Electric Empathy.
April 15, 2008 · Print This Article
Attempting to stay offline.
I say attempt as as yet I am not able to succeed in any major fashion.
I have come away on holiday with family to Canada and really want to do my best for those who do not understand (or care much for) social networking and it’s incessant need to be monitored like a newborn baby.
With all the apps out there that assist me in maintaining my international links there is nothing I can (as yet) plug into my subconscious so I can monitor it without it eating into my ‘real life’ time.
The closest thing in the UK is my mobile phone but with international roaming as expensive as it is I pretty much have my phone turned off nearly all the time here in Canada. That is unheard of for me in the UK.
Wherever there is wifi.. if I am not going to be stared at like a freak by anyone who knows me, I am sure to be on Qik as soon as i can press the button.. Seesmic gets the final file after it has streamed but I have to wait till I have a decent enough window of time to get my proper Seesmic fix. I don’t like just popping on and popping off. I like to partake in a conversation. Exactly what Seesmic was intended for.
So.. in fits an spurts I close my seesmic browser, dam the twitter stream and then head out un-encumbered by any technology.. Not even my mobile phone.
Then what happens?.. I bump into and have a chat with Gene Simmons!.. Typical. Standing there talking to a rock legend without any of my documenting tools.
My social media world and my real life world exist on two very different dimensions at the moment. It’s very difficult for me to be in the two places simultaneously without causing a brief rupture in my space time continuum..
If i try to bring my real life into my social media world I feel i’m cutting away a life raft and heading into choppy uncertain seas. If i attempt to bring social media into my ‘normal’ old school, lo-fi life.. I quickly ostracize myself from those that have no intention of embracing the technological advances I have come to know and love.
It’s almost like I’ve found a TV that has over a thousand channels but all those around me would like to stick with the ones they are familiar with.
I guess this is the life of the early adopter and in many ways I do enjoy the exclusivity of it all. We all like to be part of a ’special club’ at some pont.. Even if only for a sense of validation.
When, if ever I experience some kind of convergence, I think a little part of me will have to be trimmed away as I assimilate the two lives I lead.
I definitely feel a little schizophrenic right now. Perhaps this schizomedia is making me sociophrenic..? With the million and one possibilities out there for connections, contacts and opportunities there are moments when I am really thankful of even a couple of hours of downtime. Some headspace in a low tech sanctuary where nothing beeps to tell me something I may or may not be interested in knowing…
But soon enough.. somewhere in a dark room a browser opens and I am instantly connected to a thousand other people, all perhaps feeling the same way.. Perhaps not. An electric empathy, no more or less real than this other world I am a part of.
If I switch one off.. it takes messages till I get back.. a kind of suspended animation.. If i dial the other out.. that’s when life can really get a little complicated.
I am switching off now.. I will be in New York next week at Podcamp NYC 2.0 Plenty of time to saturate the social media half of my mind..
Talk later?
I just stopped by your blog and thought I would say hello. I like your site design. Looking forward to reading more down the road.
Robert Michel
great post. something the geek generation wrestles with on these occasions. We’re so used to being wired 24/7. We’re so used to having that connection, that info at our fingertips. I definitely get antsy when I’m away from the network, what am I missing. Always great conversation, links, sharing etc.
I love the image you made for this post too.
Enjoy PodcampNYC, should be wicked good fun….
Hey Christian
I like the term ’schizomedia’…I’ve never come across it.
I think it’s always been true that we are different things to different people, but ‘different people’ now means pretty much the whole world if you take part or all of your life online.
Hopefully, over the coming years, the things we early adopters learn about how to handle life and technology will benefit others who are more worried about the effects it will have on their life. There are many positives, and there are many negatives. A lot of blogs at the moment are talking about moving offline, abandoning their apps and deleting their profiles, so it must be in the air. I think it will be important to note when, where and how ‘balance’ is achieved, and how that changes over time.
You’ve got me thinking man! I think I’ll have to shape this into a post of my own!
enjoy Podcamp NYC.
take the red pill.
[...] aka Documentally, was trying to stay offline while on holiday with his family in Canada. From what you can read here, he was having [...]