Talking Tuesday: Alan Jacobs and the Internet Commons

Alan Jacobs weighs in on the role of technology in day-to-day life.  He's spent the last year easing away from smart phones, social media platforms, and generally going old-school in his intellectual life.  And enjoying the fruits, I think.  

Writes Jacobs: 

"But often when I go out I don’t bring my backpack. I head for the coffee shop with my dumb phone, my notebook, and a pen. I sip coffee and think and write. If my mind wanders and I wonder what’s in my RSS feed, I can’t check, so I have to go back to writing. Sometimes I bring a book too, and read it. If I get tired of it, I don’t have anything else to read, so I either keep going anyway or get the notebook back out. Or just sit there and drink my coffee and watch the unphotographed world go by."

~Alan Jacobs, My Year in Tech, Snakes and Ladders Blog, December 23, 2015

 I really appreciate his blog post (as well as the referring post).  He articulates a lot of what I'm often trying to say about technology and how our public and private discourse is negatively affected by it.  For all that I think social media or smart phones can be a useful tool to stay in touch with friends and family far and wide, I think it cannot be substitute for in-person fellowship, and we mustn't allow the noise of the internet to take over the quiet space in our heads.  We don't need to speak in public about everything.

  

Jacobs goes on to suggest a modus operandi for communication over the internet:

"I want to suggest some alternative ways of thinking about these matters, and related ones:

I don’t have to say something just because everyone around me is.

I don’t have to speak about things I know little or nothing about.

I don’t have to speak about issues that will be totally forgotten in a few weeks or months by the people who at this moment are most strenuously demanding a response.

I don’t have to spend my time in environments that press me to speak without knowledge.

If I can bring to an issue heat, but no light, it is probably best that I remain silent.

Private communication can be more valuable than public.

Delayed communication, made when people have had time to think and to calm their emotions, is almost always more valuable than immediate reaction.

Some conversations are be more meaningful and effective in living rooms, or at dinner tables, than in the middle of Main Street."

~Alan Jacobs, I'm Thinking it Over, American Conservative Blog, January 4, 2016

I'm an introvert, so taking the slow road, the quieter road is always going to be what I seek, but I think it is good for all of us to cultivate a rich inner life, to articulate parts of that inner life well, even if only to ourselves.  It is how we grow and move forward in the spiritual life.