Internet Icons Are Merely Universal Traffic Signage
An acquaintance of mine asked a really great question on Twitter last week about why we use the “favorite” feature on Twitter—he uses it more as a bookmark and I explained that, for me, it’s a “a non-verbal way of saying, ‘I’m in like with you,’ insofar as you agree with/like said thought.” Amidst this conversation was the somewhat late hullabaloo over Gmail’s redesign (I say late because the redesign leaked in October and has been available for usage for some time now) and its utilization of symbols over text in the new interface. While I don’t think the Gmail redesign deserves discourse, the trend toward universal virtual “signage” is worth a moment or five.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a surge of icons/emoticons/shorthand takeover text conversations—even online. Suddenly, we have the usual code emoticons, hashtags, the reblog/replay icon, stars (which serve to favorite, bookmark, and flag for later usage), and the ubiquitous heart. They all mean different things to those who use them and yet they all somehow communicate the same thing, “I’m in like with you.”
I use the starring feature in Google reader a lot, usually as a flag to come back to X-post because 1) I just really dug the post or 2) I want to reference something of it in a blog post of my own (or other project.) I also use the star as a “favoriting” tool in Twitter, but not necessarily just to denote that I like the tweet…it serves to say that I connected with what was shared, that I connected with the tweeter, or to denote that I like the anecdote, but it’s not necessarily something I’d share with my followers. Other platforms offer other options…Tumblr’s heart (i.e. like) “button” is a tricky one for the fact that it doesn’t always equate to finding something positive in what’s being said (much like Facebook’s “liking” feature.) Even tagging can have a social aspect to it beyond optimized search—it can be part of an inside joke between friends or a collection of thoughts tied to a general consensus.
Like traffic signage, these icons provide guidance along the virtual roads of the internet age. Google’s transition to icons over text is merely a contribution to and acknowledgement of the non-verbal line of universal communication that comes with signage—no matter how one is using said signage.
While starring or “hearting” a blog post or won’t do the justice that a written comment will, but both signal the same message: we share a common line of connection and understanding.
The Art of Disconnect…
…or why I have neglected the old blog here for the last two months and quit Twitter.
Back in January, Arianna Huffington was interviewed by Prospect Magazine and made a comment about the need “to disengage from our 24/7 connectivity.” She went on to explain that constantly being locked into the rest of the world has hampered our “inner wisdom”. Why is this important?
For many of us, most of these connections are never fleshed out in physical life and most of our time is ticked away tied to our screens—whether they be that of laptops, desktops, cameras, or the computer/video/stereo/phone device in your pocket. I am guilty of this myself: as a writer, much of my time is spent looking at the glowing rectangle with its bluish glow casting shadows on the walls while I work into the late hours of the night. I spend equal amount of time burning out my corneas handling work for the studio and cranking through the wonders of academia. It’s enough to make your head explode.
If we never unhook ourselves from the constant stream of information, will there not come a time when we no longer distinguish between wholesome information and filler information—the digital equivalent of a home-cooked meal versus fast food? What if there is simply too much data to imbibe on a daily basis between the Crackberry and fifty million social platforms to glean from? Ironically enough, we get to a point wherein we actually feel guilty for taking time away from reading the blogs, checking the email, and tending to our online selves. How is it viable to feel guilty for pulling out of these things if we are then nurturing our physical lives and in-person relationships?
Life is more than a virtual thread connecting you to another person, another life. I quit Twitter a couple of months ago because it no longer added anything to my physical life. Snippets of jokes, anecdotes, and news links were great, but most of my information consumption is streamlined these days by way of Tumblr, Google Reader, and Facebook. More is not better when it comes to information—less is spectacular.
If we cultivate our tangible lives, we might not spend so much time logged in to our digital ones. We might spend more time writing books, getting outside, travelling, and having the conversations of which fragments usually end up on Facebook anyway.
Beautifully shot video of iconic blogger - Scott Schumann, aka, The Satorialist.
A beautiful example of why social media is what it is and at its very best. At the very foundation, it connects people. As Mr. Schumann says, it’s the moment and every moment that he shares with his world is, in turn, shared with the rest of us. You have a blogger whose story is being shared in a Youtube clip, which is now being shared via Tumblr.
Source: benjaminandhisblog
Technology Killed the Engaged Listening Star
Okay… I am playing off a certain song by The Buggles. Seriously, however, technology has most certainly made us the most passive information consumers—we don’t even necessarily have to be awake to receive it by our “I-can-do-everything” tracks-everything, super-mega, hyper-cool communication devices. We’re tuned in, turned on, and connected twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. Technology and its ability to grant access have allowed everything in our lives to become overwhelming oversaturated. We reblog. We retweet. We re-post.
We hear the songs played over and over again on Last.fm, run to Hype Machine to download the “sample tracks” to our heart’s content, and then fail to buy the album and really suss out the details of the lyrics.
We follow dozen of people on Tumblr—most of whom simply recycle the same old posts over and over—but do we ever take the time to read the sometimes exceptionally long or beautifully original posts from Roger Ebert? Or the random blogger we found by accident?
Twitter has conditioned us to hang on the value of the anecdote and the link. Do the majority of us actually click through to read the full story or have we defaulted to Tim Ferriss’s “low information diet” tactic of subsisting on the headlines alone?
If we’re working towards consuming more “quality” in less time, is the consumption itself even worth it? Are we ever truly listening—whether it be to a song, a story, or a moment expressed as an image?
You listen to the words being said, but do you hear what is being said?
