To contemporary eyes, life in the last days of analog might seem like a huge hassle, full of obstacles and uncertainty. But that friction was the source of a great deal of freedom.
I agree with the whole "freedom from" thing. When you went backpacking in Europe you may as well have gone to the Moon. Calling home was a hassle and expensive. So you were on your own, figuring out train schedules someone left behind in some hostel and living in the moment because there was no alternative. It was pretty cool. Now, I recently returned from India (on a flight which would have been impossible back at that time) and watched a Leafs game on my phone while talking smack about it with friends over WhatsApp while at 41k feet over Tajikistan which is also cool - but that feeling of separating from places and people is gone now. And that was freedom.
That's exactly right. I spent two months in europe when I was 25 in the mid 90s and felt like UI had taken a sea voyage. I called home once from the isle of skye on a pay phone and it cost me like 50 bucks.
there was also freedom from others, or freedom to discover. there is so much information on tap that nothing is a mystery any more - all secret spots are instagrammed and digitally mapped, before you arrive somewhere you've seen hundreds of pictures of the place. even getting lost on a car trip is almost impossible. the analog world was more adventuresome.
The acess to instant information seems to have hyperlinked my life. The time I save finding information is more than consumed by distractions enabled by zero cost information. Some of this is beneficial in that I explore topics that I wouldn't have expected to be interesting. But it also leads to less focus. I wonder if this leads to a hyperlinked brain that is better able to relate lossely connected information, but also one that is less able to concentrate on what is important. Again, Gen X is unique in that its intellectual development spans both pre and post-Internet.
"As long as the binary pattern of information, the zeroes and ones, the ons and offs, is retained and transmitted faithfully, the medium doesn’t really matter. Digital information is logically independent of matter."
I'm a geriatric millennial, but I had that one friend in junior high who was a "computer whiz". An actual (non-dial-up) internet connection, a rats nest of cables connecting CD and DVD burners that cost way too much, which he paid for by selling pirated discs to other kids for $5. We'd spend Saturday nights chatting while he ripped and burned, the first time I'd seen "songs" and "movies" just become...files. Then reordered and remixed and turned back into things, mix "tapes" and discs with just our friends' favourite scenes to watch on repeat. Then we'd clipped photos from online for custom album art and print custom labels because sharpies were tacky.
This was way before my first smartphone, this was where the analog age ended for me, when I learned things could instantly be other things.
My teenage self was constantly battling against the pre-internet. Sure, there was boredom and idle time. I always carried a walkman and a million tapes and something to read, because the boredom sucked. Sure music was tied to physical objects, but my friends and I spent all our time trying to untether it as much as we could, making copied onto tapes, so I could listen to my friends records wherever I went.
So much of teenage life at the time was about being bound by time and space in ways that most smart teenagers hated - not being able to see the movies you wanted because of the shitty town you were in or whatever
I think there are always ways where any change, no matter how positive, brings loss. It's probably on balance better to be rich than to be poor. A rich person who used to be poor may genuinely miss the enormous pleasure of enjoying a meal when you weren't sure if you'd be able to eat at all that day. But it's still better not to be poor....
I remember telling a woman I met in Tahiti to write to me in Sydney at Poste Restante so we could hook up when I got there. She was living at Bondi Beach with a bunch of people. Her house was empty when I got there but I found her by walking along the beach.
My first trip to Europe was in 1999, and aside from a couple of emails sent everything else was planned out from a guidebook and some maps. A couple of my planned hotels ended up not happening because there was no way to find out if they were still open until I knocked on the door, or paid a small fortune for a phone call, and that was assuming they spoke English.
When I traveled, I used to grab a stack of postcards from wherever I happened to be; I'd sit in a pub and drink and write goofy postcards to a dozen people. I haven't sent a postcard in probably 20 years. I might start doing it again.
I agree with the whole "freedom from" thing. When you went backpacking in Europe you may as well have gone to the Moon. Calling home was a hassle and expensive. So you were on your own, figuring out train schedules someone left behind in some hostel and living in the moment because there was no alternative. It was pretty cool. Now, I recently returned from India (on a flight which would have been impossible back at that time) and watched a Leafs game on my phone while talking smack about it with friends over WhatsApp while at 41k feet over Tajikistan which is also cool - but that feeling of separating from places and people is gone now. And that was freedom.
That's exactly right. I spent two months in europe when I was 25 in the mid 90s and felt like UI had taken a sea voyage. I called home once from the isle of skye on a pay phone and it cost me like 50 bucks.
there was also freedom from others, or freedom to discover. there is so much information on tap that nothing is a mystery any more - all secret spots are instagrammed and digitally mapped, before you arrive somewhere you've seen hundreds of pictures of the place. even getting lost on a car trip is almost impossible. the analog world was more adventuresome.
The acess to instant information seems to have hyperlinked my life. The time I save finding information is more than consumed by distractions enabled by zero cost information. Some of this is beneficial in that I explore topics that I wouldn't have expected to be interesting. But it also leads to less focus. I wonder if this leads to a hyperlinked brain that is better able to relate lossely connected information, but also one that is less able to concentrate on what is important. Again, Gen X is unique in that its intellectual development spans both pre and post-Internet.
"As long as the binary pattern of information, the zeroes and ones, the ons and offs, is retained and transmitted faithfully, the medium doesn’t really matter. Digital information is logically independent of matter."
I'm a geriatric millennial, but I had that one friend in junior high who was a "computer whiz". An actual (non-dial-up) internet connection, a rats nest of cables connecting CD and DVD burners that cost way too much, which he paid for by selling pirated discs to other kids for $5. We'd spend Saturday nights chatting while he ripped and burned, the first time I'd seen "songs" and "movies" just become...files. Then reordered and remixed and turned back into things, mix "tapes" and discs with just our friends' favourite scenes to watch on repeat. Then we'd clipped photos from online for custom album art and print custom labels because sharpies were tacky.
This was way before my first smartphone, this was where the analog age ended for me, when I learned things could instantly be other things.
My teenage self was constantly battling against the pre-internet. Sure, there was boredom and idle time. I always carried a walkman and a million tapes and something to read, because the boredom sucked. Sure music was tied to physical objects, but my friends and I spent all our time trying to untether it as much as we could, making copied onto tapes, so I could listen to my friends records wherever I went.
So much of teenage life at the time was about being bound by time and space in ways that most smart teenagers hated - not being able to see the movies you wanted because of the shitty town you were in or whatever
I think there are always ways where any change, no matter how positive, brings loss. It's probably on balance better to be rich than to be poor. A rich person who used to be poor may genuinely miss the enormous pleasure of enjoying a meal when you weren't sure if you'd be able to eat at all that day. But it's still better not to be poor....
For sure, things have changed. And with every gain, there is also loss.
That said I am wary of this argument:
- In the 80s, I was a teenager, and there was no internet, and I had a lot of fun and freedom
- Today I am in my fifties, and there is no internet, and I have less fun and freedom
- Clearly, the relevant change is the internet
You are absolutely right Misha, that would be a terrible argument. I hope no one makes it.
:)
I remember telling a woman I met in Tahiti to write to me in Sydney at Poste Restante so we could hook up when I got there. She was living at Bondi Beach with a bunch of people. Her house was empty when I got there but I found her by walking along the beach.
My first trip to Europe was in 1999, and aside from a couple of emails sent everything else was planned out from a guidebook and some maps. A couple of my planned hotels ended up not happening because there was no way to find out if they were still open until I knocked on the door, or paid a small fortune for a phone call, and that was assuming they spoke English.
When I traveled, I used to grab a stack of postcards from wherever I happened to be; I'd sit in a pub and drink and write goofy postcards to a dozen people. I haven't sent a postcard in probably 20 years. I might start doing it again.
My Gen Z daughter has just started sending post cards to old friends on a different continent. They love it like it is the best thing ever.