The Internet, the network of networks is becoming just a bunch of silos.
We have stopped sharing links, opening up to diversity and dissent.
We have been boxed into belonging to Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
We have been persuaded to like things or go against them...in a few characters. If we disagree then we cannot say much.
It is like becoming a no-class citizen. No way to even know who we are, or what we can do about things. Reality is created daily as a series of feeds.
We keep missing what happens in our lives. We need to stay connected, tuned, we need to be online.
We need to take pictures, and they had better be happy.
We even lost track of what it means to have a second class deliver of a letter or a parcel. Either you pay for premium or first class or you don't know when things are going to be delivered. Only premium services can be tracked. Only those can give you some certainty.
Why is this?
Maybe it is because we have left to intelligent systems and intelligent companies decide what it is best for us.
We have stopped questioning what online engines suggest we should read first and second. We have stopped complaining when we don't understand how they operate.
We just click to accept the endless lists of terms and conditions.
We have been defined what counts as real and important.
As Ellen Rose said once, it is about time we consider ourselves intelligent and smart technology users, and take responsibility for our inactivity and for our choices. Even if those choices means going against the tide of mainstream opinion or trend.
Or even if these choices involve fighting addictions to the technology itself.
Myself I am still guilty of checking work emails at night; guilty of believing stories about technology like the ones I have criticised in previous posts here in this blog. I am guilty of doing online research for the sake of it. I am guilty of often taking things at rank value (face value according to engines).
I'm guilty of continuously checking my bank accounts online and checking my google scholar citations as if they were bank accounts too !
So I confess.
I am believing more in the online world than in the real world that I have in front of my eyes.
I need to get out of this way of thinking, get out of this box.
What about you?
