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This article reminds me of why I find the buzzword usage of "social" so irritating. The web has always been social! My most memorable and rewarding experiences

This article reminds me of why I find the buzzword usage of "social" so irritating. The web has always been social! My most memorable and rewarding experiences on the internet will always be in the e-mail conversations I've shared with others around the world.

xux 13y ago
Totally agree! There are some experiences I'd personally experience alone. That's why I chose against making Bit of News social. Reading is, and has always been, an individual activity. Just you and the words. The rise of social media just cluttered our attention span, sharing this and sharing that. Reading is enjoyable when you're completely focused!
- Curmudgel 13y ago
  >Reading is, and has always been, an individual activity. That's not true. Novels written in the 19th and 18th century, which featured long and complex passages, were often read aloud. Poems with meter are usually read aloud as well. Religious prayers are still sung and chanted. >The rise of social media just cluttered our attention span A generation ago, people said the same thing about a kind of social media: television. The generation before that worried about movies, as well as the decline of letter writing because of spread of telephones. The generation before that was worried about the telegraph destroying the art of letter writing as well. Movies, telephones, television, and texting do not have permanent deleterious effects on your attention span. All you need to do is make a commitment and set aside time for reading.
  - lazylizard 13y ago
    yes. actually,its older than 18/19th century. check out chaucer, for example.
dec0dedab0de 13y ago
Not to be too pedantic, but email isn't part of "the web". Historically the social aspects of the internet were elsewhere email, IRC, Usenet, etc. The Web was mostly(only?) a network of documents.
dragontamer 13y ago
Ditto, although replace "email" with Usenet / Forums. I'm unfortunately too young to remember BBS systems. But I bet BBS is how I learned of Motal Kombat Fatalities (an older friend usually set me up with those... behind my parents back).
servowire 13y ago
IRC? That chat client that stole idea of #hashtags for channels and @for users? (jk)
- rsync 13y ago
  except we said "pound", not hashtag. We should use "pound" for twitter, too, since it is faster and easier to say. Just a single syllable.
  - zimpenfish 13y ago
    Really? It's always been "(hash)channel" to me (1996ish) and the people I know who've been on longer (1994ish).
  - M2Ys4U 13y ago
    IME, it's only really en-us speakers that pronounce "#" as "pound". It is especially confusing to British people when people reference # as "pound", as we have completely different notion of what a pound sign is, namely £.

xux 13y ago

Totally agree! There are some experiences I'd personally experience alone. That's why I chose against making Bit of News social. Reading is, and has always been, an individual activity. Just you and the words. The rise of social media just cluttered our attention span, sharing this and sharing that. Reading is enjoyable when you're completely focused!

Curmudgel 13y ago
>Reading is, and has always been, an individual activity. That's not true. Novels written in the 19th and 18th century, which featured long and complex passages, were often read aloud. Poems with meter are usually read aloud as well. Religious prayers are still sung and chanted. >The rise of social media just cluttered our attention span A generation ago, people said the same thing about a kind of social media: television. The generation before that worried about movies, as well as the decline of letter writing because of spread of telephones. The generation before that was worried about the telegraph destroying the art of letter writing as well. Movies, telephones, television, and texting do not have permanent deleterious effects on your attention span. All you need to do is make a commitment and set aside time for reading.
- lazylizard 13y ago
  yes. actually,its older than 18/19th century. check out chaucer, for example.

dec0dedab0de 13y ago

Not to be too pedantic, but email isn't part of "the web". Historically the social aspects of the internet were elsewhere email, IRC, Usenet, etc. The Web was mostly(only?) a network of documents.

dragontamer 13y ago

Ditto, although replace "email" with Usenet / Forums. I'm unfortunately too young to remember BBS systems. But I bet BBS is how I learned of Motal Kombat Fatalities (an older friend usually set me up with those... behind my parents back).

servowire 13y ago

IRC? That chat client that stole idea of #hashtags for channels and @for users? (jk)

rsync 13y ago
except we said "pound", not hashtag. We should use "pound" for twitter, too, since it is faster and easier to say. Just a single syllable.
- zimpenfish 13y ago
  Really? It's always been "(hash)channel" to me (1996ish) and the people I know who've been on longer (1994ish).
- M2Ys4U 13y ago
  IME, it's only really en-us speakers that pronounce "#" as "pound". It is especially confusing to British people when people reference # as "pound", as we have completely different notion of what a pound sign is, namely £.