So I’ve got four books waiting to be reviewed, another two that I’d have to write about as soon as I finish them (which should be soon if I don’t want to get in trouble with Mee and Su), and about a month’s worth of online subscriptions which (to my shame) continue to pile up in my Read It Later app. So what do I find myself doing in front of the computer? Figuring out how to integrate Twitter into a reading habit that’s already got enough distractions of its own. I guess this shows how excellent I am when it comes to managing my priorities.
In a post entitled “Stop the World,” George Packer responds to the New Year’s Day article “Why Twitter Will Endure”—written by David Carr—and describes what for him is “possibly the direst forecast of the decade.”
The essay created quite an uproar in the online community, so editor Blake Eskin set out to interview Packer along with fellow staff writer (and avid tweeter) Susan Orlean in last week’s episode of The New Yorker Out Loud.
Over the centuries, our kind has proven to be the most intelligent life form on the planet by being incredible inventors. But it’s also no secret that besides inventing solutions, we’re even more skilled in creating bigger needs that serve to replace the ones that have been outdated by our latest technology. And George Packer knows what this means for him. Working with neither a Blackberry nor an iPhone (at the time of the interview, at least), he finds it increasingly difficult to cover the frontlines of Washington where people often wonder why he hasn’t read an email sent to him five minutes ago—and the fact that he was walking down the street at the time doesn’t seem to count as a clear answer. “It’s becoming a collective hysteria,” he says. In such an age where the bulk of human intelligence is most popularly expressed in bursts of 140 characters (or less), this journalist’s days of riding the Amtrak with the phone turned off for two quiet hours may soon be over.
Every one of us, whether we’re on Twitter or not, is paying a price in available time, in reading comprehension, in attention span, and in awareness of the world because we’re now doing the things we’ve always done but we’re doing them electronically.
—George Packer
But there are, of course, upsides to the technology. Orlean notes that while before she used to pass the hours inside the doctor’s office looking for something to amuse her, she can now do something more productive—like, say for example, tweeting. David Carr makes the same observation. He says that while he’s worried about his ability to think long thoughts, Twitter seems to be the perfect escape while waiting in line at Starbucks—and the tradeoff, he says, is worth it. “Twitter can be overwhelming, but think of it as a river of data rushing past that I dip a cup into every once in a while.” For Packer, however, “overwhelming” sounds more like drowning than dipping. He believes that “you lose something when you’re not looking around the Starbucks that you’re in.” In Orlean’s case, it could very well be a good story idea. In my case, it’s most likely that.
Like any great technology, Twitter certainly has its place. It’s only up to the caveman to pick the best time to use the tool.
So the next time you’re waiting for that delectable calorie-rich Vanilla Latte, it might interest you to try and pretend that Wi-Fi is still a thing of the future and act the way normal human beings did two decades ago whenever they found themselves inside a coffee shop—that is, chat with people or stare at them.
Now, in case you’re really into reading tweets, I invite you to follow to my shiny new Twitter feed where I’ll be posting links to articles I read online:
No worries about getting in trouble with *me*, David. We’re both on the same boat — behind. =)
I’m not a very new-tech person, and so on this one, I think I’m on George Packer’s side. I’ve never taken a liking to Twitter; I just don’t quite get the point of telling everyone who follows me (why would they even want to follow me?!) that I’m lining up at Star Bucks, or that I just finished my bowl of cereal for breakfast.
New technology definitely has its plusses. Like my writing this comment here right now, and email and the phone and the texting and everything. Like my dad puts it, technology has actually made the world smaller. But I just always feel that with all this new flashy tech, we lose a human touch to our lives.
But that’s my rant for now, and thanks for the links to those podcasts. I’ll make sure to check them out.
I see you’ve got the reply thing going. =)
But the formatting might be a bit wonky, because the ‘enter’ doesn’t seem to be giving me breaks in the text. I’m putting in the ‘br’ bit of coding into this reply to see if it works. =)
Oh, and that quote box seems to appear a little later than the rest of your post, and appears at wherever my screen is, not in a fixed position, so it potentially overlaps with the ‘search’ button down there. You might want to check that one too.
Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. Actually I think it’s my fault since I edited some of the code so maybe that pullout quote feature was affected.
Now about the missing line breaks, hmm, I’ll have to investigate on that. That’s a serious problem!
line breaks are working fine now
You might like http://www.aldaily.com/ for free access to tons of newspapers and magazines from all over the world, plus literary and other blogs too. Maybe you already have this link! If you don’t, Happy reading.
Harvee
Wow, now that’s a flood of articles! Thanks for the links Harvee
God bless George Packer. And here I thought I was the last person on Earth not twittering. Lately I’ve been tempted to, if only to be able to get the latest updates on titles from publishers; but then I’m vastly afraid of all the other connections I’ll be making that aren’t the publishers.. connections that will only make me waste time when I have none to spare. Maybe if I didn’t have children I’d join twitter. As it is, I have to balance out my time online, prioritize the family and life. The time I spend online I blog and read blogs and answer emails. I’m sure if I twittered I’ll be spending double the amount of time. So while I really love the thought of twittering, I can’t right now. Maybe you can update me instead.
Haha I agree with you Claire. I don’t dip into Twitter that often too, usually just 5 to 15 minutes a week (mostly just to see updates in The New Yorker). Don’t worry, we get to chat through email anyway. I’ll just update you, if I ever have some news that you don’t know about already
I love the New Yorker fiction podcasts on my iPod. And, thanks for referring me to the podcast which Books on The Nightstand did regarding the Japanese Literature Challenge 3. That was exciting to see! Hear?
Hi Mark David
just wanted to call in and say thank you for your kind comment on my blog. I love to see new people passing through, and then when I saw that you were following the ‘Woolf in Winter’ challenge I realised where we had ‘met’ before. I am struggling with ‘The Waves’ at the moment, am not sure I am taking to Ms Woolf at all.
Anyway, am sure I will be back.
thanks for sharing
martine