Technology, Delayed Gratification, And Cities
So this piece—“A Time We Never Knew,” on smartphones and society—made the rounds recently on social media (which I guess is ironic). I read it with a bit of trepidation, because I never know what the provenance of an independent writer is, and often this stuff veers off into…questionable territory. (I’m thinking of the “LED lightbulbs are a symbol of the decline of the West” guy, for example.) But this isn’t one of those pieces. It expresses what I think a lot of people my age feel about the ubiquity of phones, cameras, apps, location tracking, the internet, social media—all of it, the constant connectivity and the difficulty of extricating yourself from the things themselves, and also—a distinction with a difference—the expectation of them. This is the core of it:
I feel something similar when I talk about how America used to be a properly urban country, when I see these century-plus-old photos of bustling downtowns which are now freeway dead zones, streets full of people, trolleys running through the middle. This sense that we had something we didn’t know, but also this sense that it’s almost impossible to know that we’ll one day miss it. Maybe it’s just grass is greener. Maybe it’s impossible to choose to forego something. Or as Katy Perry sang once, “I miss you more than I loved you.” There are these habits of mind that I run into that feel like looking at human fallenness. Things built into our human “operating system,” by sin or evolution or both, that we can discern yet can barely resist. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Can we do anything about it? Maybe:
I just saw this tweet—literally as I was writing this piece—from Emily Hamilton, a housing scholar (though I’m the one who relates her tweet to anything to do with housing): There’s something deep here, in that last question. Will this AI stuff and its subterfuge of “training” on human-generated “content” end up breaking the actual process of generation and innovation? Will it do to information—here’s my inevitable urbanism angle—what the advent of suburbia did to our traditional process of incrementally building up cities? An innovation too good to refuse, but which ultimately costs far more than we realize? This all—the technology bit—seems to relate to this recent article in The Atlantic, on “cultural arbitrage”:
The article is largely about taste-making and things like innovation in music, but it touches on this idea of the process itself—slow, inefficient, fickle—being key to the things that are eventually generated. Maybe in the long run it simply isn’t possible to take the work out of things. This, in turn, makes me think of something else. I remember—pre-smartphone, pre-unlimited-data-plan—when you’d be chatting with a group of people and you could kind of propose a question or wonder something out loud, and everyone would submit a guess. It could be something as small as “What’s the capital of Alabama?” “Uh, Memphis?” “No, that’s Mississippi!” “No, that’s Tennessee!” “What is the capital of Alabama?” You could get some gentle comedy and teasing out of these things. And you might learn something. Sometimes working through a question you can’t answer with someone, or the answer to which you know but don’t recall, is productive. It kind of forces you to stretch your brain, and it can help you connect with people. Now that you can just look these things up, a question is often not a conversation-starter but a conversation-ender: “I don’t know, look it up.” The removal of these friction points ends up being isolating; it cuts out something in and of itself unnecessary, but necessary to the bigger things of forming relationships, sharing information, making something together. What’s the proper analogy for this? Something potentially unpleasant, frictional, difficult to choose to do when it is optional—but integral to things we deeply need? It’s something like trying to get to a cooked dish without the heat and work of cooking. It’s not realizing that the result is necessarily embodied in the process. Finally—one more link—I want to go back to something I wrote awhile ago, but which I think about a lot (I only wrote up what a presenter said, at an event):
Maybe the right analogy is trying to get to a fire without starting one. I think of all of this as adjacent to urbanism, because cities and towns are a physical embodiment of the idea that people are inherently social, and that we need each other. Even more philosophically, urbanism is a reminder that we are physical creatures; that our needs and feelings and actions are mediated through the real world, and that digital technology is doing something metaphysically deceitful in concealing the physicality of the world. The perseverance and resurgence of cities is evidence to me that we still know what we need, and that—our fallenness, again—the very difficulty sometimes of affirmatively choosing it is evidence that we need it. Related Reading: You Never Know How It Falls Apart Thank you for reading! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekly subscribers-only piece, plus full access to the archive: over 1,000 pieces and growing. And you’ll help ensure more like this! You're currently a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
Older messages
New and Old #163
Monday, June 3, 2024
Friday roundup and commentary ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Saturation
Monday, June 3, 2024
Why does it feel harder to *do* anything these days? Or does it? ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Kitchen Break
Monday, June 3, 2024
The domestic joy of cooking, and how to best utilize a chicken thigh ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The Men's Room Analogy
Monday, June 3, 2024
A funny way to think about housing choices ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Taking Their Sweet Time
Monday, June 3, 2024
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #164 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
You Might Also Like
#58: Guest Post – Considering My Crushes
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Written by Oli Lipski (AKA 'The Queer Sensualist') ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Not until next month!
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
It's July 1958 and Ennio Flaiano runs into an old film extra he's known for years. Given Rome's cinematic historico-biblico-mythological re-birth, this film extra has been shuttling from
This Gorgeous Fall Boot Trend Is Dethroning Cowboy Styles
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Take 'em for a spin. The Zoe Report Daily The Zoe Report 10.22.2024 This Gorgeous Fall Boot Trend Is Dethroning Cowboy Styles (Fashion) This Gorgeous Fall Boot Trend Is Dethroning Cowboy Styles
The Best Thing: October 22, 2024
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The Best Thing is our weekly discussion thread where we share the one thing that we read, listened to, watched, did, or otherwise enjoyed recent… ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
I Got Filler For My Under-Eye Bags & Here's What Happened
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The results speak volumes. The Zoe Report Beauty The Zoe Report 10.22.2024 (Beauty) I Got Filler For My Under-Eye Bags & Here's What Happened (Standing Appointment) I Got Filler For My Under-
10 Most Common Emergencies You Should Save For
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Does Vitamin C Actually Help When You're Sick? An emergency fund is your financial safety net—it's not a question of if you'll need it, but when. Not displaying correctly? View this
Olivia Wilde's Sheer Bustier Dress Has Pockets!
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Plus, Selena Gomez exposed her bra, Hailey Bieber's new bracelet, your daily horoscope, & more. Oct. 22, 2024 Bustle Daily A split image featuring Kathryn Hahn across two years. On the left,
The Grandparents Fighting Against Book Bans
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Today in style, self, culture, and power. The Cut October 22, 2024 BOOKS The Grandparents Fighting Against Book Bans Advocacy groups like Grandparents for Truth want to lead the anti-book-censorship
Improve Your Sleep With Just One Thing
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Men's Health Shop logo FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS $50+ View in Browser The Withings Sleep Tracking Mat, a Men's Health 2024 Sleep Award Winner Take Your Sleep to the Next Level Withings Sleep
Forget Resy, some restaurants are bringing back the reservation book
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Take your picnic to the graveyard