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Off the Grid

stephenfry.com

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Re: Off the Grid

#161

Post by vasilipupkin »

phillipamann wrote: post #148
vasilipupkin wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

by what algorithm have you determined that it has been detrimental? how do you know that algorithm is accurate?

I did this by reflecting on my own life. I reflected on my habits and behaviors. I thought about how my life was before and after this. I thought about this even more compared to when I became a smartphone owner and when I was not a smart phone owner. There is no algorithm for this. There is no correct answer and that's the point. Some people love being connected to 10 social networks and constantly checking them. So…

being connected to 10 networks and constantly checking on them is one extreme. Another extreme is claiming you would have been better off without broadband. I can't speak for you, of course, but most people would probably be better off without extremes

Re: Off the Grid

#162

Post by Joof »

ino wrote: post #117
uhtred wrote: post #38

It's interesting that I was at an itunes free gig in London back in 2010 at the Camden Roundhouse (band was Bombay Bicycle Club and they were very good), and Stephen Fry made a pre gig speech (obviously paid by Apple) to say how marvellous the iphone was and how although some people criticise social media , it is a marvellous thing that helps people feel less lonely, amongst other things (and the iphone helps people…

He was (is?) a shopping addict. https://youtu.be/p7tLn57pf-8?t=41m20s "I have 12 computers. I must have something between 12 and 14 iPods." Watch the 2 parts if you have the time, it's really good.

Is he bipolar (or on the spectrum) because it constantly sounds that way. I still value his opinion and he is a great entertainer.

Re: Off the Grid

#163

Post by bloaf »

phillipamann wrote: post #144

This article speaks to me and what I've been preaching to others for a while now. I got high speed internet in 1999. I was 13 years old. I am now 29 on the cusp of 30 and I think that this experiment has been detrimental to me rather than beneficial. I am currently in the process of doing what Fry talks about. While I can not be absolute and still want to visit some sites and some communities, I am trying to treat ea…

I've been thinking about this sort of thing for a while now. I can't help but think of things along the lines of "good fences make good neighbors."

Essentially, I feel like we've built ourselves digital houses that have no walls. All we have to do is to look around us and we'll see advertisements, social media, news reports, porn, and scholarly journals. The problem is that finding information has become easier than deciding what information we want to find. I think that in order to have a healthier relationship with the internet, we need houses with walls, and a fence. I should not be able to just glance around and see everything at once, because everything at once is overwhelming. I should have to get up and walk to the door, or down to the mailbox. Imposing those kinds of small costs to information access would, I think, go a long way to reducing the anxiety and distractions that currently blow through our digital houses.

Re: Off the Grid

#164

Post by CuriouslyC »

haldean wrote: post #158
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.

I hardly get any notifications on my phone. I don't have facebook/twitter/etc installed, and I have a strict no-texting policy.

If I really want to focus I put my phone in airplane mode.

Re: Off the Grid

#165

Post by markeroon »

Joof wrote: post #162
ino wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was (is?) a shopping addict. https://youtu.be/p7tLn57pf-8?t=41m20s "I have 12 computers. I must have something between 12 and 14 iPods." Watch the 2 parts if you have the time, it's really good.

Is he bipolar (or on the spectrum) because it constantly sounds that way. I still value his opinion and he is a great entertainer.

Yes

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/10104138/Stephen-Fry-...

Re: Off the Grid

#166

Post by coldtea »

zwischenzug wrote: post #154
pharke wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>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?

So?

That would only prove he can wallow in self-pity too.

Which he has admitted already anyway, and condemned even in himself.

It certainly doesn't prove that self-pity is not as bad as he says.

So he is right. As for him doing it, it doesn't even make him a hypocrite (since he admits it) -- just fallible.

Like an ex (or even current) drug addict sincerely warning people that drugs are bad and that they shouldn't do them.

Not only are they right -- but they also speak from personal experience.

Re: Off the Grid

#167

Post by zwischenzug »

coldtea wrote: post #166
zwischenzug wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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? So? That would only prove he can wallow in self-pity too. Which he has admitted already anyway, and condemned even in himself. It certainly doesn't prove that self-pity is not as bad as he says. So he is right. As for him doing it, it doesn't even make him a hypocrite (sinc…

It behooves him to be more empathetic, especially if he's suffered from the same difficulties and he's speaking out in public about it.

Re: Off the Grid

#168

Post by sanoli »

arximboldi wrote: post #91
debacle wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What feature phone are you using? For the life of me I can't find one these days that isn't a cheap piece of crap.

I recently got a Nokia 130 because I lost my old phone. Dunno if it goes above your "piece of crap" line but it serves very well my needs.

I use a Samsung flip phone. I still prefer the flip ergonomics to a touch-screen one (for ordinary voice call use obviously). Someone calls me, I pick up the phone, flip it open to answer if I want to, talk, close it to end the call, all with one hand, without having to even look at the thing (I can check the outside lcd to see who it is before answering it also). When I want to call someone (I only call about 5 people regularly (wife, mom, dad, sister, closest friends), I just flip it open and press the corresponding speed dial button. For this kind of use, a touch screen doesn't come close.

Re: Off the Grid

#169

Post by sanoli »

email is awesome, but I do miss receiving long letters from friends far away. Man, do I miss that. I only have two friends left who still write letters. I would give many parts of the internet to have that back.

Re: Off the Grid

#170

Post by betteryeti »

Longtime listener, first-time caller here. Okay, maybe this is just a naive idea, but in Fry's spirit of going-backward-to-go-forward, I think that a very subversive, Internet-thwarting tech would be a device that did point-to-point communication (ie., like ham-radio packet broadcast). Like, go to place X, tune into your point-to-point USB dongle and tune in to the chatter -- constrained by the broadcast range of the device's power and antenna. You'd have the efficiencies of a social networking system paired with the place-ness of a particular physical location. This would tend, I imagine, to link people up IRL after they "sniffed" each other electronically to determine whether they were same tribe/interest/affinity/perversion/whatever. From there, they could pursue the more authentic/place-based/dreamy/serendipitous youth more resonant with what Fry experienced in his youth. And since the communication is point-to-point with no IP address or Internet implied, no advertiser/analytics authority could interpose itself in those conversations.

Is that an insane idea?

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