Great article, James. Love the ideas for reconnecting with other humans and nature and the related reading recommendations.
I recently returned from a short vacation in Cancun with a relative. The first thing most people asked when I got back was not if I had a good time or what I did, but if I got lots of good pictures. No, I didn't, because I didn't bring my phone to most places we went. I wanted to be fully present in the moment and have no distractions. Everything I needed was already there.
Now, I understand that it's nice to take photos for the purpose of reminiscing about your experience years later, but I get the impression that's not why most of my peers asked about photos. I think their minds were more on taking vacation photos for the sake of having something newsworthy to post on social media. I wish our society would re-normalize not sharing every event or place we go online.
Thanks very much! And yeah, it's a problem today, right?
I remember a George Carlin bit about tourists glued to their cameras, not taking anything in. This was long before smartphones. Technology sure hasn't helped in this regard.
Another problem we seem to have is that social media cheapens our own personal stories. It's harder to catch up with others and tell them about our trips and experiences when they can follow us in real time on Facebook and IG. It seems unnecessary and even unwelcome sometimes to talk about our lives now. "Yeah yeah I saw it, I saw what you did on Insta already" or "didn't you see it on Facebook already?" are now common conversation stoppers that derail attempts at catching up in person.
We're going to have to start making a lot more deliberate choices about convenience versus experience.
I really think so. Speaking of Ted Gioia, I'm heartened by the fact that he has pretty compelling evidence that this is a cyclical process. Writing was pretty stagnant during the enlightenment and the age or rationalism, then really took off with romanticism. Music was pretty stale around the start of the great depression. Then we started to get a little tired of institutional entertainment and jazz blew up. Music got stagnant again in the 50s, and then we had the Beatles.
I think we're due for a reaction, and it's absolutely going to come from the bottom up, not the top down.
Either way, though, it's just more fulfilling to pursue what is meaningful. That's more than enough for me. I believe you're right in that culture will figure this out, one way or another.
Great article, James. Love the ideas for reconnecting with other humans and nature and the related reading recommendations.
I recently returned from a short vacation in Cancun with a relative. The first thing most people asked when I got back was not if I had a good time or what I did, but if I got lots of good pictures. No, I didn't, because I didn't bring my phone to most places we went. I wanted to be fully present in the moment and have no distractions. Everything I needed was already there.
Now, I understand that it's nice to take photos for the purpose of reminiscing about your experience years later, but I get the impression that's not why most of my peers asked about photos. I think their minds were more on taking vacation photos for the sake of having something newsworthy to post on social media. I wish our society would re-normalize not sharing every event or place we go online.
Thanks very much! And yeah, it's a problem today, right?
I remember a George Carlin bit about tourists glued to their cameras, not taking anything in. This was long before smartphones. Technology sure hasn't helped in this regard.
Another problem we seem to have is that social media cheapens our own personal stories. It's harder to catch up with others and tell them about our trips and experiences when they can follow us in real time on Facebook and IG. It seems unnecessary and even unwelcome sometimes to talk about our lives now. "Yeah yeah I saw it, I saw what you did on Insta already" or "didn't you see it on Facebook already?" are now common conversation stoppers that derail attempts at catching up in person.
We're going to have to start making a lot more deliberate choices about convenience versus experience.
Unnecessary and unwelcome to talk about our lives ... Yes, I have noticed that more.
Culture is going to figure out what it means to be alive in a meaningful way rather than an efficient way.
I really think so. Speaking of Ted Gioia, I'm heartened by the fact that he has pretty compelling evidence that this is a cyclical process. Writing was pretty stagnant during the enlightenment and the age or rationalism, then really took off with romanticism. Music was pretty stale around the start of the great depression. Then we started to get a little tired of institutional entertainment and jazz blew up. Music got stagnant again in the 50s, and then we had the Beatles.
I think we're due for a reaction, and it's absolutely going to come from the bottom up, not the top down.
Either way, though, it's just more fulfilling to pursue what is meaningful. That's more than enough for me. I believe you're right in that culture will figure this out, one way or another.
100%. I would love to live off this, but I'm writing no matter what.