Alex Goldman of On the Media explains how the world of twitter followed the scanners of the police looking for these Boston Bombing suspects.
What was made clear was that over time and without proper context, certain tweets can be run amok of their original inception. He explains the recycling of tweets gathered from the police scanner as fact and then run back though the scanner as comfirmation. In other words, people broadcasted what police said on a scanner, police would then intercept these tweets and misinterpret them as fact. This sets a newer precedence as the police are grabbing at anything they can find, same as the reporters and average citizen tuning in. This precedence leads to misinformation and ultimately can lead to some embarrassing missteps in national and international reporting on the scene.
Its fast its live and its raw. No filters, no cover-ups, no gatekeepers. CNN and FOX continue to lose ground because of their issues with agenda setting and general time wasting filters and pundit discussions. For myself and Brandon (speculative but verified via blogger posts) we both enjoy getting our news without having to ask for information. Reddit finds the news we need, the posts are voted on to decide whats most relevant and then when we check our front pages, there it is waiting for us. Precise info that other stations and news media wouldnt mention due to vulgarity or a conflict with a personal agenda.
My news on Christopher Dorner's standoff was totally different than a good majority of viewers of CNN and FOX, thanks in part to scanners and Reddit. I had the manifesto, unfiltered explaining his reasons, his cause for his killings and deeply drawn out information that no other outlets would dare discuss. Instead of looking into the reasons of why he shot these people or pointing out the discrepancy in police reports and accidental "every truck is Christopher Dorner" shootouts. The media made it quickly and clearly conveyed to the public that this man was simply crazy. In the final standoff, you could hear through the scanners the plan to burn the house/cabin down section-by-section room by room. Scanner chatter about throwing the more flammable gas canisters into the house could be heard; "we need to burn this guy out", "cover the back doors he might try to run out when we torch the place", "burner 1 is out", "starting fire to room 2". Phrases similar to this can be heard live on the internet. There was to be no quarter for Dorner, no negotiations. The house burned down and we were supposed to throw out the whole theory of "maybe the LAPD and Cali. police arent as nice as we may believe".
So now we have scanners back for Boston, knowing from experience we tune-in. Not to the "fair and balanced" commentary of FOX, not to the "forward leaning" CNN and their many hologram Will.I.AM interviews about the bombers' alleged motives, we tune in to what is right out there from boots on the ground. Quick and concise information from the scanners (the same scanners that inspired the invention of Twitter in the first place). We intercept the reports, interpret, then tweet them to the mass public to see. The problem here was there was still an active manhunt at this point, police and swat didnt have suspect #2 surrounded in a cabin. The risk of tweeting misinformation for Dorner was minimal if the whole house was surrounded by police and tactical response units.The world was watching and waiting to see what would happen, speculation from the scanners were misread as fact and CNN published it the whole way though to be there first.
Is it authentic? Yes. At times when the police have control of the situation there's not much room for misinformation to travel, if I tweeted as Christopher Dorner saying "ha im actually in Nevada" police would throw it out since they had the cabin surrounded. In an active manhunt in this modern age, with police trying out every lead they can for the chance of finding the suspect, there certainly is a chance for trouble to come from the Zing of Authenticity.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
New media and PR
Wow those demos are so even, why bother even reading that infographic?
It seems that no matter how advanced and universal the social media may be, you still get the same levels of stupidity from one medium to the other.
There's an invisible barrier of "im better than you" set out in twitter and yet all the same complaints and cat-fights exist on twitter as they would on Facebook and the dwindling Myspace.
Its an absolute dereliction of social conduct and thats fine so long as you yourself dont fall into the traps set before you.
Facebook now is more of a political machine than a "look what I did", some complain about that, I enjoy it. Its good to see highschoolers and college students alike complain about watching arguments unfold on Facebook.
Sadly a majority of the arguments are mere marching orders from one side or the other. A well thought out picture with 59K likes and 3K comments. A fallacy-laden picture with a graphic like
"Lucy didnt brush her teeth and now she got gunned down in the streets by liberal dentists, THANKS OBAMA!"
Facebook holds that social commentary of people either feeding the trolls who post these pictures, or people whom see it and decide to log-out for good. Since facebook is largely powered by the users, there's not much that can stop a downward spiral in American/UK daily visits.
This is where twitter shines, you have a 1-1/1-99999 user system where anyone can move about anywhere with the proper feeds and keep perfect records of wins and losses in "internet fights". The visibility allows for these otherwise tagged "facebook trolls" to get assigned a strong status of "oh he does this to everybody and never admits when he's beaten, just look at his previous tweets"
Because of this permanent system, users who want to keep their followers are keen to tread-softly when stepping on those 50% landmines of the population's opinion.
This is why you'll be hard-pressed to find any celebrities or politicians taking any hard stances on most any issue; if they are to grab 51% but live in a republican/democratic area, they are better off not saying "Abortion sux =)"
or "Abortion is awesome =)"
As for the A.R.C? Meh, probably somebody logged in on a phone, took it home, then tweeted without logging out. Ive seen this done before with email accounts on public computers.
It seems that no matter how advanced and universal the social media may be, you still get the same levels of stupidity from one medium to the other.
There's an invisible barrier of "im better than you" set out in twitter and yet all the same complaints and cat-fights exist on twitter as they would on Facebook and the dwindling Myspace.
Its an absolute dereliction of social conduct and thats fine so long as you yourself dont fall into the traps set before you.
Facebook now is more of a political machine than a "look what I did", some complain about that, I enjoy it. Its good to see highschoolers and college students alike complain about watching arguments unfold on Facebook.
Sadly a majority of the arguments are mere marching orders from one side or the other. A well thought out picture with 59K likes and 3K comments. A fallacy-laden picture with a graphic like
"Lucy didnt brush her teeth and now she got gunned down in the streets by liberal dentists, THANKS OBAMA!"
Facebook holds that social commentary of people either feeding the trolls who post these pictures, or people whom see it and decide to log-out for good. Since facebook is largely powered by the users, there's not much that can stop a downward spiral in American/UK daily visits.
This is where twitter shines, you have a 1-1/1-99999 user system where anyone can move about anywhere with the proper feeds and keep perfect records of wins and losses in "internet fights". The visibility allows for these otherwise tagged "facebook trolls" to get assigned a strong status of "oh he does this to everybody and never admits when he's beaten, just look at his previous tweets"
Because of this permanent system, users who want to keep their followers are keen to tread-softly when stepping on those 50% landmines of the population's opinion.
This is why you'll be hard-pressed to find any celebrities or politicians taking any hard stances on most any issue; if they are to grab 51% but live in a republican/democratic area, they are better off not saying "Abortion sux =)"
or "Abortion is awesome =)"
As for the A.R.C? Meh, probably somebody logged in on a phone, took it home, then tweeted without logging out. Ive seen this done before with email accounts on public computers.
Money Can’t Buy You Love: Why Some Apps Work and Some Don’t (Blog)
Happy is utility for me, finding a use for my apps is awesome.
I dont drive my car to class for fun, but if it makes it to class whilst powering uphill through a 50 degree Laguna Seca-style corkscrew all whilst maintaining a 39MPG fuel econ' then it brings me happiness.
Going from home to class in 7mins with about 4 red light intersections and 5 stop signs is just brilliantly good work on Toyota's end. Brakes, turning radius, throttle control, disposable spark coil prices, ultra light frame future-death-trap. All these things come together to make what would be just driving to class an action packed and extremely low-cost adventure.
My iphone is a utility only when everything is working together, if I have to send a picture however, its no longer fun and I am no longer happy. To send a picture with a Verizon iphone, you either have to hot-glue your phone directly into your wireless router at home or go through miles of settings to turn on 3G. With my low-end data cap at 2GB per month, I have to go back through the labyrinth of settings on the iphone to turn it back off after the picture is sent. If I dont, then even when I'm in range of my 5 bar wifi router-my iphone will automatically start eating up the 3G data until I get a 4AM automated text from Verizon telling me that I used 75% of my data plan so far.
"Smart phone" they say....
Apps like my alarm clock app, YoctoClock, which (puts me to sleep/wakes me up with) music is useful for.....waking up, but even better is the progressive "non-heart stopping" wakeup to a 5hr playlist starting near dead silent 4hrs before you need to wake up. Yocto Clock gets me up and ready to go without the growning pain of the standard "ding" of the default iphone sounds.
Happy is the satisfaction of success,entertainment or comfort.
Utility is the expedited pathway to reach happy.
I dont drive my car to class for fun, but if it makes it to class whilst powering uphill through a 50 degree Laguna Seca-style corkscrew all whilst maintaining a 39MPG fuel econ' then it brings me happiness.
Going from home to class in 7mins with about 4 red light intersections and 5 stop signs is just brilliantly good work on Toyota's end. Brakes, turning radius, throttle control, disposable spark coil prices, ultra light frame future-death-trap. All these things come together to make what would be just driving to class an action packed and extremely low-cost adventure.
My iphone is a utility only when everything is working together, if I have to send a picture however, its no longer fun and I am no longer happy. To send a picture with a Verizon iphone, you either have to hot-glue your phone directly into your wireless router at home or go through miles of settings to turn on 3G. With my low-end data cap at 2GB per month, I have to go back through the labyrinth of settings on the iphone to turn it back off after the picture is sent. If I dont, then even when I'm in range of my 5 bar wifi router-my iphone will automatically start eating up the 3G data until I get a 4AM automated text from Verizon telling me that I used 75% of my data plan so far.
"Smart phone" they say....
Apps like my alarm clock app, YoctoClock, which (puts me to sleep/wakes me up with) music is useful for.....waking up, but even better is the progressive "non-heart stopping" wakeup to a 5hr playlist starting near dead silent 4hrs before you need to wake up. Yocto Clock gets me up and ready to go without the growning pain of the standard "ding" of the default iphone sounds.
Happy is the satisfaction of success,entertainment or comfort.
Utility is the expedited pathway to reach happy.
BOSTON MARATHON
I have to agree with Brandon, there were so many conflicting reports and
stories about what happened that to put trust in organizations like Fox
or CNN was just laughable.
Coverage on the Tea Party and Occupy Wallstreet were both so selectively covered that you never truly got the unfiltered story. The amount of coverage reddit provided after the bombing was simply stunning, you had instant access to real updates versus the CNN & Fox pundits speculating for a full 30 mins before throwing out another "exclusive" title behind what I read a full half hour before.
Couple this with the easy access to scanners online and you had a completely (hate to keep using this lexicon..) unfiltered story of what was happening.
This particular news story didnt garnish much controversy however, the story of Christopher Dorner had a much more 1:0 ratio of coverage.
CNN,FOX and even Reuters refused to address the very real allegations of police corruption in the LAPD both before the civilian shootings of (Insert any truck name/color) and after the scanners recorded "starting fire in room 1" during the final standoff.
CNN in this Boston Bombing instance was announcing "suspect 1 has been found" through John King and his exclusive source. Minutes later when the BPD announced something to the amount of "umm no we dont have anyone now", CNN made sure to slowly backslide on Live tv over the validity of their own source for the next 38 minutes or so, finally ending with "breaking news, it is comfirmed by BPD, they do not have suspect 1, this is why its good that we check our sources."
New York Post had similar issues, posting a headline and picture of two people with the title "bag men"
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1093643/thumbs/o-NEW-YORK-POST-570.jpg?6
Oh one thing, these arent the guys. Oh one more thing, New York Post is standing behind their terrible coverage.
Reddit was the fastest and best source for all the news you'd ever need with this story, in one of the links/posts I read what could be the greatest online comment in media history so far...
"Remember this moment people, remember where you were. We are witnessing the death of Televised News coverage right now."
I go to vice for my video features, Rolling Stones for my written stories and reddit for everything else. I just cant remember the last time any news outlet gave me a serious, unfiltered story.
Speaking of social media and agenda setting. When a bomb goes off in Boston killing 3, there's a city wide lockdown with swat, checkpoints and room-to-room, house-to-house inspections.
When there's a triple homicide by gun, theres two detectives and maybe an APB for suspect description in shift-breifing.
When its 12 police officers targeted and a manifesto plus two civilians dead, its a state-wide manhunt.
Im trying to think of the last time the media ever covered a gang related murder....St.Valentines Day Massacre? Oh well, I suppose if its not on video, or if its not the police, its not news.
Thanks CNN, for reminding me whats important. (Don Lemon's ok though, you can tell he's waiting for a real job somewhere)
Coverage on the Tea Party and Occupy Wallstreet were both so selectively covered that you never truly got the unfiltered story. The amount of coverage reddit provided after the bombing was simply stunning, you had instant access to real updates versus the CNN & Fox pundits speculating for a full 30 mins before throwing out another "exclusive" title behind what I read a full half hour before.
Couple this with the easy access to scanners online and you had a completely (hate to keep using this lexicon..) unfiltered story of what was happening.
This particular news story didnt garnish much controversy however, the story of Christopher Dorner had a much more 1:0 ratio of coverage.
CNN,FOX and even Reuters refused to address the very real allegations of police corruption in the LAPD both before the civilian shootings of (Insert any truck name/color) and after the scanners recorded "starting fire in room 1" during the final standoff.
CNN in this Boston Bombing instance was announcing "suspect 1 has been found" through John King and his exclusive source. Minutes later when the BPD announced something to the amount of "umm no we dont have anyone now", CNN made sure to slowly backslide on Live tv over the validity of their own source for the next 38 minutes or so, finally ending with "breaking news, it is comfirmed by BPD, they do not have suspect 1, this is why its good that we check our sources."
New York Post had similar issues, posting a headline and picture of two people with the title "bag men"
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1093643/thumbs/o-NEW-YORK-POST-570.jpg?6
Oh one thing, these arent the guys. Oh one more thing, New York Post is standing behind their terrible coverage.
Reddit was the fastest and best source for all the news you'd ever need with this story, in one of the links/posts I read what could be the greatest online comment in media history so far...
"Remember this moment people, remember where you were. We are witnessing the death of Televised News coverage right now."
I go to vice for my video features, Rolling Stones for my written stories and reddit for everything else. I just cant remember the last time any news outlet gave me a serious, unfiltered story.
Speaking of social media and agenda setting. When a bomb goes off in Boston killing 3, there's a city wide lockdown with swat, checkpoints and room-to-room, house-to-house inspections.
When there's a triple homicide by gun, theres two detectives and maybe an APB for suspect description in shift-breifing.
When its 12 police officers targeted and a manifesto plus two civilians dead, its a state-wide manhunt.
Im trying to think of the last time the media ever covered a gang related murder....St.Valentines Day Massacre? Oh well, I suppose if its not on video, or if its not the police, its not news.
Thanks CNN, for reminding me whats important. (Don Lemon's ok though, you can tell he's waiting for a real job somewhere)
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Netflix has more subscribers now than HBO
Lets be real here though, to get to HBO you need to wade and drudge through about 10,000 levels of cable/dish packages from the CNN-MTV-Comedy Central to the unholy CNN headline, FOX money,msnbc,MTV 2, MTV 89, etc...
Good read check it out!
http://qz.com/77067/netflix-now-bigger-than-hbo/
Good read check it out!
http://qz.com/77067/netflix-now-bigger-than-hbo/
Monday, April 1, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
48hrs of life in the 80's
I had a nice timeline journal but most of it was spent just "chronicalizing" my construction of an awesome winter coat for my spring break in the unforgiving snowy landscape of Michigan. Ironically that little journal is now sitting at my brother's house in the frozen tundra of Michigan.
I had two three-day weekends and one spring break to do this assignment, however Id much rather spend those hellish 48hrs in the ever torturing existence in the hot and timid deserts of St.George than waste 48 of my 168hrs in the comfortable lands of KZoo Michigan. That was/is my attitude of this project.
Having one whole week devoted to the humanity of hedonism was exactly what I needed to compensate for the painful day-to-day stress and sacrifice of college life(Utah College mind you...).
I will say that the week I spent in the icy cold refreshing lands of Kalamazoo more than made up for the punishing,unrewarding and unrelenting adventure that is Fall 2012-Spring 2013 so far. I'm glad I didn't squander that time spent with long-lost relatives sitting in a cave of technological impotence.
This assignment, especially towards the start really made me pity those whom lived before the 1990's. Then again Im sure future generations will pity me for putting up with data caps and 1MBps Internet speeds at 60$ a month.
So it starts at 10:50PM, my goal was to start at 10, but I had other homework to do before Saturday which would ruin the project's continuity (thanks online classes). Presidents' Day weekend, I text everyone telling them if they need me to come knock on my door, I turn off my Xbox, Computer and Phone and grab my pre-emptively rented books of everything.
My extra plan fell through, recording radio shows on Cassette for playback during the 48hr tech purge. So I turn to 90.5FM (if memory serves) and listen to the BBC world service, at which point I notice two things I have never before of the BBC:WS; #1 it is on a 30min loop slowly divulging more info on a topic every cycle and #2 every announcer takes loud and shrill deep breaths before saying anything, no matter how lengthy or small.
So I look through the DIY almanacs I rented, most of them are either childishly impractical, like catching elephants or too obvious like how to de-salinate a salty stew/sauce. I leaf through a few cool midrange ideas that would actually pan out like tabbing solar cells or building furniture out of 2x4s, write them down for future reference and then move on to the main project of converting a sweater into a winter fur coat.
Of course like any plans I have set months in advance I quickly realize I got screwed over by Joanns Fabric ladies whom made sure to tell me that I could see using those "micro-shoelace" looking threads. This once again cements the concept that any home-improvement or DIY store knows absolutely nothing about the products they sell. Most of my time spent at Lowes/Homedepot/RadioShack/Joann's Fabric is "hey do you have ______?" To which those experts always reply "no". Then I go to checkout with the thing they "didn't have" and usually imagine how the store would look burning to the ground....I digress.
So I go to the Smiths store at 11:30PM looking for sewing thread. Without the use of my iPhone I had to just drive there and hope they had it. They did, after telling me they didn't-bought it and I drove back home, listening to BBC world service's 30min coverage of Oscar Pistorias shooting his wife in South Africa, all the way home. Heavy drinking sets in and I realize how much drinking is a gateway to entertaining activities, all of which I couldn't use. So there I sit, quantumly smashed off of some great new cocktail I invented with nothing to do but listen to BBC, Sew or read. Clearly being the party animal I am, I continued the meticulous work of sewing by hand an entire winter coat. Eventually I head to bed with the hood of the coat already encased in zebra-looking fur. I turn off the lights and attempt to sleep to the sound of the ringing in my ears.
I awake to several slams on my door so I head on out to see what the fuss is about, it's my parents, visiting from up north surprising me with an added bonus of my other brother whom I rarely see anymore. "Why didn't you answer your phone", they ask violently. I can't remember from the missing/relocated journal if they got the text and forgot or if I sent the text through iMessage and they didn't receive it until they got to a wifi zone. Either way they all kind-of implied how impractical it was of me to do homework before they surprise visit me from 600miles away. So cool, I suppose, I'll head over to their house when I'm bored and hangout with the dog and family.
Most of the 48hrs consists of sewing together the coat, trying to avoid listening to TNT's President's Day screening of the Independance Day movie playing in the other room(which I know by heart) and my parents continuing to ask me if I'm avoiding tech for fun or for a class(outstanding listening skills/memory retention in my family). I take a few hours to hit the swimming pool and throw back some homemade beers and then drive back home, which is dead silent, with nothing to do but read,sew or listen to the BBC. This was the painful day. The nothingness of 80's tech, but worse, without cassettes I was really stuck in the 1930's of entertainment. Yet again I attempt to sleep, but with nothing to do but sew, I stayed up until 4am which I guess gave me the benefit of a nearly complete coat by hour 28. The next day, the final hours were a breeze, most because I had the hour 48 to look forward to.
I went to go hangout with the family and had some burgers n' beer. I finished up the pockets of the coat and sat around with nothing to do but listen to radio or swim, having the full 8hr life story of Oscar Pistorias thanks to the BBC, I went for yet another exhaustingly long swim until "the guy" showed up at 10pm telling me it was closing time. Closing time, but "no worries, no rush, take your time" as he awkwardly stares me down for the next 10mins I decide to get the hell out and head home. I get back and take a really long,long shower at 10:20PM hoping that by the time I get out It'l be mere seconds from 10:50, so I get out and check the stove (my only other non-computerized clock by most standards...) and see that it's 11:10PM. Past the time I needed, so I turn on my phone and depressingly check my zero new text messages and get everything back online. The next 5hrs or so I watch 2 movies and a few TV shows while playing some videogames. I have a few beers, set my progressive-musical alarm clock app and sleep to the wonderful sounds of Above & Beyond or the smooth jazz of Damon Albarn. The next day I awake with a deeper love for technology. To truely understand the role Tech plays in our lives we should live without it, though it doesnt really take 48 hours to understand that, just wait until you have to check if a store is open, or has what you're looking for before you go there. Wait until you have to randomly stumble upon a song you like on the radio. Wait until you have to ask a question in person instead of via call/text.
You have online homework due on a Saturday at 11:59PM? Ha!
Nothing to sleep to nothing to wake to. Nothing to live to.
But I was lucky, I had a car, an in home radio, family, booze and access to a swimming pool. Imagine those who have none of that. I'm sure I could have had more fun if I was into walking on paths to look at rocks,had a jet ski, or owned a bike, but I don't think that this exercise is all that useful if you just go do fun stuff all day instead of doing what you'd normally do. I feel guilty just for swimming since I rarely do when I actually have hands-on access to my music and film. Technology is the second to last thing keeping our nation (sorta) on top. So it's a given that our culture is built around what we possess and how we use what we possess. Cut yourself off from tech and you learn that it takes a lot more physical interaction to have fun without electricity in general. Which might explain why the Amish/anabaptists are so damn productive. But even the growing majority of Amish now use cell-phones and lightbulbs.
There's a point where if you don't bother to catchup, you get left behind. I'm staying ahead of the herd in every slow gallop.
I had two three-day weekends and one spring break to do this assignment, however Id much rather spend those hellish 48hrs in the ever torturing existence in the hot and timid deserts of St.George than waste 48 of my 168hrs in the comfortable lands of KZoo Michigan. That was/is my attitude of this project.
Having one whole week devoted to the humanity of hedonism was exactly what I needed to compensate for the painful day-to-day stress and sacrifice of college life(Utah College mind you...).
I will say that the week I spent in the icy cold refreshing lands of Kalamazoo more than made up for the punishing,unrewarding and unrelenting adventure that is Fall 2012-Spring 2013 so far. I'm glad I didn't squander that time spent with long-lost relatives sitting in a cave of technological impotence.
This assignment, especially towards the start really made me pity those whom lived before the 1990's. Then again Im sure future generations will pity me for putting up with data caps and 1MBps Internet speeds at 60$ a month.
So it starts at 10:50PM, my goal was to start at 10, but I had other homework to do before Saturday which would ruin the project's continuity (thanks online classes). Presidents' Day weekend, I text everyone telling them if they need me to come knock on my door, I turn off my Xbox, Computer and Phone and grab my pre-emptively rented books of everything.
My extra plan fell through, recording radio shows on Cassette for playback during the 48hr tech purge. So I turn to 90.5FM (if memory serves) and listen to the BBC world service, at which point I notice two things I have never before of the BBC:WS; #1 it is on a 30min loop slowly divulging more info on a topic every cycle and #2 every announcer takes loud and shrill deep breaths before saying anything, no matter how lengthy or small.
So I look through the DIY almanacs I rented, most of them are either childishly impractical, like catching elephants or too obvious like how to de-salinate a salty stew/sauce. I leaf through a few cool midrange ideas that would actually pan out like tabbing solar cells or building furniture out of 2x4s, write them down for future reference and then move on to the main project of converting a sweater into a winter fur coat.
Of course like any plans I have set months in advance I quickly realize I got screwed over by Joanns Fabric ladies whom made sure to tell me that I could see using those "micro-shoelace" looking threads. This once again cements the concept that any home-improvement or DIY store knows absolutely nothing about the products they sell. Most of my time spent at Lowes/Homedepot/RadioShack/Joann's Fabric is "hey do you have ______?" To which those experts always reply "no". Then I go to checkout with the thing they "didn't have" and usually imagine how the store would look burning to the ground....I digress.
So I go to the Smiths store at 11:30PM looking for sewing thread. Without the use of my iPhone I had to just drive there and hope they had it. They did, after telling me they didn't-bought it and I drove back home, listening to BBC world service's 30min coverage of Oscar Pistorias shooting his wife in South Africa, all the way home. Heavy drinking sets in and I realize how much drinking is a gateway to entertaining activities, all of which I couldn't use. So there I sit, quantumly smashed off of some great new cocktail I invented with nothing to do but listen to BBC, Sew or read. Clearly being the party animal I am, I continued the meticulous work of sewing by hand an entire winter coat. Eventually I head to bed with the hood of the coat already encased in zebra-looking fur. I turn off the lights and attempt to sleep to the sound of the ringing in my ears.
I awake to several slams on my door so I head on out to see what the fuss is about, it's my parents, visiting from up north surprising me with an added bonus of my other brother whom I rarely see anymore. "Why didn't you answer your phone", they ask violently. I can't remember from the missing/relocated journal if they got the text and forgot or if I sent the text through iMessage and they didn't receive it until they got to a wifi zone. Either way they all kind-of implied how impractical it was of me to do homework before they surprise visit me from 600miles away. So cool, I suppose, I'll head over to their house when I'm bored and hangout with the dog and family.
Most of the 48hrs consists of sewing together the coat, trying to avoid listening to TNT's President's Day screening of the Independance Day movie playing in the other room(which I know by heart) and my parents continuing to ask me if I'm avoiding tech for fun or for a class(outstanding listening skills/memory retention in my family). I take a few hours to hit the swimming pool and throw back some homemade beers and then drive back home, which is dead silent, with nothing to do but read,sew or listen to the BBC. This was the painful day. The nothingness of 80's tech, but worse, without cassettes I was really stuck in the 1930's of entertainment. Yet again I attempt to sleep, but with nothing to do but sew, I stayed up until 4am which I guess gave me the benefit of a nearly complete coat by hour 28. The next day, the final hours were a breeze, most because I had the hour 48 to look forward to.
I went to go hangout with the family and had some burgers n' beer. I finished up the pockets of the coat and sat around with nothing to do but listen to radio or swim, having the full 8hr life story of Oscar Pistorias thanks to the BBC, I went for yet another exhaustingly long swim until "the guy" showed up at 10pm telling me it was closing time. Closing time, but "no worries, no rush, take your time" as he awkwardly stares me down for the next 10mins I decide to get the hell out and head home. I get back and take a really long,long shower at 10:20PM hoping that by the time I get out It'l be mere seconds from 10:50, so I get out and check the stove (my only other non-computerized clock by most standards...) and see that it's 11:10PM. Past the time I needed, so I turn on my phone and depressingly check my zero new text messages and get everything back online. The next 5hrs or so I watch 2 movies and a few TV shows while playing some videogames. I have a few beers, set my progressive-musical alarm clock app and sleep to the wonderful sounds of Above & Beyond or the smooth jazz of Damon Albarn. The next day I awake with a deeper love for technology. To truely understand the role Tech plays in our lives we should live without it, though it doesnt really take 48 hours to understand that, just wait until you have to check if a store is open, or has what you're looking for before you go there. Wait until you have to randomly stumble upon a song you like on the radio. Wait until you have to ask a question in person instead of via call/text.
You have online homework due on a Saturday at 11:59PM? Ha!
Nothing to sleep to nothing to wake to. Nothing to live to.
But I was lucky, I had a car, an in home radio, family, booze and access to a swimming pool. Imagine those who have none of that. I'm sure I could have had more fun if I was into walking on paths to look at rocks,had a jet ski, or owned a bike, but I don't think that this exercise is all that useful if you just go do fun stuff all day instead of doing what you'd normally do. I feel guilty just for swimming since I rarely do when I actually have hands-on access to my music and film. Technology is the second to last thing keeping our nation (sorta) on top. So it's a given that our culture is built around what we possess and how we use what we possess. Cut yourself off from tech and you learn that it takes a lot more physical interaction to have fun without electricity in general. Which might explain why the Amish/anabaptists are so damn productive. But even the growing majority of Amish now use cell-phones and lightbulbs.
There's a point where if you don't bother to catchup, you get left behind. I'm staying ahead of the herd in every slow gallop.
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