......and I have not been able, in all that time, to summon up the brain activity and will power to get myself to post on this blog.
So I choose now, at a time when I am waiting to leave, when I have nothing better to do, and when I feel quite useless.
I should probably be doing homework, but I know that I will be doing much of that later today. So there is not much incentive. Plus, most of my assignments will take a while, and I am not really the type of person to do a little bit of something, and then come back to it- mostly because when I do do that, I end up completely restarting. So what's the point?
I was supposed to write this super insightful and interesting post titled Millenials and Entitlement. But who cares about my biased, tired and pessimistic opinion? The answer is: no one. And that is ok. Because I need to realize that my life isn't about me; its about everyone else. Everyone I come in contact with and have friendships with, everyone who is affected by something I say or do, whether I am aware of it or not. And that is probably a lot more insightful and soul-searching that any shpeel I could come up with, whether or not it is relevant and accurate.
Right now, the only thing in daily life that I am concerned about is that I have to do this violin workshop for a few of Dad's kids at his school. And I have no idea what I am going to do. Like at all. Its scary. What if all the kids start acting out because they are bored? So that is kind of stressful.
In the meantime I am actually going to prepare a post which will be mostly pictures taken by a dear friend Brittany Barb. Go check her out at Brittany Long. She took some gorgeous photos of me making pizza monkey bread. (Yes that is as amazing as it sounds.) I had wanted to do food pics for a long time (as food is basically my biggest obsession). Britt kindly agreed to do them with me. I have some work to do as far as figuring out a more interesting to photograph item, and timing the sprinkling of delicious herbs so that it looks awesome, but all of that is to come.
Food is simply absolutely exciting in every way, and hopefully the photos to come tomorrow will wet your appetite!
sophie
Friday 30 September 2016
Thursday 8 September 2016
The Problem of Texting
I should probably start with a caveat to this post. I understand that there are way bigger problems in the world than texting. But I am choosing to talk about texting because it is the thing that has the biggest effect on my circle and the lives of the people around me as far as technology goes. And because I have a personal beef with texting which you, the reader, will soon find out about. (Btw, I am amazed that only 15 days have gone by since I last posted :)
I recently had a conversation with a very good friend that was very enlightening and interesting for me (I am not sure how she felt about it :), and during that conversation the topic of texting came up. I am not sure how, but it did. I basically was saying how much I hate texting, and our discussion eventually led me to realize what it is really that I hate about it. So here goes the big reveal: I hate texting because it created the needs that it fulfills.
So here is my argument: the big push for texting is that it is faster than a phone call. (ok, five more seconds is really gonna ruin your day? really?) Regardless, that need for something faster than a phone call simply didn't exist before texting said, "Hey, I can get a thought to someone faster than a phone call. Won't that make your life easier?" And the world replied "Yes!!". But the joke was on the world, because that extra five seconds just made their lives harder by making them faster and faster and full of more and more things.
But my argument really has nothing to do with the American "do more do more do it faster" mindset. It has to do with the fact that before texting was around no one had the need to tell someone they would be there in five minutes. Now, because you have the option, you feel compelled to tell someone you'll be there in two minutes. There is no reason behind it. You just have to.
So then my question is: why don't you just call? Isn't it actually faster to press call than to type a bunch of text into a little box? Yes, it is faster!! I can prove it to you right now!! So why?? Why do we have to type it??
Here are some classic answers: Their phone might be off so they will probably not answer anyway. (To that I reply: then why do you need to tell them something if they don't want or can't talk to you?) Another answer: His or her work is loud so they can't here their phone ringing, so its better to text. (My answer: Wait until they can hear their phone ringing and call them. Or leave a message). My point is that before texting, if someone had a loud job and couldn't answer their phone, you had to wait and call them when you knew they were on a break, or you had to leave a message. But texting created the possibility of leaving a message for them on a screen so that they wouldn't have to take the extra ten seconds to listen to a voicemail.
Nobody asked for that. Nobody said: Wow, leaving a message is such a time waster, I really need something that gets rid of those 20 seconds of wasted time. Nobody asked for that!! Really!!! Texting created the need!! It created the need for constant connection (not constant communication. constant connection).
It used to be that people didn't need to verify meeting times 20 minutes or 20 seconds before they were supposed to happen. Now that has become the norm. And if there is no response they assume you are not going to show up. What if you were just having a conversation with someone on the subway instead of looking at your phone? God forbid! Texting has created the need to be near one's phone all the time, just in case of a message. No one needed to do that before. Now all of a sudden it is a necessity of life (and yes that was all of the sudden compared to thousands of years; no one can argue that.)
I could come up with dozens of scenarios that texting has created, but what is the point? Plus I have probably already bored to tears whoever is reading this, and should cut it short. My main beef is that texting created the market for its necessity, and duped an entire continent or two in the process.
Don't even get me started on fb.!!!!!
Peace out.
sophie
I recently had a conversation with a very good friend that was very enlightening and interesting for me (I am not sure how she felt about it :), and during that conversation the topic of texting came up. I am not sure how, but it did. I basically was saying how much I hate texting, and our discussion eventually led me to realize what it is really that I hate about it. So here goes the big reveal: I hate texting because it created the needs that it fulfills.
So here is my argument: the big push for texting is that it is faster than a phone call. (ok, five more seconds is really gonna ruin your day? really?) Regardless, that need for something faster than a phone call simply didn't exist before texting said, "Hey, I can get a thought to someone faster than a phone call. Won't that make your life easier?" And the world replied "Yes!!". But the joke was on the world, because that extra five seconds just made their lives harder by making them faster and faster and full of more and more things.
But my argument really has nothing to do with the American "do more do more do it faster" mindset. It has to do with the fact that before texting was around no one had the need to tell someone they would be there in five minutes. Now, because you have the option, you feel compelled to tell someone you'll be there in two minutes. There is no reason behind it. You just have to.
So then my question is: why don't you just call? Isn't it actually faster to press call than to type a bunch of text into a little box? Yes, it is faster!! I can prove it to you right now!! So why?? Why do we have to type it??
Here are some classic answers: Their phone might be off so they will probably not answer anyway. (To that I reply: then why do you need to tell them something if they don't want or can't talk to you?) Another answer: His or her work is loud so they can't here their phone ringing, so its better to text. (My answer: Wait until they can hear their phone ringing and call them. Or leave a message). My point is that before texting, if someone had a loud job and couldn't answer their phone, you had to wait and call them when you knew they were on a break, or you had to leave a message. But texting created the possibility of leaving a message for them on a screen so that they wouldn't have to take the extra ten seconds to listen to a voicemail.
Nobody asked for that. Nobody said: Wow, leaving a message is such a time waster, I really need something that gets rid of those 20 seconds of wasted time. Nobody asked for that!! Really!!! Texting created the need!! It created the need for constant connection (not constant communication. constant connection).
It used to be that people didn't need to verify meeting times 20 minutes or 20 seconds before they were supposed to happen. Now that has become the norm. And if there is no response they assume you are not going to show up. What if you were just having a conversation with someone on the subway instead of looking at your phone? God forbid! Texting has created the need to be near one's phone all the time, just in case of a message. No one needed to do that before. Now all of a sudden it is a necessity of life (and yes that was all of the sudden compared to thousands of years; no one can argue that.)
I could come up with dozens of scenarios that texting has created, but what is the point? Plus I have probably already bored to tears whoever is reading this, and should cut it short. My main beef is that texting created the market for its necessity, and duped an entire continent or two in the process.
Don't even get me started on fb.!!!!!
Peace out.
sophie
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