Seth’s Blog: Lost in a digital world Some say that the problem of our age is that continuous partial attention, this never ending non-stop distraction, addles the brain and prevents us from being productive. Not quite. The danger is not distraction, the danger is the ability to hide. Another insightful post from Seth.
Your head will collapse if there’s nothing in it | James Maybe I’ve discovered that I really can still read an entire book, or have a slow conversations, or spend hours looking at artwork. But in order to transition into that mode, I need to disconnect from the information pipeline first. No doubt I’m missing an opportunity here or there, but at the same time I’m getting back my mind, which as we all know is a terrible thing to waste, or misplace, or scramble up with toast and eggs.
Archive Fever: a love letter to the post real-time web | mattogle.com Without deliberate planning, we have created amazing new tools for remembering. The real-time web might just be the most elaborate and widely-adopted architecture for self-archival ever created. An argument that the “next big thing” after the real time nature of Twitter and Facebook may very well be how to store, search, and retrieve this vast archive of our digital selves. As someone who has struggled with the consistency of keeping a journal, I would love for something like this to be true because, in actuality, I’ve been keeping one daily for years.
Keeping an email address secret won’t hide it from spambots | Technology | guardian.co.uk So I publish my email address, because I have yet to see any compelling evidence that hiding your email address or using silly techniques like spelling it out (doctorowATcraphoundDOTcom) is any proof against email harvesters. I can think of a way of detecting and converting such obfuscated email addresses, and if I can think of it, so can some spambot author, and she can write the code to do it. I kind of agree with his take on this. Not enough to go around and change the obfuscation on my sites because, as he points out, it likely would not make a difference one way or the other.
More than ever, I’m realising that the old problem of overcoming constraints to action has been replaced by the new problem of deciding what to do when the constraints fall away. The former world demanded relentless fixity of purpose and quick-handed snatching at opportunity; the new world demands the kind of self-knowledge that comes from quiet, mindful introspection. Cory Doctorow – The Internet Problem: when an abundance of choice becomes an issue | Technology | guardian.co.uk
A radical pessimist’s guide to the next 10 years – Douglas Coupland – The Globe and Mail In the same way you can never go backward to a slower computer, you can never go backward to a lessened state of connectedness I believe this to be true. The challenge, then, is for us all to aggressively manage the expectations, those within and from others, of our time and attention. Here is another gem from the guide: You’ll spend a lot of your time feeling like a dog leashed to a pole outside the grocery store – separation anxiety will become your permanent state. The future is now. (via Lone Gunman)
Inventing a Planet » Coffee Shop Integrity on the Internet Herein lies an interesting filter through which to pass every status update/post/tweet/submission: “If I was sitting and having coffee with these friends right now, would we actually bother talking about this? Does it matter?” If it doesn’t matter enough to warrant thoughtful, reflective conversation, then what value does it hold, exactly? Typically wonderful insight from James.
The Social Media Cleanse Wrap-Up | AaronMahnke Through the course of my journey I’ve come to believe a few things to be true. One of those truths is that distraction is a choice. Yes, we live in a day and age where distraction is abundant, and the quest for productivity is an uphill struggle against all manner of diversions. But we invite those interruptions into our day. They aren’t forced upon us. And the key to victory over distraction is as simple as saying “no”. I also like his statement that “being caught up” is a fruitless goal. One should strive for being enriched. This speaks to the aggregate quality level of the things one chooses to follow.
What Does Steve Jobs Think of Email? | The Brooks Review I can tell you one thing, communication is never clear unless it is done face to face. Even video conferencing does not solve this. When you stand and talk to another person you take note of every movement they make, you know if they like what you are saying or note based on more than just words and facial expressions, the way they stand, shake your hand, shift their weight – all important things. It is for this reason that I believe that there is a very real limit to how far a relationship that is held entirely online can go.
Path — Introducing The Personal Network No following, no friending…just sharing with the people who matter most. Path is a new app for iPhone that sets of on a very different approach to social networking. It’s goal is to be a highly focused “personal network” that allows you to share and tag personal moments using photos with no more than your fifty closest friends. Why no more than fifty?: We chose 50 based on the research of Oxford Professor of Evolutionary Psychology Robin Dunbar, who has long suggested that 150 is the maximum number of social relationships that the human brain can sustain at any given time. Dunbar’s research also shows that personal relationships tend to expand in factors of roughly 3. So while…