We are in for a long haul. We, who have become accustomed to expecting things now, are going to have to wait. It could be months before our world returns to normal, if it ever does. Or if it even should. We are experiencing something unprecedented: a pandemic in the digital age.
Yet this is a unique opportunity which we should not pass up. In this moment of pause, we have the chance to reset our relationship to tech. For the last decade, tech has been running us. Now is our chance to reset that relationship.
It wasnt so long ago that we all started carrying smartphones. We gave them to our kids. These devices seemed like such cool things to have they gave us everything now: information, transportation, entertainment, food, even sex. We never liked to think about how they were changing our behavior. Making us more aggressive with each other. More judgmental, narcissistic, impatient, impulsive. More likely to treat each other as objects to consume and discard or ghost.
We surrendered our power to companies who used these devices to modify our behavior, with algorithms designed to do just that. We agreed without agreeing to become programmed something we still dont like to contemplate because the convenience of everything we were getting so quickly felt so good.
That is, until it didnt feel good any more. Until we began to feel more anxious and depressed. The companies making these devices promised that they would bring our world closer together. Yet we felt less connected, not more.
When medical professionals began to insist on social distancing as a way to curb the spread of coronavirus, people reacted with alarm. Its scary to think that we cant connect with each other. We need each other. We have evolved to need each other not only to feel good, but to survive.
Humans are difficult and complicated and messy; it was easier to have our primary relationships with our phones
And yet, if were honest about it, we began this process of social distancing years ago. About the same time we started carrying around these phones, we found ourselves having fewer in-person conversations; we visited each other less; we had fewer parties and dinner parties; we stopped going on real dates. It seemed easier to just not deal with each other. Humans are difficult and complicated and messy; it was easier to have our primary relationships with our phones. All of this served tech companies quite well. Every click, scroll, swipe provided them with more data, which translated into more money in their profit columns.
But now were in a moment when we need each other more than ever. We will need each other to provide information, comfort, solace, distraction, entertainment, jokes. We will need each other to listen. We will need to support each other, like family members do, or should; we will need to see ourselves once again as all belonging to the same family of humankind.
And we can use these devices to do just that. We can revert our relationship with tech to the utopian vision of the early days of the internet, when it was seen as something that was going to help us grow and evolve and learn new and better ways of communicating.
But in order to do that, we have to modify our own behavior behavior that has been perversely modified by the companies seeking our data, over these last few years. We cannot troll. We cannot be the snarky one with that smartass comment that gets attention at the expense of someones feelings. We cannot neglect or ignore those to whom we bear responsibility. We cannot spread negativity. We cannot spread nihilism and death, by which I mean the death of social connection.
In order to do this, we will have to use social media very consciously. We must think before we post. We must use this unprecedentedly powerful medium with the same sense of consciousness Kafka once wrote about, in a passage that seems more relevant than ever in the time of the coronavirus: We human beings ought to stand before one another as reverently, as reflectively, as lovingly, as we would before the entrance to hell.
We can start by simply asking each other: How are you?
View original post here:
Coronavirus is a chance to reset our relationship with our phones - The Guardian
- Nihilism Wikipedia - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Nihilism | Meaningness - December 10th, 2016 [December 10th, 2016]
- Nihilist movement - Wikipedia - December 22nd, 2016 [December 22nd, 2016]
- Therapeutic nihilism - Wikipedia - December 22nd, 2016 [December 22nd, 2016]
- Nietzsches Analysis of Nihilism | The World Is On Fire - December 26th, 2016 [December 26th, 2016]
- Moral nihilism - Wikipedia - December 26th, 2016 [December 26th, 2016]
- Nihilism @ American Nihilist Underground Society (ANUS) - January 14th, 2017 [January 14th, 2017]
- Nihilism Nihilism - January 25th, 2017 [January 25th, 2017]
- The boredom of nihilism - The Tablet - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The Chinese Ford Raptor Website Is Profound And Crazy At The Same Time - Jalopnik - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- 'Fatal,' by John Lescroart - San Francisco Chronicle - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Troy Reimink: 'This Land Is Your Land' doesn't mean what most people think - Traverse City Record Eagle - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Brendan Kelly on politics, nihilism, and the benefit of intimate shows - BeatRoute Magazine - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Sampha's Process Review: Drifting Through Space - The Picket - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Nihilist KMOX Reporter Discusses Existential Horror of February in St. Louis - Riverfront Times (blog) - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Why the White House's nihilism is so troubling - Los Angeles Times - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Teen Nihilism Erupts in LA Premiere of Fierce, Funny PUNK ROCK by Simon Stephens - Broadway World - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Faking It: The Rise of Political Nihilism - Study Breaks Magazine - Study Breaks - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Descartes, Nihilist - First Things (blog) - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Still Waking Up - First Things (blog) - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- [ American Nihilist Underground Society (ANUS) :: Nihilism ... - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Pissed Jeans Why Love Now review: 'nihilism and cynicism' - Evening Standard - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Editorial | By any means necessary including dancehall - Jamaica Gleaner - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Reader E-Mailbag: Pussy Hats vs Asshats, How to Save Obamacare, Nihilism in the White House - TheStranger.com - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- The fight between Nigel Farage and Douglas Carswell is the definition of political nihilism - The Independent - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Eye in the Sky: Where Nihilism and Hegemony Coincide - Antiwar.com (blog) - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- NieR: Automata Starts With Nihilism and Futility at the Installation Screen - Geek - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- I used to love the working-class nihilism of Sleaford Mods no longer - Spectator.co.uk - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Mereological nihilism - Wikipedia - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Four Big Critiques - China Digital Times - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- What Colony Gets Right About Living in an Apocalypse - Gizmodo - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- We're all political nihilists now - Washington Post - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Love, Western Nihilism and Revolutionary Optimism | Global ... - Center for Research on Globalization - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Occupy Wall Street: Nihilism And Communism - The Liberty Conservative - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- What Is Nihilism? History, Profile, Philosophy and ... - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Changing This Bumbling Narcissist Impossible, So We Must Depose Him - Common Dreams - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- A Defense for Moral Absence - Daily Utah Chronicle - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Withdrawing from the Paris Accord: Trump is behaving like a nihilist, not a nationalist - Los Angeles Times - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- China bans 'Soft Burial', a novel about deadly consequences of land reform - Business Standard - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Former Grateful Dead Tour Manager Chimes in on Long Strange Trip Documentary - Relix (blog) - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- 'It Comes at Night' Review - Washington Free Beacon - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- China's Latest Book Ban: An Award-Winning Novel About the Deadly Consequences of Land Reform - The News Lens International (press release) - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- How Carmen Ejogo Helped Build a Personal Apocalypse in It Comes at Night - Den of Geek US - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- SMOKERS' CORNER: DEATH CULTS - DAWN.com - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Jim Dey: Another fatal shooting raises the same question why? - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Why Millennials Love 'Rick and Morty' - Study Breaks Magazine - Study Breaks - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Searching for the Last Sincere Festival Experience at Download 2017 - Noisey - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- The book Christians should read instead of 'The Benedict Option' - America Magazine - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Film Review: 'All Eyez on Me' - Variety - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- The Pendulum is Swinging Back Toward Liberal Forward Momentum - HuffPost - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- Death cults - The Statesman - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- 5 reasons why 'Wonder Woman' is the superhero movie America needs right now - LGBTQ Nation - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- Review: Prodigy HNIC - SPIN - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- The Nihilism of Julian Assange - The New York Review of Books - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- Atlanta's Videodrome is the Last and Greatest Video Rental Store - Geek - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Why Prodigy Was A Once-In-A-Generation Rapper - Complex - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Prufrock: How Brainwashing Works, Julian Assange's Nihilism, and Emily Dickinson's Hope - The Weekly Standard - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Samantha Bee Mourns the Death of Language - New York Times - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Trump's bluff on White House tapes wasn't just dishonest it was also a failure - Washington Post - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- In the Almost-Great Baby Driver, Hollywood Goes Asperger's - National Review - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- Against Nihilism - MTV.com - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- Can Robert Mueller be trusted? - Fox News - June 24th, 2017 [June 24th, 2017]
- Opinion: Gingrich admitted Trump was being dishonest - Holmes County Times Advertiser - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- A Reply to Rod Dreher on Worldview - Patheos (blog) - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- Vince Staples burns through nihilism and house beats on 'Big Fish ... - Mic - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- Islamic Terrorists Aren't Nihilists, They're Firm Believers In Evil - The Federalist - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- On Religion: Wrestling again with the gospel according to Bob Dylan - Herald and News - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Wrestling again with the Gospel according to Bob Dylan | Features ... - Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog) - July 1st, 2017 [July 1st, 2017]
- Praying for Hemingway | America Magazine - America Magazine - July 1st, 2017 [July 1st, 2017]
- Human Exceptionalism: We Understand Significance - National Review - July 2nd, 2017 [July 2nd, 2017]
- Politics podcast: Anna Krien on the climate wars - The Conversation AU - July 3rd, 2017 [July 3rd, 2017]
- Omnipotence at the price of nihilism - Patheos (blog) - July 6th, 2017 [July 6th, 2017]
- The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers - Film School Rejects - Film School Rejects - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Alternative rock comes to Grass Valley - Auburn Journal - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Data SheetSaturday, July 8, 2017 - Fortune - July 8th, 2017 [July 8th, 2017]
- Altstadt Echo - Reposed In Nihilism - Resident Advisor - July 11th, 2017 [July 11th, 2017]
- I'd Be A Nihilist If I Weren't A Hedonist - Patheos (blog) - July 14th, 2017 [July 14th, 2017]
- Review: 21 Savage Hits the Limits of Nihilism on Issa Album | SPIN - SPIN - July 15th, 2017 [July 15th, 2017]
- 'Rick and Morty' Creators Explain Why The Show is Horrifying - Inverse - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]
- Ill Behaviour, review: the chuckles are broad but the grisly nihilism is rather unpalatable - Telegraph.co.uk - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]