I wholeheartedly understand the longing for analog. Since 2020, I've begun adopting more analog things back into my life, starting with writing my books longhand, with a fountain pen. (though I've since switched back to a Kindle Scribe that my husband bought me for Christmas...partially.) Started reading more books again.
I grew up watching my dad play videogames, first simple point-and-click adventures like Myst, later things like Thief. I still love watching people play videogames online, and playing them myself... that part of the digital world, I don't want to go away.
But social media? The 'influencer' lifestyle? Watching most people run around with their phones shoved in their faces, fighting that same urge in my brain and my kids' brains? Yeah. Can't wait for society as a whole to ditch that.
This is a great point and gets at the heart of what many of us are feeling, and that's a disconnect from reality. We pull out our phones at every opportunity, photographing and filming "the perfect moment" to share without really experiencing it. Social media made it worse, and it points toward the idea lots of folks are missing connections they're trying to manufacture. It's not all bad for sure, but it's not getting better either.
Great article. I really long for the analog world and do what I can to get back to it. I'm Gen X too, and I think for those of us who grew up before the world went digital, and who can still remember what things were like before social media, it is particularly attractive. We've seen both sides—the promise and the peril. Forced to choose, my answer would be easy. I live on a farm, and a big part of me wishes I could opt out and grow my own food, ditch the smart phone, and disappear from the internet. Will it ever happen? Probably not while I still need a paycheck, but maybe someday. I can dream, can't I?
I'm in the same boat. I've profited greatly, but I suspect when I retire, not much of who I am will live online. A coworker recently shared he drives over an hour to work because he homesteads and it's the only way he could find enough land. I find that lifestyle attractive, although I understand it comes with it's own perils. However, as a fellow GenX you know we're independent enough and crazy enough to make it work. 🤣
I grew up in Silicon Valley. Both my dad and his brother were engineers (hardware not software). I remember going shopping with them for a new computer. We were going to get an IBM clone and my dad and uncle were arguing over whether it was worth getting the one with 5,000 KB of RAM (5,000 KB!) I still remember my uncle scoffing, "When would you ever need that much RAM? 2,000 is plenty!"
We got the machine with 5,000 KB and before long it was way to small for all the cool stuff coming out.
I love your speculative short stories, but I'm also glad you still do these Liminal Space essays.
Thank you, Jason! Wow, 5,000 KB, you were living the fast life. 🤣
Some part of me wonders if my software vocation has anything to do with these feelings. I'm around it all day every day and that doesn't help. In a few years I may find myself at a typewriter!
I'm looking to craft another original short story soon, so hang on tight for some more speculative goodness.
Great article, Brian. And thoughtful too. Just like you, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering about the world we and the generation before us have created. I love tech and still get excited by it, but I also question whether it’s been a generally positive thing for humanity when you look at things like what social media does to kids or for that matter how Fortnite and online games have destroyed outside play. I mean can you even imagine what it must be like to be a teen and not spend hours at the mall just walking around with friends, browsing through B. Dalton or Walden Books, and goofing off? Seems incomprehensible to me.
Thanks, John! My kids are starting to see from some of their peer group the drama involved with it all and I'm thankful they haven't been sucked in. I suspect that around the beginning of high school, many teens now are busy with school, work and sports, and prefer it that way. The mall used to be everything when we were kids -- movies, food, arcade, shopping and hanging out, and it was wonderful. I sense the next generation will be embracing more of the analog, and that kind of lifestyle. A healthy balance is better for us all.
I wholeheartedly understand the longing for analog. Since 2020, I've begun adopting more analog things back into my life, starting with writing my books longhand, with a fountain pen. (though I've since switched back to a Kindle Scribe that my husband bought me for Christmas...partially.) Started reading more books again.
I grew up watching my dad play videogames, first simple point-and-click adventures like Myst, later things like Thief. I still love watching people play videogames online, and playing them myself... that part of the digital world, I don't want to go away.
But social media? The 'influencer' lifestyle? Watching most people run around with their phones shoved in their faces, fighting that same urge in my brain and my kids' brains? Yeah. Can't wait for society as a whole to ditch that.
This is a great point and gets at the heart of what many of us are feeling, and that's a disconnect from reality. We pull out our phones at every opportunity, photographing and filming "the perfect moment" to share without really experiencing it. Social media made it worse, and it points toward the idea lots of folks are missing connections they're trying to manufacture. It's not all bad for sure, but it's not getting better either.
Great article. I really long for the analog world and do what I can to get back to it. I'm Gen X too, and I think for those of us who grew up before the world went digital, and who can still remember what things were like before social media, it is particularly attractive. We've seen both sides—the promise and the peril. Forced to choose, my answer would be easy. I live on a farm, and a big part of me wishes I could opt out and grow my own food, ditch the smart phone, and disappear from the internet. Will it ever happen? Probably not while I still need a paycheck, but maybe someday. I can dream, can't I?
I'm in the same boat. I've profited greatly, but I suspect when I retire, not much of who I am will live online. A coworker recently shared he drives over an hour to work because he homesteads and it's the only way he could find enough land. I find that lifestyle attractive, although I understand it comes with it's own perils. However, as a fellow GenX you know we're independent enough and crazy enough to make it work. 🤣
I grew up in Silicon Valley. Both my dad and his brother were engineers (hardware not software). I remember going shopping with them for a new computer. We were going to get an IBM clone and my dad and uncle were arguing over whether it was worth getting the one with 5,000 KB of RAM (5,000 KB!) I still remember my uncle scoffing, "When would you ever need that much RAM? 2,000 is plenty!"
We got the machine with 5,000 KB and before long it was way to small for all the cool stuff coming out.
I love your speculative short stories, but I'm also glad you still do these Liminal Space essays.
Thank you, Jason! Wow, 5,000 KB, you were living the fast life. 🤣
Some part of me wonders if my software vocation has anything to do with these feelings. I'm around it all day every day and that doesn't help. In a few years I may find myself at a typewriter!
I'm looking to craft another original short story soon, so hang on tight for some more speculative goodness.
Great article, Brian. And thoughtful too. Just like you, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering about the world we and the generation before us have created. I love tech and still get excited by it, but I also question whether it’s been a generally positive thing for humanity when you look at things like what social media does to kids or for that matter how Fortnite and online games have destroyed outside play. I mean can you even imagine what it must be like to be a teen and not spend hours at the mall just walking around with friends, browsing through B. Dalton or Walden Books, and goofing off? Seems incomprehensible to me.
Thanks, John! My kids are starting to see from some of their peer group the drama involved with it all and I'm thankful they haven't been sucked in. I suspect that around the beginning of high school, many teens now are busy with school, work and sports, and prefer it that way. The mall used to be everything when we were kids -- movies, food, arcade, shopping and hanging out, and it was wonderful. I sense the next generation will be embracing more of the analog, and that kind of lifestyle. A healthy balance is better for us all.