127 Comments

Bravo! I have been waiting for something like this for a while! I am so happy there are a few people who understand these aspects to our human nature. Onward!

Expand full comment

In the future, we'll all pay attention for at least fifteen minutes.

Expand full comment

I DO hope yer right! My daughters (tho raised semi-luddite style by two avid-luddites!) have friends that are BEYOND addicted to their "devices" an' these kids have zero attention--eyes glaze even speakin' to 'em an' they don't put the danged phones down WHEN someone is talkin' to these kids. I'm not so sure we haven't lost a couple few generations despite us heel-diggin' rebels. Heck, I could never git a handle on properly swipin' a credit card at the groc'ry... an' I can "barely" manage my "dumb phone" (flip phone used only for textin' stuff like "runnin' late" and "take the chicken outta the freezer I fergot!") But kids now-days kin swipe like the dickens an' it IS like that jackpot / reward.

Our down-home (until recently citi-fried) remedy is readin' loooong books together--on paper / hardcover preferred!), watchin' operas (MET Live 'cept I won't pay fer that since they stoopidly cancelled Anna Netrebko for the "crime" of bein' Russian--criminey!), listenin' (and playin') longer music pieces, an' doin' stuff that takes TIME an' PATIENCE but is rewardin' in the end--like oil paintin' an' knittin' !

But how many folks 'at remember the 20th C pre-swipe land'o patience'll bring up kids thataway? I see mamas my age just as phone-crazy.... I just don't know...

But I agree with all ya said--I just don't see folks ('specially the young'uns) gettin' turned off by all the swipin' an' scrollin' YET. Let's hope yer right!

ps some'a my fav-o-rite old movies are under 90 minutes--nearly all the Film Noirs (eg. Little Caesar with the great Eddie G. is barely 80 minutes)--an' bein' loooong ain't always a good sign (it kin mean lack've a decent editor!)... which brings up another topic entirely and that is WITH the scroll-n-swipe "doom loop" comes ersatz entertainment an' a couple generations (genera-shuns!) sheep dipped in all that's lousy--an' that may be the crime of the century (or the last one...)

Expand full comment

^^This comment^^ has been brought to you by the letters 'g' & 'd.'

Expand full comment

I find your writing very entertaining. I hope you publish somewhere as well. This was great.

Expand full comment

(repastin' as I believe I put this in the wrong spot...)

Wull, thank ya kindly!

Come take a gander at my fairly wacky an' unorthodox "Stack," The Heterodox Cheering Section of Daisy Moses

https://thcsofdaisymoses.substack.com/

Expand full comment

I'm beginning to redeem my faith in humanity after reading your sub stack . People of the world unite !

Expand full comment

my solution is to never engage with Tik Tok, Face Book, or any other scrolling platform. I use my phone for the occasional call & to listen to classical music while walking on a treadmill. I'm sure I'm an anomaly and have been for most of my life. It's what helps to maintain what sanity I have left.

Expand full comment

Add me to your list as one who has never touched any of it. My phone is a phone & occasionally used as a way to communicate quickly (Texts). Mostly because most folks never make calls anymore.

Even way back I had a relative who took so many photos I thought she was going to bankrupt them with the costs of having them ALL developed. Then came the digital Cams & then Phone pics. Can you imagine the TRILLIONS of photos taken & stored & never looked at again ? (Maybe its even up to a Googleplex by now). Actual Million Year-old Water is flowing over Dams to generate the power used to store that Gargantuan Pile of CRAP !

Expand full comment

A joke: An Asian woman from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, China and Japan are sitting down to lunch at a long table. They all have their backs to you and all are the same height, weight, have the same color of hair & clothing. How do you know which one is Thai?

Answer: The one taking photos of all the food.

My wife must have thousands of photo of food stored in her iphone, that she never looks at.

No comprendo.

Expand full comment

I don’t have TikTok, IG or Facebook either the latter two mainly because of the big data scam and the toxicity that seemed to be their stock in trade. I’ve managed to live on lo these many years.

Expand full comment

Your long lost cousin from a parallel universe uncle, Herr Funkenstein, sends a virtual fist bump!😎

Expand full comment

Test match cricket - your time has come!

Expand full comment

Haha

Expand full comment

B. F. Skinner is not as highly thought of today as he was when I was in college (1958-62). We are not as susceptible to operant conditioning as Skinner thought. We’re not lab rats, to start with. Regarding dopamine, it is a significant neurological hormone but recent studies suggest it has also been overrated. It’s just one of many factors, some from the metabolic processes in our bodies and some from the external environments we live in, that affect our feelings and behaviors. And we learn more about organic and inorganic beings every day. 😎

Expand full comment

Amen to this excellent synopsis of our current zombified culture. I’ve been rebelling against all of it even while having to endure it too. Bring it on, this human can’t wait until the Silicon Valley technocrats wake up!

Expand full comment

I'm three weeks into an experiment... I dropped my smartphone and I'm back to using a black and white dumb phone. I am using an ipad to connect to some of the apps like my bank, but only when I'm in the need for it. Instead of swimming in the internet all day, I'm dipping into it when I need to. So far, it's working very well :-)

Expand full comment

Can we get page turns on substack?

I’m about ready to dump streaming audio. I find the experience of finding music, then acquiring it as either files or CDs (which I usually rip), and then playing it is a much more rewarding experience. I also have hundreds of CDs from the “old days” that were personally curated for me by me, every one of which speaks to me. Next up is Netflix. I left all social media platforms a few years ago. I recently started a Mastodon account but my participation only travels in one direction, outward.

Expand full comment

I often send long substack articles to my e-reader for the page-turning experience. I highly recommend it!

Expand full comment

Was trying to come up with a clever, pithy comment scrolling this page. You done good, relieving me from the self-imposed toil. Thanks!

Expand full comment

Longer movies simply mean longer escapes from mundane existance. They are not about cultural redemption.

Expand full comment

I didn't quite read to the end before clicking "like". Am I doomed?

Expand full comment

Turn around. Nope, look OK to me.

Expand full comment

I don’t know, Bern…. I hope you’re not backsliding here

Expand full comment

Just ensuring Scott B's peace of mind. It's a service I provide. I mean, if we're goin' all existentialist, might as well make existence copacetic as possible, is how I look at it.

Expand full comment

Effective Altruism, then?

Expand full comment

Worked for Scott, is all I'm sayin'...

Expand full comment

I believe that all social media platforms have a limited lifespan. As one falls by the wayside, it will be replaced by another. Anyone remember My Space? Mark Zuckerberg certainly does. And speaking of Zuckerberg, we've all seen the cracks that are beginning to show in the Facebook foundation and...guess what? Other more streamlined and less time consuming "wannabes" are already jockeying with one another to take its place. Most will not make the cut, but at least one, for whatever reason, will emerge as the new Facebook. My point? We all know that nature abhors a vacuum but so do human beings.

Expand full comment

Very interesting article. This may sound unrelated, but I feel the same way about conferences. In my case, any songwriting conferences. I always think as a creative you’re better off spending time working on your craft than listening to someone tell you how to. I feel a lot of times those are merely avenues whereby already successful people have found a new way to take more of your money. They take advantage of the desire for a quick fix, an easy way. Just my opinion here, but I think anyone and everyone is better off finding there own way in their own way.

Expand full comment

“In the future, everybody will have an attention span of 15 seconds” - Jean Marshall McLuhan Baudrillard

Expand full comment

Great piece Ted. We totally agree and are severely limiting our Social Media exposure, with no shorts and releasing the next album only on vinyl with limited access to individual tracks via Bandcamp. I am going to share this widely- it needs to be read... Keep on going.

Expand full comment