Now that I too have partaken of Gluttony and Gladiators (we just can’t seem to stop following Rome!) holiday times, I can return to the subject at hand!
The bus company that saw only busses as the solution: Yes, that is the parochial nature of many (nearly all?) organizations. As Churchill says, he advocated different things as the Lord of the Admiralty than he did as Home Secretary, even when he knew in his mind that he should be thinking broader. The society should decide what is best, not its selfish components. But, and this is a big but, the information in making those decisions must be accurate. That is where we fall down severely, especially in accounting for the actual costs of something. And THAT is a subject for another discussion! :)
We are diverted and amused. Little different, just far more alluring and inoculating, than Rome and its gladiator contests, circuses, and other sports and entertainment. Since it is "creative" and "interactive," the internet serves as even better diversion for the masses than television. Now, it does have empowering and contributing aspects to it as well, and I am hopeful for them. Whether they shift the balance remains to be seen. So far, judging from the state of the country and world, perhaps not.
Television was rightly criticized for being a passive and disconnected thing, with much connectivity and productivity wasted. But it also often curiously had some connective processes as well. As in, "did you see X last night?" and then an entire discussion would ensue. In that respect, it could reinforce some common culture and connectivity. In today's fractured streams, attention spans are wide and thin. It is rarer and rarer that people have a common entertainment/informative reference. That fact can drive people not only apart,but in a polarizing fashion. Rather a bit like we have today.
Television and the internet and our “smart” phones have driven wedges in our senses of community. Seeming to connect us, they often rather DISconnect us. And I agree with Shirky that time has been wasted in past TV watching. It has taken us away from each other, from the society, and from communal responsibility. It has reinforced an individualism that did not need reinforcing. The needs of the society have suffered because fewer are doing them, and fewer WANT to. Everything is atomized, the nuclear family ever more an insular and disconnected hard shell moving in a very loose collection of hard shells. Stress, defensiveness, suspicion, fear, exhaustion: all way up because we are this way. Public places and the commons—they are too often suffering from either neglect or overuse.
Yet all that is in many ways magnified even more by the internet.
The internet is far more addictive than TV has ever been, and one can certainly never say of the internet “there’s nothing on.” It is far harder to summon the will to “shut off” than TV has been, and because it has also invaded the workplace, its pervasive allure and availability is somewhat boundless and timeless.
And while occasionally someone has been unable to shut off the TV and go to bed, those instances are a far distant second to instances of that being the case with the internet and other instantly interactive communication/exploring. Whether it’s IMing, tweeting, reading and posting, online gaming, or just surfing, a large number of adults (let alone tweens and teens) have difficulty setting limits and parameters. Sleep, work, family, finances, and other responsibilities of non-electronic reality have often suffered. For a culture that knew the definitions of “balance” and “enough,” it would be a hard test. For this culture that knows not those definitions, it is often the perfect brand of addictive electronic heroin, and each “hit,” only increases the craving more. And certainly this writer is not immune to its lure.
I fully agree that the entrepreneurial aspects of the internet are both great and wonderful, with superb possibilities for the individual that did not exist before. My concern about economic productivity comes not from those possibilities, but how little they are in play compared to the diversionary aspects. Both entrepreneurial initiative and traditional work productivity seem to be sagging per capita (although not always per worker, a whole ‘nother discussion!), and the oft-trumpeted “spike” in entrepreneurial activity is, unfortunately, far too often merely the independent contractor facet from laid off workers having to work (without benefits) for their former employers.
With the internet, email, smart phones, etc., we have seemingly endless possibilities, but the simple truth is that we are still humans, with limitations on what we can absorb and accomplish. Just recognizing that fact might go a very long ways toward rectifying our maniacal obsession with doing ever more and more.
The bag is mixed. While the alternative information outlets of the internet are largely welcome in this age of big media in the hands of the few, there are also twin poles to consider: 1) polarization that can come from accessing primarily only one (or one kind of) source, and 2) confusion and disempowerment that can result from the deluge of misinformation, deliberately planted deflection, and twisting bile-producers.
Like Shirky, I too hope that we continue to find ways to create and connect using the internet, and I do greatly admire his vision. I thoroughly treasure having email and the internet. I think they are wonderful tools, with many provens and many possibilities. Like all tools however, they can be used excessively or inappropriately. Let us hope that we sift them sensibly—and along the way find our balance between reality and virtual reality, between society and ourselves.
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