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Off the Grid

stephenfry.com

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Re: Off the Grid

#151

Post by 0xffff2 »

>They couldn’t force me to have an online presence after all.

I don't know where he gets this idea. Both the Comp. Sci. and Engineering schools at my university require that all students have a laptop capable of running software related to the coursework (financial aid is available specifically to help meet this requirement). The university also supplies plenty of computer labs. If I insisted on turning in all assignments on paper, I would be laughed at and given failing grades until I was kicked out of school.

The modern world absolutely can and will force you to have an online presence.

Re: Off the Grid

#152

Post by alva »

"The internet, as opposed to AOL and the others, was like a great city. It certainly had slums and red-light districts and places you wouldn’t want to visit after night, but the museums, ... streets were packed with excitement. "

This memory of the internet still lives. There are many nooks and crannies that are hard to find as they do not show up on facebook, reddit etc. Lots of independent, wacky, controversial, illegal and subversive sites are alive and kicking.

In the earlier days, I suppose due to lack of volume, it was a lot easier to find these places.

Re: Off the Grid

#153

Post by JaggerFoo »

So Mr. Fry is assuming that 15 year old boys would be willing to give up the treasure trove of Porn that is available to them via the technology he suggest they spurn.

A very unrealistic assumption.

Re: Off the Grid

#154

Post by zwischenzug »

pharke wrote: post #149
ascorbic wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place – you get some of my sympathy – but your self-pity gets none of my sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity.” The 58-year-old went on to say: “Grow up.” So, yes.

Let's take an ounce of effort to post the whole quote shall we? Speaking to the US TV show The Rubin Report about campus free speech, safe spaces and trigger warnings on literature. "In terms of how they think, they can’t bear complexity. The idea that things aren’t easy to understand, they want to be told, or they want to be able to decide and say, ‘This is good and this is bad,’ and anything that conflicts with tha…

This from a man who described in great detail his near-suicide experience following the 'Cell Mates' breakdown? What was that if not self-pity? Should we have felt no sympathy for him? Or is that too complex?

I wouldn't take any so-called wisdom from this man.

Re: Off the Grid

#155

Post by 0xffff2 »

coldpie wrote: post #36
jasonkostempski wrote: post #14

I've been trying to do this and as of this week, HN and stackexchage are the last social accounts I have but only because I can't find a way to delete them. I could just log out and walk away but it feels like there's no closure that way. Anyone know of a way to close an HN account?

Does HN count as "social"? It feels more like an Internet forum to me. I guess you're using your real name here, but you don't have to. I don't know anyone socially who I would expect to find on here.

Internet forums aren't social?

Re: Off the Grid

#156

Post by tmaly »

I like his spin on it. The internet has become a ton of noise and walled gardens. I initially dropped off the social media platforms, but then I re-joined under anonymous names.

During my off-grid time, I found I was more productive in terms of thinking and getting my side projects done.

I was able to read more paper books as well as just enjoy life and nature.

Re: Off the Grid

#157

Post by drdrey »

darkclarity wrote: post #52

I have gone through a similar phase. Got rid of social media, switched back to a feature phone, am reading real books, listening to music on physical media, using cash where possible and whatever else. The Internet has gone from a place with a high barrier of entry (and the interesting characters that self selected for that barrier), to an all encompassing entity with a load of moralisers, businesses and governments…

Doesn't HN qualify as some sort of social media too?

Re: Off the Grid

#158

Post by haldean »

darkclarity wrote: post #52

I have gone through a similar phase. Got rid of social media, switched back to a feature phone, am reading real books, listening to music on physical media, using cash where possible and whatever else. The Internet has gone from a place with a high barrier of entry (and the interesting characters that self selected for that barrier), to an all encompassing entity with a load of moralisers, businesses and governments…

I wish I could get a feature phone that just had Maps (and maybe Lyft). Being able to get a map of where I am, anywhere, is a pretty amazing thing. On the other hand, I wish I could get all of those notifications out of my pocket asap.

Re: Off the Grid

#159

Post by vinceguidry »

What in the world would be the point of really going off the nets? I honestly can't see the point. It's so easy to pick and choose how you want to interact with the online world. A few years ago, not having a Facebook was like living in a cave in the woods. Now? All my friends are on Facebook, but very few of them participate. It's been relegated to mere entertainment. I can go days without checking it.

A reporter asked a Girl Scout whether the cookies they were selling were healthy. She just said, "Don't eat the whole box."

Technology is like relationships, they get better after you develop good boundaries. If you can't trust yourself with cookies, don't keep cookies in the house. But really, you should just work on not being a slave to food. Or Facebook.

Nothing about technology actually keeps you from interacting more deeply with others. You do that to yourself. You can't blame food for making you fat.

Re: Off the Grid

#160

Post by chongli »

lkozma wrote: post #118
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…

you can of course use it as much as you want -- but I thing the broader point of the author holds: for a generation that is supposed to be rebellious, there is a surprising amount of conformism in accepting these tools as something that need to be used all the time.

It's the hipster effect[0]. The more people try to rebel, the more they conform!

[0] http://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.8001.pdf

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