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Off the Grid

stephenfry.com

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Re: Off the Grid

#101

Post by squeaky-clean »

I agree that most of us should be "off the grid" more than we are, but not for any of the reasons he suggests. There's no real reasoning to this argument, just "It used to be like X before the internet, so the internet is bad." But with no reasons why X is good, as if it's obvious, but the modern ways seem better to me.

> Well maybe they should consider this for a moment. Who most wants you to stay on the grid? The advertisers. Your boss. Human Resources. The advertisers. Your parents (irony of ironies – once they distrusted it, now they need to tag you electronically, share your Facebook photos and message you to death). The advertisers. The government. Your local authority. Your school. Advertisers.

Really? "The man wants you on the internet, so you should stop!" If you avoid the internet just because of this, you're still letting the advertisers, your boss, "the man" make your decisions for you, rather than coming to your own conclusions..

> Remembering what I was like at fifteen, I wriggle pleasurably at the thought of how it would feel in 2016 to tell a teacher that, no, I couldn’t possibly ‘e-mail’ my homework, because I don’t have e-mail:

> ‘I’m not on your email, miss/sir.’

> ‘Don’t be absurd, Stephen. Email me the essay as soon as possible.’

A bit of a strawman here, isn't it? In what situation would a teacher ever demand you send an assignment ASAP instead of on the assigned due date? And if it's because you've missed the due date, what right do you have to act difficult and decide the medium over which you turn it in? Either accept the failed grade, or play by the rules of the person who is accommodating you.

Self control when it comes to technology is great and all, and if you feel you need or want less than the average person, that's fine. But thinking you're better than everyone else because you refuse to use a tool some people use incorrectly?

Re: Off the Grid

#103

Post by ogdoad »

>It is not about the numbers. It is _never_ about the numbers. Don’t let them tell you otherwise.

The ad midway probably has something to do with numbers, where 10,000 is better than 100.

Re: Off the Grid

#104

Post by whoopdedo »

ant6n wrote: post #46
jgrahamc wrote: post #2

The other day I suddenly remembered the door of my college room. Since I was at university pre-Internet, pre-mobile phones there was a piece of paper and a pencil on the door so that people who came round to find me could leave a message... by writing on the door.

Great idea for a social network. Just write on someone's door.

But what if you open the door while someone is writing on it? Better to have them write messages on your wall.

... wait. That sounds familiar.

Re: Off the Grid

#105

Post by RivieraKid »

coldtea wrote: post #99
RivieraKid wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh ok, I get the point... But for a lot of articles it seems that 90% of the value can be conveyed with 10% of the length, so I usually just quickly skim it - unless it's the type of text where the value is in the experience of reading and not information (stories, poems, ...).

I guess that can be true for technical articles the most (e.g. just get to the instructions, numbers, results etc), but probably not as easily for things like this Fry post.

Yeah, that was my point, that this desn't apply for Fry's writing.

Re: Off the Grid

#106

Post by netcan »

nadam wrote: post #92

As someone who uses the internet in a healthy way and healthy dose, i think this article is like when an (former?) alcoholic suggests to all the people to not even drink one beer occasionally. Seriously why should I not use email to communicate with people far away from me on interesting topics? Why would I not look up things in Wikipedia? Why would I not look at Fecebook once a day for 2 minutes to see whether there…

I see where you’r coming from.

OTOH, imagine that you lived in a small community where trade routes or mass migration suddenly made alcohol extremely available, a new problem. You struggle with overuse, try to figure out if it’s a suitable morning beverage, etc. So do most people. Eventually, some people start to talk about moderation, age limits. Maybe we should only drink on Tuesdays, or after work or something.

Culture is being bombarded with new stuff, some of which can cause problems. Culture is adaptive, but it’s hard to keep up with technology. I think it’s OK for people to muse out loud (this is a blog) and possibly useful This is how culture gets made, I think. We need culture to update, so I’m ok with this.

Re: Off the Grid

#108

Post by stcredzero »

These days, while there may be much talk of digital connection being a civil right, that doesn’t make it a civic duty, or a legal compulsion.

Social media tries to use it as a "civic compulsion." They say: Hew to our ideology, or you're not allowed to have an online presence. We will shame and destroy your online persona. So much of our culture and commerce is online and digital, this may well feel like banishment to many.

The same progressive movements that railed against the thought control, coercive pressure, and shaming methods of the church and the old cultural establishment have sprouted online movements of predominantly young people who use silencing tactics, banishment from civic organizations, and coercive shaming to further their agenda.

I find this a damn shame, because I count myself as a progressive and across the long arc of history, this only delays substantive progress. It's like trying to invade and occupy a country by holding land with troops. It's expensive, causes great collateral damage, and it turns many potential allies against you. It can "work," but only when you utterly rout the opposition, and even then, it often just plants the seeds for the next set of conflicts.

True activism can't just stop at demonstrations and resignations. It doesn't stop with committees or legislation or court cases. The end goal is to win hearts and minds. Beware of those who say they're winning hearts and minds, but backing it up with coercion. Beware of power, even limited contextual power. Power that lacks self awareness can be locally perilous.

(Really, is that stuff really about justice, or is it about the pleasure of watching someone get their comeuppance? And has our culture degraded to the point where a large fraction of intellectuals are unaware of the difference?)

Re: Off the Grid

#109

Post by StavrosK »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #81
StavrosK wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have turned all vibrations and sounds off except for phone calls. It has been fantastic, I highly recommend it.

I did try things like that but at the end of the day I had a very expensive device that I used for very little so I sold it. For me the only thing I miss about it is the health tracking. Once they build in a lot more of that the costs will be worth the benefit for me because I just looked back on that data and during my time with the Apple Watch I lost quite a lot of weight just following the activity tracker.

Oh, definitely agreed. I bought a moto 360 and, as someone who doesn't want notifications, it's almost useless. I only like the navigation mode, but that updates too infrequently to be useful.

Re: Off the Grid

#110

Post by swang »

jgrahamc wrote: post #2

The other day I suddenly remembered the door of my college room. Since I was at university pre-Internet, pre-mobile phones there was a piece of paper and a pencil on the door so that people who came round to find me could leave a message... by writing on the door.

These things still existed even after the Internet.

I graduated a couple of years before the first iPhone came out and when having a Blackberry or other connected device was not the norm. I still used the internet pretty heavily, but it was just not mobile. Odds were that the person would see the message on the door first before they got an email you sent.

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