frauke at large

A good friend of mine has recently found himself without an internet connection, a mobile telephone or a land line. In essence he’s been transported back into the middle of the 19th century…

Initial reactions to his new found state of solitude were either pity, Schadenfreude – in the sense that pity was followed with an aftertaste of: ‘ha ha, though mate’, or more generally a sense of: ‘how will you cope?’ Comments on his webpage reflect this nicely.

Nevertheless, having spent the last few days contemplating the state of ‘internet hermit’ and reviewing the question: ‘are we addicted to electronic communication technology’? I have come to the following conclusion: as I continuously navigate my way through RSS fed news and googled information, scanning and skimming, often not pausing to reflect and to absorb, I am being hollowed out by the technology of the ‘instantly available’. I have developed a new kind of self – an inner self which is evolving under the pressure of information overload. It has almost developed to the stage of ADD, where, unless an argument is brought straight to the point, is nice and concise or is useful for my research, it is discarded fairly rapidly with a new train of thought or my attention is drawn in by something else. I have almost become fixated on around the clock, instantaneous information being available; all as a consequence of the way in which we have become dependent on electronic communication technology, coupled with and fueled by a thirst for knowledge. I read hundreds of snippets of information each day, very seldom at great depth.

So maybe he’s not at all worst off than those of us still attached to the drip of the information highway, since there is a faint chance that, without the internet, the loss of complex inner density and the stamina to endure long, drawn out arguments can be recovered …

P.S. I’m off for my daily fix of news – might even go retro and buy a paper – although they’re somewhat out of date … so had better dedicated my time trawling through RSS feeds … catch 22 …

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