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90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

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Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#31

Post by cle »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #18
repsilat wrote: post #12

Because this thread always needs someone to say the obvious truth: "Screen time" isn't the most useful concept. Maybe it was in the TV days (though with diverse programming it may not have been), but with phones/tablets/laptops it's as broad a label as "technology company". Are we talking about chatting with friends? Doing work? Watching a show? Playing a game? Reading the news? A novel? Meeting with people? Organisi…

All of us with seldom exception use our glowing rectangles as addictive dopamine drips that exploit our innate desire to scavenge for information that ends up disconnecting us from the world and, likely, things we actually find fulfilling. And we watch our own children suffer the exact same way and wonder what can actually be done about it. There was a submission this morning or yesterday about "if we could live our…

I’m not sure why I should think that any of that is unique to screens.

Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#32

Post by zests »

cle wrote: post #31
hombre_fatal wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of us with seldom exception use our glowing rectangles as addictive dopamine drips that exploit our innate desire to scavenge for information that ends up disconnecting us from the world and, likely, things we actually find fulfilling. And we watch our own children suffer the exact same way and wonder what can actually be done about it. There was a submission this morning or yesterday about "if we could live our…

I’m not sure why I should think that any of that is unique to screens.

Everything is bad in excess but not everything is equally bad.

Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#33

Post by neilpanchal »

2009 rectangles were pretty cool. They had scroll bars that were visible at all times, minimal whitespace and generally better usability and functionality. No purple gradients and huge buttons, responsive mess that serve what I consider mobile-first-desktop-last rectangles. It's becoming harder to find pure rectangles even, they've become soft baby-like with rounded corners to sooth our senses!

Here are some relics with sane typography, iconic icons and compact UI [1][2][3].

[1] https://www.martinmajoor.com/6_my_philosophy.html

[2] http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/news

Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#36

Post by jakelazaroff »

Another Onion gem from 2000: “Area Man Consults Internet Whenever Possible” [1]

> "I was on the phone getting directions to a restaurant we were going out to," Pamela said, "when Larry started yelling, 'No, no, don't ask! I'll find it!' So he opens up mapquest.com, enters our address and the restaurant's, and within 10 minutes, he had complete door-to-door directions printed out."

> "That's right," Larry said. "And she wanted to get a pen and write down the directions by hand."

[1] https://www.theonion.com/area-man-consults-internet-whenever...

Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#37

Post by zests »

raldi wrote: post #23
repsilat wrote: post #12

Because this thread always needs someone to say the obvious truth: "Screen time" isn't the most useful concept. Maybe it was in the TV days (though with diverse programming it may not have been), but with phones/tablets/laptops it's as broad a label as "technology company". Are we talking about chatting with friends? Doing work? Watching a show? Playing a game? Reading the news? A novel? Meeting with people? Organisi…

Right. Did people clutch pearls over "paper time" when they would wake up and read a newspaper, stare at papers all day at work/school, a magazine during their lunch break, and read a book before falling asleep?

Some people, I’d venture a guess at 1/100 people, can and do use printed text compulsively. Other people, I’d venture a guess at closer to at least 9/10 people, can and do use screens compulsively.

This topic comes up a lot and I am always astounded at how people so candidly compare screens to books. Many people I meet in my day to day life do not have the concentration required to read a novel. Maybe its time to put my glowing rectangle down.

Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#38

Post by Barrin92 »

cle wrote: post #30
repsilat wrote: post #12

Because this thread always needs someone to say the obvious truth: "Screen time" isn't the most useful concept. Maybe it was in the TV days (though with diverse programming it may not have been), but with phones/tablets/laptops it's as broad a label as "technology company". Are we talking about chatting with friends? Doing work? Watching a show? Playing a game? Reading the news? A novel? Meeting with people? Organisi…

Exactly, my first reaction to this was “90% of waking hours spent staring at atoms.” I can describe life in even more absurd ways if I try, but what’s the point?

Well one point is that information exchanged through a screen is always mediated (in contrast to the physical world). Screens have a form factor, screens usually have a third party organising the content that is being exchanged. Screens are flat surfaces. You operate through screens in a sort of purely functional input-output rather than spontaneous way.

So the screen being a technological and commercial artifact, imposes a lot of rules on how we interact through it, sort of like an API. And that's noteworthy compared to the time before we were interacting through screens.

Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#39

Post by dannyw »

cle wrote: post #30
repsilat wrote: post #12

Because this thread always needs someone to say the obvious truth: "Screen time" isn't the most useful concept. Maybe it was in the TV days (though with diverse programming it may not have been), but with phones/tablets/laptops it's as broad a label as "technology company". Are we talking about chatting with friends? Doing work? Watching a show? Playing a game? Reading the news? A novel? Meeting with people? Organisi…

Exactly, my first reaction to this was “90% of waking hours spent staring at atoms.” I can describe life in even more absurd ways if I try, but what’s the point?

We have an amazingly beautiful world, from lush forests to deep blue oceans, with billions of wonderful humans, yet we choose to spend the vast majority of time on a virtual world we’ve created.

Re: 90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles (2009)

#40

Post by cosmojg »

superkuh wrote: post #27
hombre_fatal wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of us with seldom exception use our glowing rectangles as addictive dopamine drips that exploit our innate desire to scavenge for information that ends up disconnecting us from the world and, likely, things we actually find fulfilling. And we watch our own children suffer the exact same way and wonder what can actually be done about it. There was a submission this morning or yesterday about "if we could live our…

It's not essential to your argument, but the whole "dopamine drip" thing is not helping. Using ancient disproven 1970s neuroscience tropes here in such a broadly incorrect way just makes me dismiss your potentially legit reasoning.

I took it as a metaphor. The argument makes perfect sense in that light.

Engage with the argument rather than its presentation, and you might just move the conversation forward.

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