The Mark Suckerberg reference to Jimi Hendrix was like a bucket of cold water in my face. Because it's true and sickens me to realize just how much we have lost. Waking up happens in degrees. I look forward to reading your .pdf in detail. My only regret is I don't have a color printer. And more book shelves, but I haven't filled all the chairs yet. I once attended a tech conference where a young, arrogant, overpaid, knows nothing about how the world works, asshole referred to books as artifacts that would soon die away. I seriously considered being the arbitrator of his immediate demise in that moment.
The arrogant, know-nothingness of not understanding books sounds like it does need some immediate arbitration! "Waking up happens in degrees." Exactly. What has been inflicted on us has been built up one seemingly innocuous layer on the landscape at a time, for us now to be wondering: What the hell is this mountain we're standing on?
You have some things in here that really made me stop and think. Things like "Western culture transformed from a democracy of makers to an oligarchy of takers" and social media offering us something that people want. It offered me a place to share my writing, to talk with like-minded people, but I also experienced a Twitter mob for the first time, something which left me with panic attacks for months.
Then this: "It’s not about building something new, it’s about avoiding erosion."
I'm looking forward to following The Red Telephone.
Thanks Marie. Great comment and if you put two of those things together, the online trolls and mobs do feel like a targeted attempt to erode our mental equilibrium.
Thank you for sharing your educated views on this terrifying subject - at least it feels terrifying to me, a 64 year-old,chemo-brained, crazy-cat lady who nonetheless tries to keep up with all this. Back in the day (2011 to 2020) I was one of the first ‘influencers” in luxury travel, something I found very strange since I was just feeling my way foreword with nobody to tell me what to do. I am so glad I am not involved in the social media anymore - maintaining my Substack to connect with people like you and others who want to share their unique talents. It will be interesting to see this mess squeeze out of the toothpaste tube going forward. I do know that what I have seen of AI is very scary.
It does feel like the pace of everything is accelerating so there is a need for orientation. Those early influencer experiences sound interesting and at that early stage, more organic. Yet anything that “works” becomes so quickly templated these days, creating an endless escalation. And yes, Substack feels a bit more my pace, too! Thanks for the comment.
I love the PDF. I also think it's a great way to connect with readers (trying to be optimistic here) who aren't chronically online. They can get access to everything, once a month, and be enriched in ways they didn't know they needed. Loved reading your thoughts, as always.
Thank you! If nothing else, it’s a way to share stuff without forcing people to create an account. The other realisation is it becomes a moment in time which can live beyond any given platform.
I second the PDF idea, and agree with your essay. Removing ourselves even slightly from the scroll, and the engagement farming, has to have some positives.
And Jesus Zuckerberg as Hendrix is a terrifying thought. 😳
I couldn't agree more with everything you've said here, and have felt the same way for many years. I probably would call it nostalgia, but as you say, it's a bit more complicated. I miss interacting with you and many of my other Medium friends. But I left the platform because of the detrimental aspect, which you also mentioned here. I loved your PDF magazine, and will gladly read it if you continue to put it together. I also loved your video version of A Tasmanian Nocturne.
Hi Christine, great to hear from you, I hope all is well in your part of the world. Yes, this is my first attempt to try and organise these thoughts and as you say, there are complications. One example I've been thinking about is pixel art games, which has an element of rear guard action in that it facilitates production for small studios while as a whole, is mostly nostalgia.
I really appreciate your kind words on the video and the PDF. Part of my thinking with the PDF was removing the social aspect that demands "engagement". It will be coming out once a month, so I'm very glad that this edition found you!
Yeah, the forced engagement bit on Medium was killing me. It's not actually forced, of course, but my personality is such that it might as well be. If someone reads my stuff and leaves a comment, I feel compelled to reciprocate, regardless of whether I have any interest in them or their writing. Towards the end of my time on Medium, I had no time for anything else.
As you say, not forced, but expected. I remember one writer saying she was doing 16 hour a day reciprocity! And I feel Medium encouraged it up until the point they felt they had a captive audience and did a financial rug pull. At that point, it's not a writing career, it's musical chairs. I just want (or need) a small group a like minded souls that I can interact with to the limits of what I can manage. After that, they gotta be reading because they want to read. But yeh, it's slow going.
Reverie is an antidote to much of the over-focus, over-delineation and branding of our identities, most especially in an age where we are drawn like moths to a flame, burned and distracted by the internet, from one state of narrow focus to another. - David Whyte
The Mark Suckerberg reference to Jimi Hendrix was like a bucket of cold water in my face. Because it's true and sickens me to realize just how much we have lost. Waking up happens in degrees. I look forward to reading your .pdf in detail. My only regret is I don't have a color printer. And more book shelves, but I haven't filled all the chairs yet. I once attended a tech conference where a young, arrogant, overpaid, knows nothing about how the world works, asshole referred to books as artifacts that would soon die away. I seriously considered being the arbitrator of his immediate demise in that moment.
The arrogant, know-nothingness of not understanding books sounds like it does need some immediate arbitration! "Waking up happens in degrees." Exactly. What has been inflicted on us has been built up one seemingly innocuous layer on the landscape at a time, for us now to be wondering: What the hell is this mountain we're standing on?
I know not this mountain but I can state with full certainty—”I am proud to be an Artifact.” 🦕
I would have helped you!
lol
You have some things in here that really made me stop and think. Things like "Western culture transformed from a democracy of makers to an oligarchy of takers" and social media offering us something that people want. It offered me a place to share my writing, to talk with like-minded people, but I also experienced a Twitter mob for the first time, something which left me with panic attacks for months.
Then this: "It’s not about building something new, it’s about avoiding erosion."
I'm looking forward to following The Red Telephone.
Thanks Marie. Great comment and if you put two of those things together, the online trolls and mobs do feel like a targeted attempt to erode our mental equilibrium.
Thank you for sharing your educated views on this terrifying subject - at least it feels terrifying to me, a 64 year-old,chemo-brained, crazy-cat lady who nonetheless tries to keep up with all this. Back in the day (2011 to 2020) I was one of the first ‘influencers” in luxury travel, something I found very strange since I was just feeling my way foreword with nobody to tell me what to do. I am so glad I am not involved in the social media anymore - maintaining my Substack to connect with people like you and others who want to share their unique talents. It will be interesting to see this mess squeeze out of the toothpaste tube going forward. I do know that what I have seen of AI is very scary.
It does feel like the pace of everything is accelerating so there is a need for orientation. Those early influencer experiences sound interesting and at that early stage, more organic. Yet anything that “works” becomes so quickly templated these days, creating an endless escalation. And yes, Substack feels a bit more my pace, too! Thanks for the comment.
I love the PDF. I also think it's a great way to connect with readers (trying to be optimistic here) who aren't chronically online. They can get access to everything, once a month, and be enriched in ways they didn't know they needed. Loved reading your thoughts, as always.
Thank you! If nothing else, it’s a way to share stuff without forcing people to create an account. The other realisation is it becomes a moment in time which can live beyond any given platform.
Definitely. Eternal life, for the win. 😁
I second the PDF idea, and agree with your essay. Removing ourselves even slightly from the scroll, and the engagement farming, has to have some positives.
And Jesus Zuckerberg as Hendrix is a terrifying thought. 😳
I really hope he doesn’t get an Afro! 🤔😂
I couldn't agree more with everything you've said here, and have felt the same way for many years. I probably would call it nostalgia, but as you say, it's a bit more complicated. I miss interacting with you and many of my other Medium friends. But I left the platform because of the detrimental aspect, which you also mentioned here. I loved your PDF magazine, and will gladly read it if you continue to put it together. I also loved your video version of A Tasmanian Nocturne.
Hi Christine, great to hear from you, I hope all is well in your part of the world. Yes, this is my first attempt to try and organise these thoughts and as you say, there are complications. One example I've been thinking about is pixel art games, which has an element of rear guard action in that it facilitates production for small studios while as a whole, is mostly nostalgia.
I really appreciate your kind words on the video and the PDF. Part of my thinking with the PDF was removing the social aspect that demands "engagement". It will be coming out once a month, so I'm very glad that this edition found you!
Yeah, the forced engagement bit on Medium was killing me. It's not actually forced, of course, but my personality is such that it might as well be. If someone reads my stuff and leaves a comment, I feel compelled to reciprocate, regardless of whether I have any interest in them or their writing. Towards the end of my time on Medium, I had no time for anything else.
As you say, not forced, but expected. I remember one writer saying she was doing 16 hour a day reciprocity! And I feel Medium encouraged it up until the point they felt they had a captive audience and did a financial rug pull. At that point, it's not a writing career, it's musical chairs. I just want (or need) a small group a like minded souls that I can interact with to the limits of what I can manage. After that, they gotta be reading because they want to read. But yeh, it's slow going.
Reverie is an antidote to much of the over-focus, over-delineation and branding of our identities, most especially in an age where we are drawn like moths to a flame, burned and distracted by the internet, from one state of narrow focus to another. - David Whyte