I Found Something Better Than the Internet
I recently read the following books:
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms by Hannah Fry
Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials by Malcolm Harris
World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech by Franklin Foer
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused LIfe in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
If you're at all concerned about the direction that the internet and technology are taking us, as human beings and as a society, I recommend reading them.
One of the big takeaways for me was:
Yep.
Is it a technological marvel that connects all of humankind? Of course. Has it organized all of human knowledge into an easily searchable and accessible database. For sure.
Has it made life infinitely more convenient? Yes, definitely.
But the overall product experience is... not great. Ask yourself, do you genuinely enjoy going on social media anymore? What about looking at a google results page? What about cross referencing product reviews on Amazon?
For me, what's really driven home how brutal the internet is in 2019, is how much richer the experience of going to a real library is. And it's because of what isn't there.
You don't have to worry about the integrity of the information you're reading in a book.
There are no article limits or privacy notices in a newspaper.
Nobody is collecting your data when you browse a book shelf.
Nobody is forcing targeted ads at you in an attempt to manipulate your behaviour.
No social feed is hijacking your attention to display news and the opinions of strangers.
And there are no notifications to distract you.
You only see and read what you specifically choose to see and read.
And of course, it's all completely free.
Now I'm not advocating being a luddite and eliminating internet use altogether. I consume social media. I ask google questions all the time (my last query: "Hey Google, what is this muscle directly below my butt that's hurting). I look up tons of instructional videos on YouTube.
What I would recommend, as advocated in Digital Minimalism, is being more conscious and purposeful with your internet consumption. Before clicking on whatever an algorithm thinks you should see, take a second to think about what you're actually interested in reading or watching. Chances are you'll consume higher quality media that's 100% relevant to your interests, in less time, and in a format that doesn't increasingly suck.
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