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PSA: Back Up Your Shit

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Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#121

Post by aaronem »

gaius wrote: post #116
freehunter wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he lists a couple of pretty reasonable reasons to have a phone (emergency contact/replacement for a wristwatch) and you immediately assume he's using Instagram instead? There are words to describe the kind of person you're being right now.

Yes, there are also words to describe seeing someone make a general point on the Internet and piping up why you are so special and unique that it doesn't apply. It's a game, nothing more. Snowflake.

Touchy, touchy! There's no need for insults.

Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#122

Post by [deleted] »

gaius wrote: post #117
philwelch wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the thing is, I don't do all of that shit, which is why I would resent going out with friends who would treat me like a child. But I actually do have to answer my phone sometimes.

Sulking because you don't want to join in a game is the epitome of childish behavior. You might want to think about that.

[deleted]

Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#123

Post by k-mcgrady »

dkokelley wrote: post #32

Honestly, my Twitter feed, Facebook, and SMS records could all disappear tomorrow, and I would be OK with it. Maybe there's value in my accumulated Facebook connections and history, but most of the value today comes from current content. Now email, that I value for archival.

>> "Honestly, my Twitter feed, Facebook, and SMS records could all disappear tomorrow, and I would be OK with it."

I use these services heavily yet I completely agree. I actually had a Twitter account I used for 3/4 years, sent thousands of tweets and had several hundred followers. Deleting it was a 'scary' moment (kind of like formatting a hard drive and making sure you haven't forgot to backup anything) but I don't miss any of the content from it.

SMS likewise. I recently switched phones and didn't go through the hassle of bringing my SMS's with me. I miss nothing.

Facebook is slightly different. I do enjoy going through my timeline occasionally but the thing I would miss most is the photos. I don't take a lot of photos but my friends do so most of the photos on my Facebook are ones I'm tagged in so don't have a local copy. I would hate to lose those so every now and then I back them up (Facebook has an export tool for all your data).

You make a good point about value coming from current content. Years ago people perused old content nostalgically. We still do this BUT we have vastly more new content appearing in our lives every second. This means less time to go back and peruse old content especially if you have to filter it all for the gems.

Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#124

Post by icebraining »

dhughes wrote: post #54

Pictures are the worst for backing up, actually no backing up someone else's pictures is worse. Parents for example, my mom takes a lot of pictures she wants to keep I take lots of pictures I don't care about. Semi-wheneverly when I manage to get the card from the parent's camera or cellphone to back up it's usually a mess of I backed up 63% of these so which ones are new. Is IMG0003.JPG the same as IMG0003.JPG I sav…

Most pictures nowadays come with EXIF data with the date. I just (automatically) rename them to {date}-{counter}.jpg and let git-annex deduplicate any repeated files.

Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#127

Post by TeMPOraL »

steven2012 wrote: post #34

I think that the beauty of Snapchat is that it frees you from this ridiculous notion that a text, IM, Facebook message, etc, has any value. In my opinion, it doesn't. Also, in my opinion, I believe that feeling the need to save every single conversation you have fuels an over-inflated sense of self-worth, and that everything you say has value and needs to be saved. I never, ever peruse through my messages, to reminis…

> I will disallow anyone I'm in a conversation with to google facts with their phone. (...) facts aren't as important as the spirit of the conversation.

I prefer my conversations to be both entertaining and factually accurate. I don't know why should we hold conversations to such low standards that facts doesn't matter. But then it's probably how gossips, urban legends and general bullshit-beliefs spread.

I do occasionally Google things on my phone while sitting with friends and family, usually not to fact-check, but to provide some immediate answers to questions raised (recent example - family discussing the Old Catholic Church; we had only vague understanding of their beliefs, and the conversation was significantly improved by me skimming and summarizing the Wikipedia article).

But my point is, how we're to reach the full extend of "extended mind" concepts, if people keep frowning upon using technological improvement in social contexts? It's as much with Googling stuff in a bar, as with the common hate toward Google Glass users. Some of the current social norms are IMO dumb and need to change.

Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#128

Post by MichaelGG »

gwu78 wrote: post #73

"Remember: if it's not on a drive that is in your physical possession, it's not really yours." So, if we store our data in "the cloud", it's not really ours?

And, once you willingly give data to third parties, you lose certain protections (at least in the US as I understand current interpretations of law).

Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#129

Post by anu_gupta »

gaius wrote: post #117
philwelch wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the thing is, I don't do all of that shit, which is why I would resent going out with friends who would treat me like a child. But I actually do have to answer my phone sometimes.

Sulking because you don't want to join in a game is the epitome of childish behavior. You might want to think about that.

Why are you trolling, kid?

Stop projecting your emotional state onto other people.

Re: PSA: Back Up Your Shit

#130

Post by GrinningFool »

philwelch wrote: post #104
gaius wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can play a game: everyone puts their phone in the middle of the table, the first person to pick theirs up during the meal pays the bill for the entire table (or split it if no-one does). There is another variant on this game that can be played with a goldfish bowl...

I'm glad no one I know plays this childish game, speaking as someone who is occasionally on call, lives under the conscious commitment to always pick up the phone when my wife calls, or maybe just likes to check the time every so often.

It's possible that's all you use your phone for at the table, but if you take a step back and observe, is that really all you use it for?

Do you look at that incoming email that isn't from the on-call address? Do you just check for new messages even when nobody is calling? Do you look at your twitter feed? Facebook? Just a quick check onto a favorite web site? Tap out replies to anything except on-call or your wife?

It could be that you're the exception - maybe you do only respond when you hear the special notification sound for your wife or the on-call originating address. I'm dubious - but that's colored by my own experience. I thought much the same of myself until I actually stopped and paid attention to what I was doing with my phone when around others.

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