De-Digitalization. Do you make an effort to stay offline?

[skip.knox]

When I was a kid, I spent much of my time reading. This was back in the 1960s when it was all nose-in-book. My father, who as both athletic and social, was constantly after me to go outside and play. It was what he regarded as both normal and necessary behavior for a boy. He was of a generation that regarded excessive reading as physically and psychologically harmful. Even morally harmful. All truly good lessons were learned outside, in the company of others.

I keep that in mind when I hear people argue that there's too much TV, too much Internet, too much social media, too much gaming. Fill in as you wish.

But if an individual thinks of themselves that they are spending too much time on ... work, computers, golf, whatever ... then that's their call. They can ask themselves why it feels like that. It could be something as straightforward as feeling like they have too much to do and too little time in which to do it. Since I'm mortal, I have always felt that. I don't care about more hours, give me more years, damn it.

It could also be that the enemy is not the one named. It could be we have simply taken on more than is reasonable or is good for us. It's worth noting that long before social media or the Internet or even before printed books, people felt busy and distracted.

 

[Mad Swede]

No, I don't limit my time online, simply because as an author I'm not online to any extent. I don't have an author-type account on any social media because I don't have time to read or write things there owing to my dyslexia.

 

[skip.knox]

I've been happily online since around 1985. My early introductions were by way of Bitnet, Compuserv, and bulletin boards, all of which I treasured. Bitnet was great because I was the only medievalist in Boise, or the only one I knew, and via Bitnet I could talk with other scholars. Bitnet rolled into the Internet and transmuted over to listserv, and I still belong to MEDIEV-L.

Compuserv was a treasure because it was my first writing community, but it was also the WordPerfect community (shout out to the Red Sweater and to HB!). I was sad when that went away.

BBS was a whole community of communities, and I ran the first BBS for Boise State University, and I actually taught a course on the Renaissance with PCBoard as the platform in 1993. I have very fond memories of that world.

So, for me, online is still just online. I find "social media" to be a rather silly term. We're all social here, ain't we? Even if we aren't all socialists! I still find the most important aspect of the Internet is communication. And whenever I stress about the poor quality of much of that communication, I simply recall Sturgeon's Law, and am consoled.

 

[pmmg]

To this day, I still run into people who lament the loss of Word Perfect 5.1 I do sometimes miss it too. I liked its reveals codes feature.

 

[skip.knox]

It was very nearly perfect. I still have a WordPerfect mug, given by a sales rep up from Provo, back in the 4.2 days. And yes, every word processor should have a Reveal Codes option.

 

[Ban]

I reckon there was more charm to the old internet, which required a bit of know-how, digging and still held the promise of finding something strange and new. The majority is indexed and conglomerated now, with the aggregators having grown stale with success. In the past I've sought forums like our own, but found a relative dearth, with most of those fitting the bill being graveyards. Perhaps I am getting crotchety at a far too early age, but besides the scribes there are few sites I can say I truly and fully appreciate. The dictionary/linguistic sites I use come closest to it (Taaldacht Bless you), due to an obvious hobbyist bias. With the rise of "AI", even the art spaces are being bludgeoned into dullness.

Ah well, fresh air hasn't been digitalized yet.

 

[pmmg]

Just in. Fresh air digitized.

 

[Ban]

 

[Demesnedenoir]

With snow flying today and a lack of sleep, I did wonder if I crossed some threshold to find we do indeed live in a digital simulation. The speckles had that sense... or maybe the old TV has gone off the air fuzz. One or the other.

Just in. Fresh air digitized.

 

[Finchbearer]

So, for me, online is still just online. I find "social media" to be a rather silly term. We're all social here, ain't we? Even if we aren't all socialists! I still find the most important aspect of the Internet is communication. And whenever I stress about the poor quality of much of that communication, I simply recall Sturgeon's Law, and am consoled.

Hmmm… we are all sociable, yes, but there’s a vast different between a niche little forum like this and the barrage of images, memes and other information that gets blasted in your face by platforms like TikTok, twitter and Instagram. It’s not as if you can choose to disengage even if you’re only interaction with those platforms is because you need an online author profile. This is fairly decentralised. We have one general area of interest that brings us together, more or less.

I think for you lucky lot that got to grow up without the advent of the internet age, you probably have a longer attention span and more social skills in real life. I think technology and the internet has its place, but it does also create some unhealthy habits imo. For me after spending a good number of years on social media I am kind of ready to have a break from all that vapid crap.

 

[Finchbearer]

With the rise of "AI", even the art spaces are being bludgeoned into dullness.

Oh yes they are indeed, with every image being questioned: is this AI? And the inevitable answer: yes, look at the hands.

 

[Ban]

Oh yes they are indeed, with every image being questioned: is this AI? And the inevitable answer: yes, look at the hands.

We are already past the age of hands being a clear indicator. Many models have next to no issue with them anymore.

 

[skip.knox]

The Internet still has numerous charming corners. As the song says, "you just gotta poke around". One of the things I would be teaching, were I still teaching, is how to conduct net searches. There's both art and science to the practice, and it requires both patience and diligence to get to where you can make it pay dividends on the investment.

 

[LittleOwlbear]

I also feel like being online all the time really gets onto your substance, so I mainly the internet for writing and book sites and two discord groups anymore. One for a discord group with ir friends and my dnd group, and for a writing group.

 

[Ban]

With the unveiling of Sora, the internet has now truly lost its shine to me. The internet wasn't dead yet (as a popular conspiracy has claimed), but how much longer before 90% of it is AI made? That's an intellectual graveyard. I give it a decade before that happens, and I figure that's generous. Everything, from voice to image to song to video to text can be made autonomously via a program, with the signs of such meddling growing slighter by the day. I'll give it some more thought, but the day where I draw a line in the sand and just entirely separate myself from the artistic and literary parts of the internet might draw near. I might just relegate the whole thing to a convenient place for work and shopping and go do everything else in the real world. It would be a shame, but even on this beloved site the march of the machines seems inevitable. How long before one of you (in the broadest definition of "you") is just an advanced AI designed to con folks through a long-term marketing ploy? Some program designed to make "friends" only to steer them towards a product years down the line.

 

[pmmg]

How long before one of you (in the broadest definition of "you") is just an advanced AI designed to con folks through a long-term marketing ploy? Some program designed to make "friends" only to steer them towards a product years down the line.

Obviously a ploy by AI Ban to fool us into thinking he is not engaged in a long-term marketing ploy.

 

[Ban]

Obviously a ploy by AI Ban to fool us into thinking he is not engaged in a long-term marketing ploy.

If the marketing acumen I have displayed so far on this website is indicative of AI, I suppose we have nothing to worry about after all.

 

[helenroberts]

Yes, I can say that I make efforts to stay offline, but for now, I can't do it for long.
I work online, and when I write I use some online apps. I chat with my friends online, use social media sites and so on.
I'm always on my phone and for me, it's really hard to be offline.
Two weeks ago I decided to spend 2-3 hours at least during the weekends without my phone. I take it with me but put it on mute. I go for a walk, grab a coffee and so on.
I really can feel how my brain relaxes
I want to do such a detox every day, but for now it's not possible

 

[pmmg]

Phones, chat rooms, social media...they are purely addictive. Dopamine hit, after dopamine hit. Everyday, I wonder if I might not be happier if I just tossed my phone into a lake. But....the business world requires it. I dont think anyone is immune. Pretty much have to chose a life without it to escape. Would that be so bad? Hmmmm....

Phones are the worst, cause they give us all of it all the time.

 

[skip.knox]

I'm delighted to be online. I enjoy this forum and a couple others. I mostly rely on newsfeeds for news (reading only, no conversations there). I use Facebook mainly as a way to keep in touch with distant family members and a handful of old friends. No Instagram, TikTok, or any of their cousins, though. I don't find they repay the effort of keeping up. Extensive use of YouTube as a way to stay up on game reviews, some favored channels, videos of musical performances, and random other stuff.

None of it feels addictive. None of it feels like it takes away from anything; indeed, I feel it adds much value and dimension to my life.

I've seen enough to understand how one could spend endless hours viewing or reading or hearing about nothing but dejection, horror, anger, and so on. I choose not to attend those parties, especially when there are so much better ones so readily available.