From Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel, this post reminded me a bit of the Note to Self Bored and Brilliant challenge from maybe decade ago. It also echoes of one of the lessons I’ve learned from karate, to be weary of the three Zs (“zees”): too busy, too lazy, too easy.
Anyway, it lead to to this post by Anne Helen Peterson which hit on quite a few things I’ve been thinking about or feeling for the past, well maybe half decade? I forget how long ago I deleted my Facebook account now. Got rid of Twitter very soon after you know what.
After years of people yelling at me in books, think pieces, and tweets (lol) to “break up with my phone,” “delete your social media accounts,” and “fuck Mark Zuckerberg,” turns out the thing that I needed was a whole conglomeration of quiet arguments and technological shifts that made my phone and the social media accounts on it feel less precious. Put differently,
I haven’t come to value it less; instead, it’s become less valuable. (emphasis mine)
Anne Helen PetersonA phenonenom that’s been well-named, Enshittification.
My sense is that a lot of you are at a similar point. The amount of space these technologies take up in our lives — and their ever-diminishing utility — has brought us to a sort of cultural tipping point. I’ve sensed it over the last year, when my social feeds seemed to finish their years-long transformation from a neighborhood populated with friends to a glossy condo development of brands.
Anne Helen PetersonKate Lindsay points out a foundational problem with decreasing phone/app use: we’ve forgotten how to be bored. This has felt true to me for some time, but I appreciated the point that trying to re-acquaint yourself with boredom cold turkey can be a disaster that leads to even greater dependence.
Anne Helen PetersonNot only have we forgotten how to be bored, but I think many of us long for it. A friend of mine recently expressed their desire to be bored like when they were a child. Laying upside down on the stairs complaining there’s nothing to do. I recognize the description, but have long forgotten that feeling.