Comments on: Digital Crack and a Busy Mind http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485 Self-Indulgent Oversharing Since 2005 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:45:04 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Jesse http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485&cpage=1#comment-2551 Jesse Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:09:07 +0000 http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485#comment-2551 <a href="#comment-2548" rel="nofollow">@Alvin</a> I would argue that Facebook, Twitter, et al strengthen friendships as deeply as the interface used to connect. If we make were to consider Facebook and Twitter posts and updates as pushups, this might mean the relationship is strengthened by one pushup at a time several times a day. I think that a digital interface between friends can be good in helping establish nuance and rhythm to relationships, but I don't think that it necessarily makes relationships stronger. I get your point, and while we won't become friends with everyone we meet, I think that there are lessons to be learned and stories to be shared that 140 characters won't touch. But I'll take your comment as a dare: my next blog post will be the story of a conversation I initiate with a complete stranger at a coffee shop. If I can pull anyone away from their digital interface that is... @Alvin
I would argue that Facebook, Twitter, et al strengthen friendships as deeply as the interface used to connect. If we make were to consider Facebook and Twitter posts and updates as pushups, this might mean the relationship is strengthened by one pushup at a time several times a day. I think that a digital interface between friends can be good in helping establish nuance and rhythm to relationships, but I don’t think that it necessarily makes relationships stronger.

I get your point, and while we won’t become friends with everyone we meet, I think that there are lessons to be learned and stories to be shared that 140 characters won’t touch. But I’ll take your comment as a dare: my next blog post will be the story of a conversation I initiate with a complete stranger at a coffee shop.

If I can pull anyone away from their digital interface that is…

]]> By: Alvin http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485&cpage=1#comment-2549 Alvin Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:11:40 +0000 http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485#comment-2549 Vanessa - I think that people our age and older can really make it work both ways. Just a few years ago we didn't have access to all this information and technology and so we had to make due. Maybe carry a conversation. Perhaps actually think about something. If you are born in the post-Information Age and have no other experience to draw from, I wonder how that works out. Vanessa – I think that people our age and older can really make it work both ways. Just a few years ago we didn’t have access to all this information and technology and so we had to make due. Maybe carry a conversation. Perhaps actually think about something.

If you are born in the post-Information Age and have no other experience to draw from, I wonder how that works out.

]]> By: Alvin http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485&cpage=1#comment-2548 Alvin Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:08:47 +0000 http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485#comment-2548 Jesse - I wish I were, like you, able to use some of these observations to make it a point to not be so isolated all the time. I'm just not sure I can do it. It's the self-indulgence. It's the doing what *I* want to be doing at any given moment. Usually, what I want to be doing is not necessarily meeting a stranger at a coffee shop, DESPITE the obvious cultural gratification that may follow. A lot of my activity on my phone is community based (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc). I wonder if you could argue that while although one appears to be isolated in a physical sense, maintaining connections with friends and family through this portal could be considered a social activity as opposed to a solitary one. In other words, maybe my head is down and I demonstrate no interest in speaking to you at the grocery store, BUT I am actually in mid-conversation with a close friend of mine via Facebook. What are the consequences of strengthening your bonds with existing friends (i.e. incessantly stalking them over the internet) as opposed to creating temporary, casual relationships with people you meet on the street? What are the consequences of never having a quiet moment free of stimulus? Jesse – I wish I were, like you, able to use some of these observations to make it a point to not be so isolated all the time. I’m just not sure I can do it. It’s the self-indulgence. It’s the doing what *I* want to be doing at any given moment. Usually, what I want to be doing is not necessarily meeting a stranger at a coffee shop, DESPITE the obvious cultural gratification that may follow.

A lot of my activity on my phone is community based (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc). I wonder if you could argue that while although one appears to be isolated in a physical sense, maintaining connections with friends and family through this portal could be considered a social activity as opposed to a solitary one. In other words, maybe my head is down and I demonstrate no interest in speaking to you at the grocery store, BUT I am actually in mid-conversation with a close friend of mine via Facebook.

What are the consequences of strengthening your bonds with existing friends (i.e. incessantly stalking them over the internet) as opposed to creating temporary, casual relationships with people you meet on the street?

What are the consequences of never having a quiet moment free of stimulus?

]]> By: Vanessa http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485&cpage=1#comment-2547 Vanessa Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:19:49 +0000 http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485#comment-2547 I too am a digital crack addict. I can only hope that you're right and that one day all this information we have digested with cycle back into human thought. In the meantime, I will sit back and succumb to the crack with zero guilt...well... almost no guilt. I too am a digital crack addict. I can only hope that you’re right and that one day all this information we have digested with cycle back into human thought. In the meantime, I will sit back and succumb to the crack with zero guilt…well… almost no guilt.

]]> By: Mooreover / Blog » Blog Archive » Caffeinated Birds http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485&cpage=1#comment-2546 Mooreover / Blog » Blog Archive » Caffeinated Birds Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:22:23 +0000 http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485#comment-2546 [...] friend Alvin recently wrote a blog post about the absence of isolated thought in the digital age, and as I look around, I see his argument [...] [...] friend Alvin recently wrote a blog post about the absence of isolated thought in the digital age, and as I look around, I see his argument [...]

]]> By: Alvin http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485&cpage=1#comment-2544 Alvin Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:49:18 +0000 http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485#comment-2544 Maybe we are in the midst of a period in history where there is a miraculous consumption of information, knowledge, trivia, etc and upon pacifying this hunger it'll digest and be brought back into the cycle of human thought. Maybe we are in the midst of a period in history where there is a miraculous consumption of information, knowledge, trivia, etc and upon pacifying this hunger it’ll digest and be brought back into the cycle of human thought.

]]> By: Jesse http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485&cpage=1#comment-2542 Jesse Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:33:53 +0000 http://www.spanawaste.com/?p=485#comment-2542 I can already see the effect on me. I've made reference that I've been mesmerized by "The Ricky Gervais Podcast" and the inane ramblings of their village idiot (named Karl). What's beginning to scare me is that while Karl's thoughts are completely idiotic, he's outpacing me in the sheer number of his thoughts, and for the sake of the human race, I need to start competing. There was a time when a Pringles can outside of a monastery would have me wondering about the process of its placement, but those days are few. I agree - we're spending so much time staring at a screen (at work, on our phone, at home, at the gym, at the gas station, on a date, at dinner, etc) that we have no times to originate thought. I think that this is sure to result in an uninspired, over-medicated race of pale and overweight drones. In other news, I can't wait to get my iPhone... I can already see the effect on me. I’ve made reference that I’ve been mesmerized by “The Ricky Gervais Podcast” and the inane ramblings of their village idiot (named Karl). What’s beginning to scare me is that while Karl’s thoughts are completely idiotic, he’s outpacing me in the sheer number of his thoughts, and for the sake of the human race, I need to start competing. There was a time when a Pringles can outside of a monastery would have me wondering about the process of its placement, but those days are few. I agree – we’re spending so much time staring at a screen (at work, on our phone, at home, at the gym, at the gas station, on a date, at dinner, etc) that we have no times to originate thought. I think that this is sure to result in an uninspired, over-medicated race of pale and overweight drones.

In other news, I can’t wait to get my iPhone…

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