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from the too-busy-shitposting-to-go-outside dept.
Human Contact Is Now a Luxury Good:
Screens used to be for the elite. Now avoiding them is a status symbol.
[...] Life for anyone but the very rich — the physical experience of learning, living and dying — is increasingly mediated by screens.
Not only are screens themselves cheap to make, but they also make things cheaper. Any place that can fit a screen in (classrooms, hospitals, airports, restaurants) can cut costs. And any activity that can happen on a screen becomes cheaper. The texture of life, the tactile experience, is becoming smooth glass.
The rich do not live like this. The rich have grown afraid of screens. They want their children to play with blocks, and tech-free private schools are booming. Humans are more expensive, and rich people are willing and able to pay for them. Conspicuous human interaction — living without a phone for a day, quitting social networks and not answering email — has become a status symbol.
All of this has led to a curious new reality: Human contact is becoming a luxury good.
As more screens appear in the lives of the poor, screens are disappearing from the lives of the rich. The richer you are, the more you spend to be offscreen.
I remember when the tag line for AT&T was Reach out and touch someone and it was portrayed as a good thing.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday March 26 2019, @04:27PM (1 child)
Not answering e-mail is what my wife does. She sort of checks it, but she doesn't communicate that way. Totally ignoring e-mail is a viable option, but blaming e-mail for social issues is crazy. I go without a phone for a day quite frequently, because I forgot it at home. Social networks are code word for Gossip Groups. They can be good too, especially if you have family that's not in the same State / Country. The systems aren't inherently evil, but they most definitely are abused.
A rich person may be able to afford a personal secretary to keep their life organized. Most everyone else, has to make due with a calendar app on their phone, or some other mechanism to stay organized.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday March 26 2019, @04:50PM
I modded you insightful:
i remind my wife about important emails pertaining to her, but beyond that... social networking is stupid: as in garbage. Too many people thinking you want to know about their poop schedule.
I am her personal secretary, but only because she doesn't know what "Just open a tab on your browser" means.
Beyond that, we are VERY low tech... and happy. We go to our son's Special Olympics swimming and bocce ball, etc and we don't spend all our times on cell phones: we actually watch him and get involved and ENJOY HIM.
Too many people are addicted to phones and Facefuck.
Too many people need to get lives.
But yeah, email keeps us up with what is important (and like with Sherlock, you can use it while not having to waste time talking to people) and calendars keep us informed as to "shit, that's tomorrow!!!".
Other than that, shit.....gossip groups, as you say. Drama drama drama.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---