A Few Steps Back
by Jeff Starr on Monday, February 15, 2010 – 42 Responses
I have been doing some non-design-related work recently and have not been saturated with anything even computer-related for the past several weeks. Mostly I have been just enjoying life, but also drawing quite a bit and going around taking photos of old, decrepit homesteads and factories. Needless to say, it’s been a much-needed respite from the usual crunch and grind.
Taking a few steps back like this from the Web — even for such a short period of time — is remarkably refreshing, and has given me time to contemplate all this web-stuff that keeps us all so busy. When you’re right down in it, focused like a laser and cranking the days away, time sort of loses meaning, as every moment is purely an opportunity to get something done.
Looking more at the overall shape of things gives you a better perspective of how all the little pieces fit into place. When we’re focused strongly on a particular set of goals, it’s necessary to filter out as much extraneous information as possible. This helps in the short term, but it’s good to step back once in awhile and “let in” as much depth and perspective as possible.
Here are some of my observations regarding the Web and design-related goings on. I don’t think any of this is really anything new, but somehow taking a few steps back helps to illuminate certain things in a clearer light.
I’m tired of catering to the lowest common denominator
It’s frequently necessary, but not always. There’s too darn many websites that just crank out post after post of the most popular-type content possible. Whatever will get the most hits, tweets, and diggs. I am guilty of this myself, not just for writing articles, but also for certain designs. If I know the client is going to drool over some tasty jQuery tricks, I’ll usually go ahead and throw them into the mix. In fact there’s almost a “magic recipe” these days of “hot” design elements that go into a wannabe popular website design. What does it all mean? If it pays the bills, then go for whatever works, but seriously, I remember the Web back before it was the Babylonian money-maker it is today. The percentage of original, inspiring material is shrinking to atomic size, while the the amount of flashy popular mainstream garbage is spreading like the black plague.
Popularity is an illusion
Especially on the Web, the idea of someone being popular is all relative. Sure, you may have a half million followers on Twitter, but it represents little more than the cumulative total of a very small percentage of the online population making a quick, self-serving decision to jump on board. What does this mean? People associate themselves with you because of what they can get from you, whether that be something as shallow as another Twitter follower, or something as important as friendship. It’s all too easy to self-deceive into thinking that anything is really that amazing, including yourself. It kills me that social media has devolved into the marketing opportunity and popularity contest that it is today. I remember back when Twitter was just getting started. It was an amazing thing. Everyone involved seemed genuinely “tuned in” to the Web and tweets were more about fun and friendship than self-promotion and relentless egotism.
Social Media is already dead
Or at least, what it once was is no longer possible, thanks to marketers, salesmen, politicians, and other self-serving entities. When you’re sitting there telling your client that social media is going to help them sell more products or gain more popularity on the Web, you may be correct, but you’re missing the whole point of “social” media. We can’t even call it that these days, it’s more like “commercial” media. I stopped watching television many years ago after tiring of all the manipulative sleaziness. For awhile there, we enjoyed a Virtual Utopia here on the Web, sharing with each other via blogs and then more so with social media. It’s sad, to say the least that the sellouts have taken over, but fortunately there are many “microcosms” of online communities that still try to keep it real. If you are lucky enough to be included in a genuine community of inspired and passionate people, then congratulations. I would definitely focus my efforts in that area and work to keep the scene alive.
None of this is real
In a tangible sense, all of this digital stuff doesn’t exist. Basing your life on the Web is a complete and utter blast, but if the power ever goes out — sort-term or long-term — you’ve got nothing, baby. I shudder to think if something bad should happen, but if it does, it’s good to have something going out there in the “real world.” What could happen? Anything really. From natural disasters to wars to government-run blackouts to prohibitive regulation and even censorship. Hopefully nothing like this will happen, but it’s always good to have a backup plan in place just in case. This perspective may seem pessimistic, but it definitely helps to put everything into perspective. “You can’t take it with you,” as they say.
It’s impossible to know it all
The best we can hope for is a realization that we don’t know it all, and an understanding of how to find out what we need to know. This is why search will always trump categorization, tagging, and other organizational methods. There’s just too much information and it’s increasing much too fast to keep up with it in a useful way. For smaller subsystems, archiving is useful, but the Web itself is best navigated via search, not tags or bookmarks. Know what you’re after and go get it. I think that understanding how to search is the first and most important thing that anyone should know when working on the Web. From there, anything is possible. Without such ability, you’re relying on your own limited knowledge and confined to finding information the old fashioned way.
It is possible to be content with what you have
Why get hung up in the rat race? If you’re working online, you obviously have more than enough, so why the need to fight and sell your way to the top? There is no unwritten law that dictates the rapid pace of technological and software development. This may seem like a completely dumb thing to suggest, but can’t we just use the technology that we have rather than rush it forward just to keep up with itself? Seriously, way back in the day, I was completely happy with Windows 98SE, Photoshop 7, and my trusty copy of Winamp. Now, I have a copy of Adobe CS3 that I can’t even use because my operating system isn’t Windows Vista. That may be somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek example, but the question remains: how much time must the online community spend dealing with unending updates and upgrades? Fixing things and racing to keep up is a good way to take time away from more productive tasks, imho.
There is a lack of originality and personality on the Web
It’s more like some sort of weird hive-mind or something. It’s always possible to stir things up by disagreeing, but even dissenting opinions fail to express true thoughts and feelings. It’s easier to be yourself within small groups or with lower visibility, but as you begin to merge with the larger hive-mind and assume a more visible role, speaking freely requires more work, unless you enjoy getting flamed and hammered on the public stage. Many businesses and politicians bend over backwards to avoid saying what they really think, and then scramble and squirm after revealing something that goes against popular opinion. Yes I know, that’s just the way it is, and it’s always been that way, but understanding who you are and then actually representing that person online in an honest way is too difficult for most people.
Too much time spent farting around with stupid things
This is a double-edge sword: you are either so focused and goal-oriented that you miss out on all the cool things that everyone is doing, or else you’re so distracted with all the twittering, linking, and emailing that you never get anything accomplished. Sure most of us are somewhere in the middle or higher end of this spectrum, but finding that balance is an important part of being a “tuned-in” and relevant contributor in your field. I always marvel at people who spend all of their time twittering, for example. It would be interesting to hear why they do it and what they think they’re getting out of it. Many online activities are pretty much equivalent to flushing your time down the toilet.
So what’s the take home-message?
Not sure. I do know that it feels real good to get away from it all and take a few steps back. I may not have communicated effectively the different things I have been pondering, but overall it’s basically a sense of awe that all of this is possible mixed with a growing disdain for where it’s all possibly headed. There is still plenty of reason to abandon the more cynical concerns and just dive into what you’re doing with everything you’ve got, but there is always a better way of thinking about and doing things. It just takes a few moments to step back and see it all for what it really is.
Man, you’re just crazy
Perhaps, but it feels good to share these thoughts with you. Somehow therapeutic talking about this stuff. Not really any mind-blowing revelations here, but thinking about them in greater depth and while sort of detached from the usual workload chaos has proven refreshing. A more profound contemplation and understanding of what you’re doing helps to liberate from old ways of thinking and enables you to see and embrace new possibilities.
Or perhaps I am just talking rubbish?
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42 Responses
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Johan – #1
Awesome reading, man. It’s only good for us to think loud sometimes, and especially if it’s wise thoughts.
stevengrindlay – #2
I was just thinking last night as I looked at incoming tweets on tweet deck that few people if anyone says anything at all. Almost all posts seem to direct you to something someone else has said??? It’s like being in a conversation where everyone deferrs to some other person/expert who is not present, so no conversation/orginal/infomation/knowledge exchange takes place at all??
Erstwhile the voluminous amounts of referrals make the tweeter appear; important, informed, popular? It’s like name dropping on an infinate scale.
I keep posting away at a very low rate when I think I have something of value to say… so far the results have been underwhelming to say the least.
On the other hand… had I not been referred to your site I would have missed your delightful and very poignant musings and comments. And that would have left me poorer.
The big question is what are we going to do about it…social media phase:2?
paul – #3
Interesting read. I can relate to what you say about the digital world being virtual and not tangible. I often think about that too.
What bothers me about the web are the “traffic whores”. Making a lot of noise but not really contributing anything.
Nowadays, you get a tweet with a link that you click which takes you to a news aggregator, which takes you to a round-up post which takes you to a list post which takes you finally to the original post, just so that everyone can suck on the traffic along the way. And when you read the post, it’s just something old that has been rephrased just enough so that google thinks it’s fresh.
Anyway, I don’t have much difficulty in finding the right balance, I don’t like spending hours on Twitter or Facebook.
Zack – #4
Yeah, it is really nice to step back and get perspective on “the web” or our own individual relationships with it, whether it be for work or social use. I think that I do a fairly decent job of censoring myself. I follow very few individuals and I am followed by only a small community of people, most that I know personally, in RL.
The pessimistic thoughts about how intangible the web is, I think that many web based employees, freelancers or companies have those ideas/fears, that someday it will all be gone. But to me it is no different then people who rely on the stock market or other intangible global markets that could simply end given a drop off in technology of as you mentioned natural disaster. To quell those thoughts I think of how creative and adaptable we are as people and know that we will figure something out.
I was very impressed by this article and it is one of the few things I will “retweet” this week. Thanks for the time and effort you obviously put into this, very refreshing to see someone add some true emotion to a posting.
Paul Winslow – #5
Definitely. There’s nothing like a good serving of perspective to set you straight on your priorities in life.
It’s horrible when something hits you too late.
Higgins – #6
Balanced, thoughtful, world-wise observations, pullng into words concepts many of us have only marginally considered while chasing our individual rabbits. Excellent endorsement of common sense and individuality!
arnold – #7
really informative for me …
Basing your life on the Web is a complete and utter blast,… and yes it sucks.
thanks again for the post..it was cool to see a post like these.
it kinda hit you in the head.
Gabe – #8
Great to read some one else thinking the same thing. I get so burnt out trying to know it all, which leads to farting around with stupid things. Then I love when I see job postings expecting people to know it all (Required Skills: Flash AS 2.0 and 3.0, CSS3, HTML5, JavaScript/Ajax, Java, STRUTS, JSF, PHP, ASP.NET (VB and C#), mastery of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign. Oh, and must know MySQL, MS SQL SERVER, and Oracle. C++ and COBOL knowledge preferred. WTF?!?!? REALLY?!?!?)
And I couldn’t agree more with @stevengrindlay and @Paul - I’m so tired of people regurgitating other tweets. Blah, RT some-great-list-of-crap. Vomit RT you-need-this-widget-to-be-cool, aren’t I awesome for sharing with you? Just to get traffic up so I can fill my right hand column with ads for services you probably don’t want. Then half my feed reader’s posts are links to links to links to an article (with more ads.)
I enjoy when I get to be away from the web for periods of time. It’s great to unplug. We also have to keep in mind that we view all of these things through our own perspective. The web is a much different world for our spouses, parents, children, friends, etc. With all of that being said, I do know that I’ve tried several career fields, and I love this one the best. It’s great that we can publish anything we want, any time we want to, and we can put our own personality stamp on it.on it.
J – #9
I think of the web as a global, instant communication tool (which it is). You simply have to learn to filter out anything you don’t need or like. It’s pretty much the same in “real life”, it’s just that there’s much less c**p (that you have access to).
Yeah, if something happens and it’s shut down, I’ll probably start selling wind turbines and solar panels (to get the Internet back up :-).
Btw, CS3 works very well on XP and 7 (never used Vista, it’s a bloated POS).
Brad – #10
There is a balance thats required in life. Some people do what you do with cars, some with their work no matter what it is.
I also have friends from around the world I talk with daily. But I recognize that this machine takes way too much of my time. I look at people with phones growing out of their ears and think they are living their lives on the phones.
I follow you on nettuts and twitter because I learn so much. But we spend very little time thinking of the next person in the chain, like yourself and your needs.
Think we all need to step back where we were a long time ago and spend more time thinking about real things. But not giving up our current things. Balance
Jeff Starr – #11
@stevengrindlay: Twitter is for the birds. I say we focus on friends and small communities of like-minded individuals. It is far more difficult for marketers and salesfolk to grease their way into these smaller networks. On a large scale they can get away with it because their is no real accountability, but if someone walks into your living room and starts dropping names and promoting their crap, it’s much easier for you and your friends to deal with the situation effectively. There is very little value in Twitter these days.
@paul: Absolutely. That was another point that I wanted to make in this post, but it escaped my mind at the time. Everything is artificially inflated with the social-media crap, and the amount of genuine, worthwhile content is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Once you discover something or someone who provides real value, those are the ones you support and get involved with.
@Zack: good point about other industries/areas that deal with “intangible” goods and material. It’s not just the Web-based stuff by any stretch, but when you think about the level of actual interpersonal communication and material goods that are involved, the Web is almost a figment of our imaginations. I mean really, we’re all just sitting in a room somewhere on a chair looking at a piece of plastic and pressing buttons. It’s quite lonely and sad, if you think about it.
@Gabe: I also echo the RT Twitter sentiments. The game is becoming so thin and transparent that even the most clueless are beginning to see it for what it is. Just because retweeting another person’s post works, doesn’t mean that everyone thinks you’re doing it out of benevolence. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: when I see others retweeting something, it’s like I make a mental note of it: “oh, so @whatshisname is on @thatotherguys tip and retweeting his crap for points.” There’s no way anyone can possibly check out all of the resources that continually flow across the screen, so what’s the real value?
@J: Some good optimistic feedback there, but I’m telling you straight up: CS3 does not work on the two different XP machines that I tried. A few quick searches will reveal the hell that many XP folks endured while trying to get CS3 working on their machines. After spending an entire day on it, I came to the conclusion that yes CS3 works on XP but only if all the conditions are juust riight. One odd-something application or preference setting in a program is enough to prevent the installation from even starting. From what I’ve read, if it’s working for you, then you’re one of the lucky ones.
@Brad: Great points — thanks for sharing your thoughts. It is indeed all about balance, and that is very difficult to achieve unless you have the desire to do so and the time to do it with. All I can do is tell others how much a few weeks away from it all benefited my perspective. As I dive back into the game, I will be doing so with a freshly charged battery and a pocketful of new ideas.
Jared – #12
Man are you telling me! This is a all so on point, at least from mine and my friends’ point of view. about an hour ago now, we were discussing how insane it is lately with just…. everything really, that you mentioned.
It’s just so overwhelming sometimes, and I seriously couldn’t agree more. I’m so happy to hear that it’s not just me that feels like this. After talk with my friend, and now reading all what you have said here, I feel much better, and not so discouraged.
This was just what I needed to hear, and would’ve been even better if you posted it last week lol. I could’ve used it then even more.
I just hope it doesn’t end up where it is seemingly racing at the speed of light towards, with increasing speed everyday. It would be a shame if one day the internet became the “thing” that no one wants to use anymore, but perhaps that may be for the better. Kids would actually have lives as they grow up, and go out with friends, not sit in a room on a computer and talk shit about nonesense.
And the retarded and freakishly over-abundance of rediculous content needs to stop. I can’t take it anymopre. I swear I’m going to explode if I see one more thing that I have to bookmark, only cuz i have 35 tabs open already in firefox that I’m trying to do somethin with, and that bookmark will basically just join the void of lost things that are never looked at again because there’s too damn much, that by the time I finish this comment I’ll have to go and learn a whole new coding langauge that was just realeased and revolutionized the web for all I know.
It needs to stop, all of it.
Thanks again for this. OH and I really need a vacation. I wish I could take a step back, but gotta pay the bills right.
Jared
Shane – #13
Once again, great to hear from someone who feels the same as I.
I usually have to get sick or so over-tired that I just can’t even focus on an lcd screen anymore.
I’ve just gotten over a bout of sickness, a couple of days off from the insanity of the internet. It’s wonderful how you can sit back, reflect on what you’ve been doing. How much life you’ve been wasting sitting in front of the screen.
It does pay the bills, and there’s people to please, but I love my other pursuits which have nothing to do with the internet.
I’ve never got into the social networking side of things, just restrict myself to email, of which I can control better. Always considered social networking to be a lonely interaction with others.
Well said, enjoyed the read for breakfast.
And Jared, yes, I think it needs to stop as well, but I don’t see that happening yet whilst there’s so much money to be made in software development.
Just look at the continuted evolution of the phone ….. when is that going to stop!
Shane
Jared – #14
Oh I definitely see no end to it, or even the slightest bit of thought that it might. It’s all moving far too quickly, like Jeff said, people are forced to have to keep up with their own updates, and software etc. just so they can keep up with themselves. You are lucky to never been subjected to social media, it only makes things so much worse. I’ll spend hours trying to get something done, and then realize I spent hours getting not only nothing done, but what I was doing the whole time was complete and utter waste doing useless nothingness.
Facebook and Twitter suck you in before you know it, you’ve just lost a year off your life with nothing to show for it.
Jeff Starr – #15
@Jared: Completely agree. With so many people pouring all of their time, effort, and money into cyberspace, there is a growing void within society that’s absent of much-needed human interaction. Especially with kids. They need so much more attention than what they are currently getting. I try as much as possible to spend time with my kids, but there are millions that just go without any level of attention, education and encouragement from parents and other adults. It’s easy for some of us to step back, remember “how it used to be,” and then continue forward to make a living, but kids growing up today will have no comprehension of life without computers and gadgets.
@Shane: Yes, I almost look forward to getting sick these days just so I can enjoy that downtime and step back and appreciate things for what they are. One thing that is reassuring is that, for the most part, we really don’t need to work as constantly as we do. There is no reason that anyone needs to be plugged in all the time. I can tell you that nobody has come knocking asking where I’m at when I’m not online for a couple of days. It’s like, life goes on and the Web goes on, regardless of whether or not I think I’m keeping up with it all. It’s always there when I get back although it usually takes a bit more effort to get back up to speed with things. It sounds like avoiding social media entirely may be a good thing after all.
Shane – #16
Jeff: I agree with the void that is being created and the issue with the kids.
My 7 y.o. boy prefers TV. He’d watch it from sunrise to sunset it he could. However, when we extradite him from the box (we don’t watch it at all), he is a completely different kid.
During TV, he cannot think or react to questions asked of him. He is unable to interact with people full stop until a half hour or so after leaving the Box.
On days where we unplug it (which is our only way of stopping it), he is a gorgeous, interactive, social being, willing to help around the house and join in activities. We’ve noticed a HUGE difference in his behaviour without it.
Social Media is the death of human relationships and the death of having any time for other people. Email used to be to blame, and it’s still invasive at the best of times. Google Wave, yes, here comes another tidal wave to destroy relationships.
I know I don’t have to be online all the time, my online pursuits are in the web development area, creating sites for customers. I, being the workaholic I am, tend to take on too much in too short a time span, thus putting pressure on myself.
Then I want to improve this, or improve that, like your minify app. I have a heavy site I wanted to speed up before putting it live, and thus I started at 11:30 pm and finished at 2:00 am, and it still didn’t work. Reason being I couldn’t trace all the calls for all the .css and .js files in the template, they were spread around too many index files etc. I then settled for second best, using rokzip, which did gain me 6 seconds on load time.
Jared – #17
Lets start a movement! Down with internets! lol
Or something like that :P
Paul Winslow – #18
Almost forgot, .net mag are running an article in the latest issue about the internet having a negative pull on our ability to absorb information.
“The British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee, found clear evidence of the negative effects of internet use. Deep log studies show that, from undergraduates to professors, people exhibit a strong tendency towards shallow, horizontal, ‘flicking’ behaviour in digital libraries. Society is dumbing down.”
Alvin – #19
I live in a small Australian country town, roughly 47,000 residents, a social media ‘guru’ in town boasts of having 100,000 Followers on Twitter. Her services are aimed squarely at local business. With the push to capture more and show ever improving numbers people are losing sight of reality. Alienating every possible person with an endless supply of no brain retweets to fellow marketers that have no interest in anything except their own ineffective campaigns to convince even more would be marketers to follow them.
I bailed out of Facebook and Twitter around July 2009, I have no need to be endlessly bombarded with sales pitches or ‘friends or friends’ that have crazy agenda’s that are either commercial or religious in the extreme.
I limit myself now to reading blogs by interesting people with insightful information that is relevent to my situation. In a sense i did exactly what you are advocating Jeff, but i also completely quit the office politics and struck out on my own. Since then my work, life, relationships and self esteem have improved immensely.
At the time i made my decision all my colleagues and ‘friends’ were calling me crazy, seems like a lot of people are starting to make the decision for themselves. Social Media is not as social as it was meant to be.
Don’t get me wrong, i am not living in a commune singing folk songs, i work primarily online and advise daily on web strateges and UX, i just don’t live vicariously through the medium, it is a job, not a lifestyle choice.
Keep up the good work Jeff, this site is invaluable in so many ways.
Jeff Starr – #20
Hi Alvin, good stuff there.. we also have those sorts of greazy marketers here in this small town of like 20,000. The sad part is that none of them are even remotely popular on either Twitter or Facebook, yet they use those credentials/profiles to convince customers that they’re actually providing some sort of SEO/marketing service or something. It’s hilarious.
I commend you for dropping Twitter and Facebook. I want to do the same, but it takes an ability to transcend and go beyond where the rest of the crowd is hanging out. Other than Delicious, Twitter is really the only other network I bother checking on and updating, and for the most part even there I spend very little time each day.
Sounds like you are way ahead the curve with things. Understanding that there is actually a difference between a lifestyle and a job is something that would benefit a lot of web folk these days. Too many are just plugged in without direction, mindlessly flowing along with wherever the big current takes them. Personally, I prefer to have a solid plan and live within my own head.
stevengrindlay – #21
OK so here I am screamimng through the twitterverse….good lord! I think I’ve just passed myself?
Amber Weinberg – #22
You read my mind. I could not agree more with every single point you said. I remember when I first started making websites - when I was in the 6th grade in the 90’s. Things were relatively simple back then, with very little in terms of design, but it seemed it offered much more substance and was easy to get 100+ people to answer your question or call to action (like friending you or chatting, etc). Now the web is so crowded it’s hard to get yourself heard.
Dino – #23
Thanks for the thoughts. No, it’s far away from rubbish.
Good thinking that resonate. Cheers
Michael Beckwith – #24
Short response, but it’s that lack of originality and whatnot that really tends to prevent me from retweeting stuff and generally being annoyed by it. Yes it’s good to a certain degree, but chances are everyone is following $popularperson already and got it anyway. Just some basic thoughts
Mandy – #25
Sometimes we all need to take a few steps back and look at things with a different prespective and sounds like you a learning a lot from your new prepective but I would do to market yourself to bring in new business with your spare time and not just laying driving around taking pictures of houses. Use Google maps street view for that.
Alvin – #26
@Mandy - Taking time out and getting out the office into a different environment can radically open up new creative processes and perspectives. Architecture of different geographic regions profoundly affects many web designers i socialise with. Experiencing environments in reality, is a far cry from looking at the pretty pictures / graphics or lame Street View visuals.
Marketing and hustling for new business in my experience produces appalling results, having strengthened creativity, passionately resonating with clients and delivering the package promised opens up many potential new clients. Word Of Mouth is much more valuable than blurting out marketing phrases and mass emailing, if you ‘have’ to market you may not be prioritising the service aspect.
This is just my opinion, and i am fully aware all the marketing guru’s don’t like this approach, but it works fantastically for many businesses, web design /development seems to be ideally suited to this approach - as unintuitive as it may seem.
Shane – #27
@Alvin, i see where you’re coming from.
You can become too focused on digital imagery and miss the depth and creativity that being out in the real world gives you.
Marketing is something I, as a newish web designer (old typesetter from way back) have never done.
It’s all been word of mouth. In a smallish community, when Mr A gets a new website, Mr B wants to keep up (out of fear). No one wants to be left behind in this medium.
We have a local “web designer company” that advertises and spouts off the usual jargon, has pimply kids working for it, and just churns out crap at ridiculous prices.
I say nothing, but get the work at fair prices, based on word of mouth.
I’m at the point where I sub-contract all my basic 2-5 page html sites out, and just focus on the CMS sites. I’m in loooove with CMS atm.
Probably be harder in a city of 3 million, or could be even easier.
I know my other business ventures in the city have always succeeded on word of mouth, nothing more. Even furniture manufacturing.
Alvin – #28
@Shane - I think this industry needs more ethical leaders to stamp out the opportunistic predators that are flooding in. Unfortunately the average Joe / Joanna has no idea what constitutes great design, so there will always be a market for the disgustingly contrived crap from the self professed experts.
I have seen some recent email campaigns, that are laughingly awful. I am not sure if designers refuse to work with these marketers or they are too ignorant to know any better. If nothing else they are good for a laugh. Comic Sans is making a return!
Mike – #29
lol… I have really enjoyed all these comments. @Jared if we start a movement Down with internet, what is the way to massively communicate the movement? lol…
We all get stressed of work, and yes, specially when we rush ourselves to learn more and more to keep up current. This article reminded me a post I read very long time ago.
I actually enjoy time with friends when I am not in my computer. But I also enjoy what I do. What happens is that we had not realized that we are in another era, and the more advanced the technology goes, the faster it will continue. Who stop it? nobody can stop this phenomenon.
~Mike
Stephanie – #30
I really enjoyed reading your thoughts. And it is far from rubbish. This reply may be off tangent but I took the time to write it..
The internet has become a copycat of itself. If you find something cool somewhere, it probably came from somewhere else. Not to point any fingers at any blog, but you just look at how many Wordpress blogs there are (like actual blogs talking about Wordpress), and while many are great, a lot of them are just saying the same techniques.
It is hard to find something unique and original and not something you heard before. More so, it’s hard to find someone that can show real pleasure that it’s their hobby and not something they’re doing to pay the bills. Of course, paying the bills are important and a guy’s gotta do what a guys’ gotta do. I understand that.
However, for me and blog reading, it comes down to where is the passion? Even the most quality blogs I read have been hit with ads being everywhere and all in your face. Do they really have a passion for what they’re writing or are they looking for your clicks and comments? I personally see a difference when people write because they love writing and when people write to get Google to notice them and to earn that extra dime.
This was a refreshing post. No offense intended but it really showed a human side to this blog.
Shane – #31
@Stephanie, i think most people reading this blog are at the same evolutionary place as you are in regards to internet culture or lack thereof.
To go on another tangent, i’ve been thinking of what a different place the internet would be (if it’s a place at all) if there was no anonimity. On a deeper level than just the user.
Full accountability for what you say or show, playing on the same playing field as the (physical) social and business world. No hiding behind a proxy when you’re in the office.
We could clean out the bullshit, give porn it’s own network, and be accountable for what gets published.
Access to the internet could only be to those who can prove their physical identity. Maybe that’s too far, but maybe it’s not.
To operate a device on the mobile phone service, here in Australia, demands 100 points of ID. What’s so different about the internet.
Is it regulation? Or is it just turning it into something credible.
Whatever did Governments have in mind when they let it lose, without restraint. I believe we as a race, sometimes need “rules”, like children, otherwise we run amok. E.G. the internet.
My thoughts.
Oh, and I like this post too.
Alvin – #32
@Stephanie - I agree with you, but the problem is not just internet originality, in general society people tend to pass of others idea’s as their own, it just migrates easily to the blog world. Deep down we are all very similar, and most of us are far too willing to take shortcuts.
@Shane - Anonymity is fundamental to why the internet has been embraced. In Aus and other similar societies we have all these freedoms to speak our mind, even without anonymity. But the tide can turn, as evidenced by the Federal Governments moves toward Internet Censorship that will hopefully be abandoned.
Imagine a time no too long from now when you have to register your blog / page / brochure / email address - if you don’t the vast majority of Australians will be blocked from that content - all under the banner of protection against [Insert Reason Here]. Imagine the implications for political parties, they can be blocked by a bureacrats whim, a business that could be blocked because it competes with a government sanctioned corporate entity, etc etc.
We already have the exact connection policies you are recommending, you or someone in your household / office / group has proven to a service provider sufficiently to allow connection. Instituting a personal access pass for each and every individual is kind of spooky.
The internet culture will correct itself, more people will become advocates of change and influence others to do the same, instituting further legislation / regulations is not going to achieve anything as far as i can see, i may be wrong.
People only follow fads and trends until they discover their own voice, so any day now there should be a landslide of original idea’s and content.
And now i am jumping off the soap box.
Garrett W. – #33
GREAT post, Jeff. To the same degree that I agree with you, I am overtaken by the web/computer and am struggling to loosen its grasp on me. I’ve been an addict for quite some time (hi, hello everyone, my name is Garrett … “Hi Garrett” … etc.) and I know I have a problem (the first step, right? haha) but it’s such a hard habit to break.
Anyway, I’ve never forgotten the time when I was much younger that my mom grounded me from the computer for a whole MONTH. For the first week I felt like “What am I going to do? I’m so bored, and almost everything I think of doing involves either the computer or working around the house doing chores or something.” But by the end of the month, I was wanting the grounding to be extended because I was getting work done and didn’t want to be distracted until I finished whatever it was. So I know I have the potential to get down and get busy on stuff, but my drive to do — well, anything, almost — is just sapped dry. I think my biggest issue is, first of all, denying myself the easy pleasure of sitting down to a point-and-click session, and then I need to prioritize.
I really don’t want to cut the computer completely out of my life — there are lots of things I really need it for — but I think I use it as a crutch for getting out of things that are more important (because those things take WORK and EFFORT! how terrible! :P)
Didn’t mean to turn this into a confessional, but I thought you and your readers might be interested in another personal anecdote, I guess.
Again, great post and thanks for saying those things.
Jared – #34
I’ve actually taken your advice Jeff, and for the past week or so I haven’t done anything, (much), and just sort of stepping back. Its soooo nice. I love it. I still do some, but I dont stress all that stuff as much.
Shane – #35
@Jared-Garrett, I’ve been trying to take the advice. I know it’s good for me, but actually doing it is a different kettle of fish.
Most of my relationship dramas are the result of me working too long. At my shop and then at home. I have a retail shop and an online business. I work 50/50 between the two.
However, i tend to extend my working hours at home until 10pm, darting back and forward into the office to tap or click. I’ve been addicted to joomla for the last 6 months, loving every bit of it, learning heaps about the power of css, the brilliance of using php, and daring not to get involved in mysql.
10pm, midnight, 2am, nothing unusual for me, after working a 9 hour day as well. then up again at 6 to check-out that thing i just couldn’t finish the previous night.
Great lifestyle for a single guy perhaps, but not married with a young child.
It’s not only the time spent away from the family, that’s one aspect. It’s the mental condition you’re in after being on the pc for many hours.
I find you’re not in an emotional state of being, so to speak. You’re not thinking or feeling about things from the heart. Things like, caring how someone else feels, or remembering interactions during the day with others, and talking or dwelling on them. Or pondering where your sons at, what his needs are, how he’s going emotionally.
I find i’m still thinking about that module that won’t just sit right in IE7.
And if sex wasn’t so overpowering, i don’t think i’d ever have it again. too emotionally demanding, too much connecting with another person, because that f*cking module still won’t sit right in IE7.
I’m being a bit exageratted here, but basically i’m aware that it takes an hour or two of regular breaks to actually get out of the “logical” mindset and back to becoming a caring, sharing human being.
I better stop, but before i do, i must make the comment that the only thing that does SWITCH me instantly from thinking, thinking, thinking is a slim, one paper scoobie.
night,
Chris Roane – #36
Wow, great post. It is always a good idea to step back from things and remind yourself what really is important in life. As Socrates once put it: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”.
I like using the internet and posting articles, but I love my wife and daughter even more.
Jeff Starr – #37
:)
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