Growing Unfamiliarity

Do I use Twitter? Nope. Do I maintain a blog just for fun? Nope again. Even at twenty-three I sense a growing disconnect between me and the social media landscape. The divide is not caused by technical incapability, but rather from not taking the time to explore.  I spend my time nowadays accomplishing life goals.  Occasionally I wonder though if the disconnect will be more pronounced fifteen years from now.  By then I will need to be teaching my children how to avoid potholes in the technology of their day.  I actually doubt the divide will grow too large because technology is my field of study, but just in case, here is a tweet to my future self: “don’t fall behind!”

Allocator

It turns out that no one enjoys clearing a clogged septic tank.  If someone did, then it may be possible to perfectly match every person’s interests with work they find interesting.  Eric Raymond concludes in The Cathedral and the Bazaar that people are most efficient while working at something they enjoy.  However, if everyone only worked at things they enjoy, there would be a lot of jobs left undone that no one enjoys performing.  The force to counteract such an imbalance is money.  With money you can trade time spent doing something you don’t enjoy for something you do (like a vacation from that terrible job).  So, the next time you think of money as the great evil, just think of all those dirty jobs that wouldn’t get done if it weren’t for it.

Bridging Capital

“Some people build bridges between other people.  It comes natural to them, and I am one of those.”  This is what a female friend of mine told me one day while I gave her a ride to pick up a sound system for a party she had organized for later that week.  What she said seemed true enough—while she lived in the city she was the organizer, recruiter, and general front man for a group of disc jockeys and their dance parties.  She built plenty of bridges for the jockeys, so I thought I may be the beneficiary of a similar service some day.  However, I never did feel like she built any bridges for me before she departed.  I felt a tinge of resent for a while, but then I realized that (1) you shouldn’t be friends with someone because you expect something in return, and (2) bridge builders don’t build bridges between everyone they meet.  The resentment has since nearly faded and I have found that it’s often more fun to build your own bridges anyway.

Progress in Reverse

Social Laziness

Facebook is like getting stuck on a Lazy River.  If you continue to ignore the exit, you’ll get "trapped in [a] loop."1  Facebook is one of today’s most accessible outlets for wasting time.  Such outlets have always existed, but this one is free, ubiquitous, and social.  The pull to spend just a minute longer checking a friend’s wall, pictures, and status is enticing, but perhaps the best way to resist the temptation is to realize that Facebook is a “digital distraction…that [has] no lasting value.”2   It’s not likely you’ll look back twenty years from now and think “boy, I wish I had spent more time on Facebook.”  A few times around the Lazy River is fun and relaxing, but staying there for hours on end is a waste of time.

1 http://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/news/lifestyle/technology/tech-news/addicted-to-facebook/1989289.aspx?storypage=0
2 http://tinyurl.com/29yrnea

Reformed Pirates

Shift + Delete.  That is the only keystroke needed to end a pirate’s digital career.  Oh, and a trusty pair of scissors will help to destroy all those burned CDs.  Such a dramatic end to a bad habit is waxing rare nowadays.  Somewhere in the past few years Napster died and Kazaa stopped being on everyone’s lips.  The Motion Picture Association of America faded from the headlines.  iTunes gained popularity and Pandora began to stream free, personalized radio.  Legislation caught up and the upheaval calmed.  People grew up and learned their lesson.  It won’t be the last excitement we’ll see in the digital age, though.  Boundaries in law and society will be challenged.  Twenty years from now we may be wondering why our children are ripping off the whatchamahoozit and depriving money from what’s-their-name with the how’s-it-work.  But that’s how society progresses, so don’t expect anything less.