Too Much Stuff
Am I My Area Code?
Rules for reading – at least for social media
“Years ago, I asked a friend what kind of case she planned to buy for her shiny new flip phone. She paused, a little offended. “I don't like to buy stuff for my stuff,” she said. Those words drilled directly into my hippocampus, never to depart. She's right! I thought. Don't buy stuff stuff! So simple! I have tried to keep to that principle ever since, and it has gone about as well as you would expect. Sure, I might spend $1,000 on a tech-giant-controlled smartphone, but I only do it every three years (nods sagely) instead of every two.”
Are you bothered by too much stuff? Not buying stuff for your stuff may be an inflection point. From Wired, A Grand Unified Theory of Buying Stuff
Ode to a telephone number
“Imagine for a moment a technology that is simple and universal, and needs no software updates. It is a string of numbers, each portion acting as a precise set of coordinates—so basic and elegant that your great-grandparents could use it. Put the numbers in the correct sequence and the technology immediately triggers a bit of magic: Where seconds ago there was silence and haptic nothingness, all of a sudden there is a glorious burst of sound or vibration miles, even continents, away. Then, if you’re lucky, you hear a voice, and you respond with yours: your questions, your frustrated pleas to speak with a ‘representative!’”
From The Atlantic, In Praise of Phone Numbers
“Commenting confidently on material you haven’t bothered to read isn’t just intellectually dishonest; it disrespects your followers by telling them you don’t think enough of them to read the things you share with them. It turns social media into a farce in which individuals spar over imagined arguments that nobody actually made. No one wins these debates, and no one emerges any wiser. It’s time to collectively commit to ending this practice, and, when necessary, call out those who engage in it.”
Yair Rosenberg of the Atlantic is singing my song. I would go further and tell you to read the underlying study for yourself. Even if you do not have all the context and nuance, you get a better sense of the work and thought. From the Atlantic, The Seven Social-Media Commandments
