3y ago

> It will be no longer possible to be away from everything unless you seek it actively This has already been the case for most people for decades. The change is a matter of degree rather than some new paradigm shift.

mrtksn 3y ago
There’s a difference between turning off your phone and going somewhere outside of the major population and have no option but be disconnected.
- grecy 3y ago
  Just don't bring your phone. If you must for emergencies, bring it turned off locked away, and promise yourself you will only take it out in an emergency. But then you didn't need one for emergencies before it was possible, so I'd argue you still don't need one.
  - mrtksn 3y ago
    That would be irrational, the trick of going somewhere far away is that you rationalize it through something else and you don’t have the option to have the Internet or the phone. No one goes somewhere far away, explicitly for being disconnected, that’s an implicit goal. Otherwise, you can just turn off your phone do I have to leave it.
    - grecy 3y ago
      so, uh, I lived in the Yukon for 4 years and have spent months in the Arctic Circle and all over AK and Yukon. I drove from Alaska to Argentina, I drove right around Africa and I drove around Australia, including the world's most remote 4x4 track - 1,050 miles in ten days without seeing another person or vehicle. I, umm, know a thing or two about going remote without communications.
      - mrtksn 3y ago
        I’m glad you know things but different people can have different motivations.
  - lxgr 3y ago
    > But then you didn't need one for emergencies before it was possible, so I'd argue you still don't need one. No, people didn't have phones, satellite messengers etc. Nor did we have penicillin or water filters, and as a result, people sometimes died from (by today's measure) trivially preventable causes. So that's not a very good argument for not bringing a phone or satellite beacon/messenger on a hike – permanently connected and livestreaming, turned off and at the bottom of your backpack, or anything in between. The choice is all yours!
- ghaff 3y ago
  I think that qualifies as "seeking it actively" though.
  - mrtksn 3y ago
    Implicitly, maybe. However, being disconnected is usually just a perk of getting away. The problem with getting disconnected is that we don’t want to do it, we are afraid of missing out and we usually invent other activities to rationalize it. In a sense it’s a bit like enjoying the radio in traffic, taking the long ride home after work. This is not something that you would rationally do unless you have to, but there are some benefits that people are still seeking from it.
ghaff 3y ago
Things have shifted though. I took multi-week international trips in the 90s where no one expected to be able to reach me (especially not easily) and certainly not as a matter of routine communication. Maybe I'd send a postcard. A lot of people today expect that most travel maintains some degree of connectivity back home, especially if something urgent/serious happens.

Difwif 3y ago

Don't worry. We will normalize intentful disconnecting for periods of time out of necessity. It's far too obvious that being hyper connected 24/7 is bad for our health. We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever.

doublerabbit 3y ago
> We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever. Yeah we will. Why wouldn't we? > It’s not the L3 connectivity or texts from loved ones that harms us. Yeah it is. The fact that you feel you need to "announce" yourself real time is depressing. Can you not deal with being away from your loved one. Are you that clingy that you need to be in touch 24/7? Or is it trust issues? "Hi hun; love you, ill be back in a few days" does wonders for a relationship. What's wrong of explaining your vacation after you touch base?
- Difwif 3y ago
  Agree with your comment on L3. The only exception I will make is communication in true life/death scenarios. Even then I understand the desire for some to intentionally disconnect that too. >> We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever. >Yeah we will. Why wouldn't we? That's why I called them cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes used to be ubiquitous. We have dramatically reduced smoking and it's now more normal to not be addicted to cigarettes. As we better understand how things negatively impact our health we gradually adjust our behavior. This makes sense from both a natural selection stand point and by simply observing consistent advancement in healthcare. I don't claim it will go away entirely but it will be more socially acceptable to disconnect from the bad parts and you'll have better tools and support to do so.
- Aerbil313 3y ago
  >> We won't all be addicted to digital cigarettes forever. > Yeah we will. Why wouldn't we? We will until the civilization collapses due to humanity's smartphone induced apathy.
- lxgr 3y ago
  > Yeah it is. The fact that you feel you need to "announce" yourself real time is depressing. Can you not deal with being away from your loved one. Are you that clingy that you need to be in touch 24/7? Or is it trust issues? These all sound more like L8 problems, to be honest.

sneak 3y ago

There’s still nothing stopping anyone from turning their phone off or leaving it at home.

carabiner 3y ago
Yes there is, it's lack of willpower. The source of all personal failings in the world.
- syncbehind 3y ago
  >The source of all personal failings in the world. Oh yea, my kidney definitely died because of a lack of willpower. Indubitably.
  - mcpackieh 3y ago
    "Personal failing" has idiomatic meaning, it specifically refers to things which are that person's fault. Medical issues generally don't count as "personal failings". If you did something wrong that caused a medical problem, that could be a personal failing. For instance if your organ failed because you drove your motorcycle too fast and crashed, that could be described as a personal failing.
  - SirMaster 3y ago
    How is a dead kidney a "personal" failure?
doublerabbit 3y ago
There isn't, but most won't nor will they fight the urge of "i wonder what's happening on XYZ, I better turn it back on!"
- Unfrozen0688 3y ago
  This is for texting, calls and 56k browsing at most. X wont load.

owenversteeg 3y ago

When I was much younger I also felt a profound sense of loss when I found that the Iridium constellation covered the globe. Thankfully our shared thought that you can't be away from everything is not true: caves, anything underwater or dense forests around the world are totally inaccessible for any satellite devices. Also, not sure if you've used any satellite devices but even in most conditions you're still pretty away from things. You have to set up the device with a view of the open sky and wait several minutes for a text-only message of a handful of bytes. Using it in a Costa Rican rainforest was almost impossible.