Archives for 2010

Word processing changed the way we write, and music notation software changed the way we compose, but how is the internet changing the way we think?

There are long and short answers to this query, but either way, you can easily lose many, many hours while people (of variable expertise) pour thoughts (of various interest) into your brain.

I think that’s how I’d answer the question, actually.

Wow, now this is engagement. Are you watching, cultural organizations? Feel that?

And if you’re sitting there wondering what all that was even about:

So, after my last “technology is changing my life and I might want to get off this ride” S.O.S. post, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m truly anxious about in 2010.

When everything is available, what is special (and how on earth are you supposed to find it)?
We’re drowning in a sea of choice, and though we learn daily how to more effectively deal with our new reality, it’s still often a source of significant stress and anxiety. How can we even begin to discover things to love and admire when wading through this much stuff? I find myself perversely shutting down to new experiences as more and more of them present themselves.

Everything is forever and yet nothing is forever.
In our digital lives, there are no magazines to recycle when all the articles are online and no music collections to move when it’s all in the clouds, yet servers fail and things disappear, sometimes with witnesses to sound the alarm, sometimes without comment or explanation. Though I have letters from middle school, every email I sent before 2005 no longer exists.

Keeping up with how technology is changing our lives feels like a marathon I am about to lose.
As technology increases the pace of our lives, will a backlash come? I can’t help but imagine a coming trend in which a group of people very consciously makes the decision to unplug themselves from this culture of constant digital sharing. There will be stories about these people deleting all their social networking accounts and turning in their smart phones. People will praise and disparage them with a shocking intensity that reflects their own personal struggles with these changing social paradigms.

I am a *music* *journalist*.
Sometimes I feel like I’m standing with a foot on the deck of two different sinking ships. Right now pretty much any venture that counted on selling copies to pay the bills looks like a toppled game of Jenga. As we begin 2010, we remain in a period of redefinition and recalibration, but we seem to be getting a better handle every day on how to develop even as problems and their solutions continue to morph and change before our eyes. The fun, if we’re optimistic and flexible about it, is in figuring out how to restack these blocks into a relatively stable form: distilling things down to what is essential about these pursuits, and coming to terms with what is merely disposable (and dated) window dressing–the superficial, if comforting, shells that we continue to cling to at our peril.

UPDATE: The future, or the journalism part at least, solved! Classical music, however, seems destined for a bumpy ride.

NPR’s four-minute analysis of two current chart toppers suggests that they are so much of everything that their net effect is nothing–nothing but cash, anyway.

 ‘Avatar’ And Ke$ha: A Denominator In Common? by Neda Ulaby and Zoe Chace

A sample of their findings:

The lyrics mean nothing; the song is about nothing. Even the bridge of “Tik Tok” sounds like a bridge that’s making fun of a bridge.

Speaking of good things on TV, check out this eight-minute short written and directed by Neil Gaiman and staring Bill Nighy and Amanda Palmer. There’s not a word of dialog, which is just fine because it leaves lots of room for Sxip Shirey’s charming score. (Yes, that Sxip.)

Happy 2010, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed a fabulous holiday.

Just on the cusp of the new year, a friend sent me this article about a couple who was seriously taking it back to the land. They lived without running water in a yurt in Alaska. (Wi-fi, however, was deemed an essential resource). Some people found the whole idea incredibly annoying, but it stuck with me solely for the reminder that life–to varying degrees, depending on your circumstances–can be the adventure you’re brave enough to create for yourself. I’m no resolution maker, but I wondered if I was doing a good job in that department. I fantasized about yurt life for 48 hours, though I confess that I would vote for the water and ditch the internet, if it came down to it. My friend laughed and said that was silly–my head would surely explode if I was unplugged from my email for any serious length of time. I worried she was right.

Though I see how I may be blowing this out of proportion historically, as we blast into 2010, do you consider/worry about how communications technology is shaping your life as things move from novelty to status quo? After a day of endless emails and the writing of small ideas and the consumption of 200 blog posts, I can’t help but roughly tally up the time/mental drain and think about how that same chunk may have been applied to other ends. What is happening to my brain and my output? Is this much information a stimulant or a mind-numbing distraction? Do I want to go further down this rabbit hole, or retreat to the dark (or at least non-pixelated) ages before anything like interactive TV watching touches my life?

My thinking was further poked at (and somewhat steadied) by Michael Agger’s evenhanded consideration of the ideas in Jaron Lanier’s new book You Are Not A Gadget. The review read like a call to not freak out and run backwards, but take a second and reflect on where exactly we’re going with all these magical toys (and what they may take from us) as we move forward. We can blow an hour of the day absorbing the mix and mash, but what have we gained and how much has it truly cost us? I, for one, feel like I could use a time out, though I’m honestly not sure if getting off the ride to re-evaluate would do anything but leave me in the dust.

UPDATE: Feeling more optimistic.