Are we truly smart enough to surf the web of today? I’m getting tricked now and then, and by tricked, I mean clicking on something that sounds interesting and then falling into a false narrative. So much critical thinking now goes into what I would call white water rafting, which is eddies and currants, with rocks, waves, multiple people in a team effort? No, that’s not how we’re building websites today- in most cases, but some social media is a step in the right direction, it just needs to be open source and free. Freedom that includes privacy. The right to privacy has been wavered by our acceptance into false reality- a virtual reality. Escaping is part of the mindset humans enjoy- or abuse, moderation right? What am I talking about?
“I want to spend less time on my phone.”
Some ideas- I keep most apps off my phone and use no social media. It’s text or call, map or weather checks only- and sometimes news. I have audio books and music on mine too, but no work or passive scrolling. I’m actually moving towards flip phone with GPS navigation in the truck, and hard copy road atlas. I love looking at recreation maps, which include terrain and roads. Knowing the elevation in hand with seasonal weather conditions are crucial to successful access in alpine and sub alpine back-country. GPS navigation possibilities are endless, and some mapping programs allow application downloads, but it’s all navigation. This is a tech I am thankful for; though it’s honed by military spending in our national budget- an example of federal taxes put to good use for citizens wealthy enough to have access to the hardware and knowledge of software. Also, if the satellite fail or become privatized at a price most can no longer afford, we’ll all be cut off. Support public libraries, because for many, this will be their only internet access.
Social media is like that plot in Batman Forever, where people buy in to a media gimmick which enhances screen experiences with the artificial while removing the viewer’s intelligence. That’s actually how the internet is training AI today, stealing content. We’re creating this smorgasbord of priceless data for predatory commercial use. Observing a young person say, “I don’t care what the internet takes from my content, they aren’t getting anything private like my bank account or social security number.” It’s true, not literally, but if you’re doing online banking from your phone, that info is out there, along with most of our health records, social security- which my generation will not have much of, and by the time I’m in my 60s, might not exist at all, along with the democratic governing I grew up believing in. But let’s stick to social media for now.
I’ve been off FaceSuck since 2015. There are market places, networks, and social contacts with liking out of reach now, but I do use Craig’s List. Lots of free stuff and networking to be had, with less algorithms or data stealing- so we hope. I do realize, that for most of the 1990s buy and sell sites that have survived- EBay is comparable to this Perl written gem of a market place. Though criticized for vulnerabilities which have led to online sex trafficking and a still thriving red light consumption avenue. The 1990s were a wort of wild west for commercial internet development. Law like The CDA were passed to protect corporate interests and crack down on sex trafficking and child pornography. Special shout out to The ALCU for defending free speech where necessary. This is the fine line between adult content and child protection settings on your personal computer. Again, digressing into the rich, layered history of the past 30 some odd years of internet awakening, this Spielberg generation bridges the gap on one path through tangled webs, browsing on a select course of some screen time pros.
Any online free marketplace- buy nothing, barter, direct trade- all of these real time “I have one of those and would be happy to exchange…” There are a lot of safety caveats in this system, in person or through the webs, so brows up on digital literacy every once in a while. Or be lived by it, which is a fine line when our existences are mostly digital now. How can that be if we are still living in it- as in, reaching for this glass, I take a sip of water, swallow, and see the light of afternoon sun in a new place across the floor in a south facing room. That is living. Taking in the black letters on this page, my words or encouragement, or resentment, those emotions, which are now woven in digitally. Ones and Zeros, I cannot put any faith in those powerful coding limitations- powerful in that we are truly written into them, and limited, in that they are 1 0
01110100 01101000 01100101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01100110 01100101 01110111 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01100100 01110011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01110101 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01100100 01100101
Here’s a map of our world energy consumption-
The little blip is 2020- COVID shutdown of world goings-on. But the rise is consistent with industrialization into commercialization. The green energy trend only ups consumer capability- we’re not stopping the fossil fuel endeavor, just adjusting for futures in fraud coin. The AI consumption alone far outpaces any daily gas guzzling SUV use. Orders of Data Magnitude should be on our minds. These data storage complexes will be our consumption future on screen time and digital worth. At least trying to maintain some in person activity and outside connection. That’s why I’ve chosen this lifestyle on the land and worked on craft and mentorship in community. Even supporting one or two other good people in a personal quest, shared purpose, and a sense of humor, also a sprinkle of patience- there’s good stuff of life worth living outside the digital sphere- but sometimes, enhanced by brief interludes of social media. I prefer texting, emails, or snail mail when possible. There can be equal connection through online screen time- maybe? I don’t think the social equity compels.
Is this writing a jumble to anyone? It’s called “Social Media”, and that culture was the ultimate isolation tool for individualizing experience while exporting a feeling of connectiveness through the web. There are no hugs *place emoji here*
At EEC, there is a lot of Entropy going on- in the living environment, things are composting away but also regrowing. As I listen to the sheep grazing, I can hear the grass being shorn off a few centimeters from the root base. Their hooves stepping across woven mats of rhizome, covering over living soil, teaming with complex chemical equal and opposite reactions that have honed over billions of years, echoing the scale of universal matter, existing all at once, and online, we don’t grasp that vastness. We become individual shining stars, or soap box mouths, or movement to conserve and protect, or whatever you’re online seeking, doing, or watching; that screen time ticks by. Flashes of light, Plato’s Cave in such vivid color- but offering no life giving truth, that’s where sorting the black and white of survival comes in order of need:
- mindset
- water
- food
- shelter
- sun
This is literally the simplicity of human life. Probably most life on this earth exists through these few things- their are always caveats; define life. Is the internet part of life? AI cannot get us there through our screens, yet a true MATRIX has most of us on our phones or making CREAM through these flat constructs. I’m glad the other animals remain connected to planet earth and tuned into a full life address where there is still room afforded them. The entropy of actual habitat by human demands for commercial space remains strong. Shelter is on the list of must have for survival. But we can’t get through more than 3 days without water. We won’t know to drink if we don’t have a head on our shoulders. Critical thinking, that’s the ticket to survival. I hope we can all stay beyond mere survival and access some kind of sustainability- hopefully thriving in at least occasional laughter and interpersonal relations beyond mere screen antics.
Still, as a child of The Mtv generation, I want my entertainment and escapism, along with my quick glance at something funny, novel, inspiring, or sit back and listen generations now embracing podcasts- like audio books, stories that captivate, but not clouding our reason with hours of scrolling doomsday. There’s also something fishy about smart technology, these little digital live stream conveniences tie us deeper into energy consumption growth, quality with quantity, a perpetual motion misnomer. What started out with ideas of better living through chemistry have consequently morphed into better living through television, and then, the world wide web.
I’m not sure what the long term data will show in this grand tech experiment, where there does seem to be a sold out crowd for connective screen time and social isolation in the same bed of roses. In observing the lives of those who spend less screen time enjoying life, there is undeniable quality. Appreciation to all who use some of their personal time in reading these reflections and questing for better living through outside engagement with others. Gratitude for online applications where questing to engage with technology as tool, like any other. Invention is crucial to survival, so dive in!
EEC Forest Stewardship 