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Sad as Hell

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Re: Sad as Hell

#11

Post by rcavezza »

bobf wrote: post #5

Days seem over before they even begin, and I have nothing to show for myself other than the anxious feeling that I now know just enough to engage in conversations I don’t care about. To me, this was the most striking sentence in the article. It seems to be something that has increased from the time pop culture began to the present. Each of us probably hears more about Justin Bieber than we would ever truly care to, f…

Definitely true (referring to the quote). My girlfriend is in graduate school. Whens she comes home, she tells me about everything that happened to her during the day. I code and write blogposts. When she asks what I did, I say "went to the coffee shop and worked. That was about it."

Re: Sad as Hell

#12

Post by jerf »

bobf wrote: post #9
Semiapies wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is entirely voluntary. For instance, I know that Bieber exists, and I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've seen pictures of him. I found the one or two songs of his I've heard innocuous and utterly forgettable - I probably couldn't identify him if I heard those very same songs again. I'm not even aware precisely why he's the go-to example of annoying celebrity, lately. I'm not utterly isolated fr…

And how many times would you care to have seen pictures of him, or heard anything about him? Probably zero. So it isn't exactly entirely voluntary, right?

I can't know that I wouldn't care if I haven't heard anything. I do not desire that level of disconnection from culture, merely the ability to control my participation. Which is actually rather easy, I'm finding. Perhaps when my kids get to be teenagers I'll find it a bit more of a challenge, but then, I doubt that's exactly what you mean. (I certainly don't desire that level of disconnection from my family!)

Re: Sad as Hell

#13

Post by long »

SourPatch wrote: post #7

"It is my firm belief, and I say this as a dictum, that all these tools now at our disposal, these things part of this explosive evolution of means of communication, mean we are now heading for an era of solitude. Along with this rapid growth of forms of communication at our disposal — be it fax, phone, email, internet or whatever — human solitude will increase in direct proportion." -Werner Herzog

That's an apt quotation... that you posted to the Internet to be seen by anonymous others who don't know you.

Re: Sad as Hell

#14

Post by bobf »

Semiapies wrote: post #10
bobf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how many times would you care to have seen pictures of him, or heard anything about him? Probably zero. So it isn't exactly entirely voluntary, right?

I chose to learn what I did about the guy because I encountered an friend's histrionic dislike of the singer and was curious. So yes, entirely voluntary. Now, if you'd like to argue that I was "forced" to encounter information by talking to someone I know, then you're going beyond even trying to make victimization out of exposure to media and just showing yourself to long for a hermitage. :)

Of course. It is important and useful to be a part of society, be conversant with the issues of the day, etc. The author's point seemed to simply be that constantly being conversant with popular culture is capable of becoming a timesink.

Re: Sad as Hell

#15

Post by PakG1 »

We're only catching up to Japan, that's all. ;) For better or worse....

"It used to be you would get on the train with junior-high-school girls and it would be noisy as hell with all their chatting,” Yumiko Sugiura, a journalist who writes about Japanese youth culture, told me. “Now it’s very quiet—just the little tapping of thumbs.”

http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2009/03/realtime_kills.php

Re: Sad as Hell

#16

Post by gordonc »

SourPatch wrote: post #7

"It is my firm belief, and I say this as a dictum, that all these tools now at our disposal, these things part of this explosive evolution of means of communication, mean we are now heading for an era of solitude. Along with this rapid growth of forms of communication at our disposal — be it fax, phone, email, internet or whatever — human solitude will increase in direct proportion." -Werner Herzog

Reading this book The Possibility of an Island which postulates the same, though through a more socio-religious angle rather than technological.

Re: Sad as Hell

#18

Post by throwaway99 »

I sympathize with this:

Opening Safari is an actively destructive decision. I am asking that consciousness be taken away from me. Like the lost time between leaving a party drunk and materializing somehow at your front door, the internet robs you of a day you can visit recursively or even remember.

I struggle with internet addiction. On my bad days, I feel like a walking corpse. I breathe, I eat, and nothing memorable or valuable happens. I wonder what made me think I could handle a career in technology. I admire engineers and wanted to be one. But I need to flee from technology to take a piece of my life back, to reawaken to autonomy. I envy you who can ignore the internet and manage to be productive.

Re: Sad as Hell

#19

Post by peng »

To someone who recently bought and then gave up an iPhone, this essay really strikes a chord. I actually have time to think again.

Re: Sad as Hell

#20

Post by derefr »

> “Maybe you keep the wrong company,” my mother suggests. Maybe. But I like my friends! We can sympathize with each other and feel reassured that we’re not alone in our overeager consumption, denigrated self-control, and anxiety masked as ambition.

This is Gametalk[1], and you are a Loser (a term from [1]: basically one who is not Playing to Win[2] in the game of life.) You are finding no meaning in what you see around you because the things you are likely surrounded with are not real, raw art with messages to communicate, but rather tranquilizers and peptics to calm mutual nerves.

Do not do for what will happen if you do not—acting in fear to return the dial from its painful drift back to the sacred reference point[3]; instead, simply do for what will happen if you do, moving the dial to a new place and observing the change.

[1] http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o...

[2] http://www.sirlin.net/ptw

[3] http://lesswrong.com/lw/dj/what_is_control_theory_and_why_do...

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