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For the past couple of months I've lived without iPhone (with Prompt and Textastic) or phone for that matter (except for the occasional Skype call). I've tried

For the past couple of months I've lived without iPhone (with Prompt and Textastic) or phone for that matter (except for the occasional Skype call). I've tried to restrict my development and general Web usage to ~2 hours a day. I recall bumping into a colleague at around 3-4a.m. We had a smoke and then he got called away to do tech support on some web app he had been contractually obligated to support. Given experiences like that, and my previous work schedule: In the meantime, I've played in the park; re-learned futball to where I can perform advanced, intensive dribbling; re-experienced my long distance running regimen with old friends; progressively mastered the track bike (in complex traffic scenarios, track standing, skid stops, heel stops, etc.); re-organized my thoughts in ordinary language philosophy, contemporary neuroscience, quantum mechanics, Wittgenstein and Spinoza; I've begun a semi-daily writing activity; longboarding; road tripping; skipping stones; befriending animals; etc. These are the activities which contrast with $ pip install -r reqs.txt or reading another API or vim or bash scripting. But what else have I noticed? Daily I sit underneath the Texas sun, and watch. I watch people use these devices. I see IE everywhere and hours upon hours of people fumbling with that. Or texting. Playing some app or Twitter. It's beautiful, as I sit under the sun, silent. It upsets me how so many able bodies opt for such narrowly prescribed lifestyle. This argument often turns into ad hominem or red herring involving luddites, Amish, throwbacks, vintagers, etc.. But this text-based lifestyle is a choice too, you know, regardless of how "technologically savvy" or "liberated" or "autonomous" or "anonymous" one is.

guywithabike 14y ago
What's your job / how do you pay your bills?
- nerdfiles 14y ago
  Freelance front-end development. Python mostly.
olalonde 14y ago
Lots of applause lights in there (http://lesswrong.com/lw/jb/applause_lights/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/jb/applause_lights/). I'm pretty sure things are not nearly as bad as you seem to believe.
- nerdfiles 14y ago
  It's largely anecdotal, personal writing. So your description of my style may be technically accurate, but I feel your point suffers as a Mary-the-Color-Scientist observation. Take Paul Grice's Maxims for conversational exchange: Many maxims are at play, and we shouldn't expect for anyone to be "in control" of their execution of a maxim (maxim of relevance, truth, etc.). And an important point is that Grice notes a maxim of relevance: relevant _information_. Do I aim to supply anyone with _information_ with my post? Am I giving you information? From my post, does it seem like I, the author, would see _information_ as imperative to my point? Yes, naturally programmers expect an optimally informative state such that transaction might occur, but... Please, just read the sentences. I'm not a politician trying to convince you. I am a human being with an approximate grasp of Academic English. I mean, you're re-labeling my style with "UNINFORMATIVE." How do you expect me to take that? And "as bad as you seem to believe." Please point to anywhere in what I have written that suggests I have described an overarching state of affairs to which we should all direct our attention. My point is nothing more than "it is a lifestyle choice amongst many". Of course as someone who works out daily, as my anecdotal bits clear emphasize, I am at once suggesting my own bias. But "things"... I'm nowhere in that post talking about _things as they are_ or "the grand scheme." You've applied that concept, not me. I'm mainly interested in this idea that _Everything before the Internet is boring_. I am thinking in terms that we have all well acknowledged: hours spent in front of a screen. The 5:01 developer intuits this. When I consider my hours not spent in front of a screen, I have sport, books, travel, etc. Others have this as well. Sometimes family or quite simply that too-sunny-fucking-idyllic-sunday feeling that tells you: What I am discussing here, with this poet, must be more interesting than work. So my point is actually a request for us to halt the discussion. Before we talk about values (good, bad, etc.), let's first acknowledge that it is a lifestyle. We should understand the values of the lifestyle (notably the one the original author seems to reject). And as a follow-up: What motivates this linguistic policing?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
ottoweibraun 14y ago
I specifically signed up to express my appreciation of your post - thanks for taking the time to comment. You very effectively articulate my own apprehension about our emersion in digital technologies and the compromises we possibly make as a consequence. It would be foolish (and futile) to extol a new luddistism; I fully appreciate the benefits of internet technologies working in the field myself but I think maybe we would all benefit from a more acute awareness of how and why we are using such services as FB and Twitter to determine when they are becoming counter productive. I have personally found terminating accounts for both these services profoundly beneficial.

guywithabike 14y ago

What's your job / how do you pay your bills?

nerdfiles 14y ago
Freelance front-end development. Python mostly.

olalonde 14y ago

Lots of applause lights in there (http://lesswrong.com/lw/jb/applause_lights/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/jb/applause_lights/). I'm pretty sure things are not nearly as bad as you seem to believe.

nerdfiles 14y ago
It's largely anecdotal, personal writing. So your description of my style may be technically accurate, but I feel your point suffers as a Mary-the-Color-Scientist observation. Take Paul Grice's Maxims for conversational exchange: Many maxims are at play, and we shouldn't expect for anyone to be "in control" of their execution of a maxim (maxim of relevance, truth, etc.). And an important point is that Grice notes a maxim of relevance: relevant _information_. Do I aim to supply anyone with _information_ with my post? Am I giving you information? From my post, does it seem like I, the author, would see _information_ as imperative to my point? Yes, naturally programmers expect an optimally informative state such that transaction might occur, but... Please, just read the sentences. I'm not a politician trying to convince you. I am a human being with an approximate grasp of Academic English. I mean, you're re-labeling my style with "UNINFORMATIVE." How do you expect me to take that? And "as bad as you seem to believe." Please point to anywhere in what I have written that suggests I have described an overarching state of affairs to which we should all direct our attention. My point is nothing more than "it is a lifestyle choice amongst many". Of course as someone who works out daily, as my anecdotal bits clear emphasize, I am at once suggesting my own bias. But "things"... I'm nowhere in that post talking about _things as they are_ or "the grand scheme." You've applied that concept, not me. I'm mainly interested in this idea that _Everything before the Internet is boring_. I am thinking in terms that we have all well acknowledged: hours spent in front of a screen. The 5:01 developer intuits this. When I consider my hours not spent in front of a screen, I have sport, books, travel, etc. Others have this as well. Sometimes family or quite simply that too-sunny-fucking-idyllic-sunday feeling that tells you: What I am discussing here, with this poet, must be more interesting than work. So my point is actually a request for us to halt the discussion. Before we talk about values (good, bad, etc.), let's first acknowledge that it is a lifestyle. We should understand the values of the lifestyle (notably the one the original author seems to reject). And as a follow-up: What motivates this linguistic policing?
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

ottoweibraun 14y ago

I specifically signed up to express my appreciation of your post - thanks for taking the time to comment. You very effectively articulate my own apprehension about our emersion in digital technologies and the compromises we possibly make as a consequence. It would be foolish (and futile) to extol a new luddistism; I fully appreciate the benefits of internet technologies working in the field myself but I think maybe we would all benefit from a more acute awareness of how and why we are using such services as FB and Twitter to determine when they are becoming counter productive. I have personally found terminating accounts for both these services profoundly beneficial.