2022-11-09

Re: The Analog Guideline

tags: life analog

Sandra reminds us of the times before all this digital-always-online state:

> ... a guideline I use is “how would we have done this before the internet?”

gemini://idiomdrottning.org/analog-guideline

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I use the older brother of this argument occasionally, for example when someone seriously states "I can't live without Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / add_your_favourite_thing! My answer will be something like this:

> Look, there has been a time before this thing existed! I can remember this time clearly. So life without thing is possible, albeit a bit different.

I can remember, when we got our phone land line. I can remember the first electronic calculator my dad bought: a thing with flourescent blue digits and a small thermal printer. I can remember the day, where the coax cable entered our house --- even though there was no TV set at our place yet. And cable internet was unheard of. And I remember a moment, when I realized that the guy passing on his bicycle was talking to someone else on the phone! I used a type writer to write up Mom's recipe for cheese cake. I still have and use this sheet of paper. And I did make real things. Turning wood into bowls or candle holders, sewing a bag from leather, drawings and water colour paintings, bird feeders, toys, furniture made from wood, kites and whatnot. Today I write programs and digital files, which imho do not qualify as "things".

Don't get me wrong: there are a lot of wonders possible through the internet. And I don't want to go back to the time, when internet was not accessible to me. But analog life still has big merits. Paper books work basically without electricity. Paper books will not just vanish from my cupboard. Pencils and pens can be used to write on paper. Analog film and cameras teach a different way of visually perceiving my environment. Watching slides requires electricity, sure, but the perception is different than looking at a computer screen. Photographs last for a long time without using electricity. Vinyl records and the corresponding equipment are not yet forgotten! Going to the theatre, cinema, or to a live concert is a very different experience from streaming it to your phones mini-screen and ear buds.

How did we meet? Well after doing homework, I would just go over to the neighbors and see, if someone was home. If not, I'd try another one or go back home. Easy. Or tour the neighborhood riding my bicycle for some time. How did we meet our SOs? At school maybe, in the library, on the bus, at the sports club, at work ... in real life, so to speak, and not in face books or tinder boxes :)

Of course, publishing this text on gemini is a purely digital works again. Is it a thing? Or rather not? Who knows. But most probably, this is not so important.

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