I'm co-chairing another climate conference because people foolishly think I'm good at those things. I don't do anything alone, but I have worked hard. I'm hoping that the material we put out there is something people appreciate, even if we don't have a big audience on the day of. Ah, the magic of Zoom recordings.
The conference starts tomorrow at 7 AM (8:30 for the rest of the world) and goes until 5 PM. It's going to be a long day, there will be fires to put out and cats to herd, but then we'll be done. And then you know how I'm going to celebrate?
By bringing my phone and Surface to factory settings obviously.
When a friend mentioned doing that a few weeks ago, it pricked my ears. By the time I heard a journalist talk about it a week and a half later, I was ready to start strategizing. And now, having spent hours sorting and deleting files, I am so excited. I can't wait for my phone to be just that--well, maybe throw in a little texting--and I can't wait to get rid of all of the dreck that's on my computer. I have a good idea of the things I'm going to need to add, but it's not nearly as much as you would think if you saw my computer now.
I first heard about the internet when I was eleven years old, and it sounded like a great tool to do some research on (I was convinced there were other Greek myths that hadn't made it over to me at that point). Forty-one years later, and I can say that I do not want to use the internet for research unless I don't have a choice. In looking through my bookmarks and saved links and realizing that the biggest category was science--I bet you didn't see that coming--I pondered over the best way to use the information. Finally, it came to me, and I deleted all of them and got a subscription to Science News. I don't want to use my computer as a mediator for my research any more, though of course it would be foolish not to use it for writing my thoughts in a final format. (Ahem, ask me how I know.)
The money I spent on that was freed up in part by canceling my BuJo U subscription. I'm really grateful for the Bullet Journal system, and I appreciate that it's an idea the creator didn't initially make a lot of money off of. So I was happy to be a paying member of his community for a few years. And I would have stayed even through an increase in price, but NOT through it's evolution into a certification course. Ugh, ugh, and more ugh. Sorry, but having lived through mind body fitness--hell, having lived through tech--I know a scam when I see one. I can still enjoy the idea and utilize the concept, but I'm not going to be part of a community which can't survive without preying on its members.
Sadly, I have similar feelings about Marie Kondo. Much as I love her books and genuinely felt better after implementing her ideas, her consultant certification just boggles my mind, even more than selling products she implicitly warned against in her books. In her defense, she didn't set up the same kind of paid community Bullet Journal did, at least not in this country, but still.
These developments get me even more because what I think the internet is a very good mediator for is *communication* and sometimes even community, but organic communities, not those whose ultimate goal is sales. There's something very MLM about that, and I try to avoid those at all costs.
I think a lot about what Neil Postman et al had to say about how technology affects content--"The medium is the message"--and I'm starting to come to the conclusion that it's not a question of technology corrupting "content", but technology being misapplied. Just because something's good at presenting a drama that doesn't mean it's the best thing for music, and just because something makes a great message board, that doesn't mean it's where we should do our shopping (don't get me started on internet search). Maybe it's not a terrible thing to experiment, but when you fail, admit it and move on.
Well, that's what I'm going to do at least.
Deb in the City
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