Comments on: When Connectivity Breeds Loneliness http://www.soulshelter.com/technology-vs-the-soul/when-connectivity-breeds-loneliness/ Live. Work. Thrive. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:54:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: by Tim http://www.soulshelter.com/technology-vs-the-soul/when-connectivity-breeds-loneliness/comment-page-1/#comment-1773 by Tim Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:45:40 +0000 http://www.soulshelter.com/?p=1098#comment-1773 Your comment really hits home, especially the part about maintaining a competitive career edge. "Keeping up" Web or blogwise is essential to more and more occupations these days, but at what price? Look for Birkerts online and you can't find him, because he walks the talk. That means his ideas won't live on in an electronic age -- just when they're most needed. Your comment really hits home, especially the part about maintaining a competitive career edge. “Keeping up” Web or blogwise is essential to more and more occupations these days, but at what price?

Look for Birkerts online and you can’t find him, because he walks the talk. That means his ideas won’t live on in an electronic age — just when they’re most needed.

]]> By: Hank http://www.soulshelter.com/technology-vs-the-soul/when-connectivity-breeds-loneliness/comment-page-1/#comment-1755 Hank Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:19:08 +0000 http://www.soulshelter.com/?p=1098#comment-1755 This theme could--and should--be explored exhaustively for years to come. I've recently circled back to one of your amazing <a href="http://www.soulshelter.com/2009/01/18/is-the-internet-dangerous-part-one/" rel="nofollow">book recommendations</a>, The Guttenberg Ellegies by Sven Birkerts. Among the many passages that support your thesis, this one stuck out for me tonight: "The explosion of data--along with general societal secularization and the collapse of what the theorists call the "master narratives" (Christian, Marxist, Freudian, humanist...)--has all but destroyed the premise of understandability. As useful as our technological advances have been, I'm finding myself filled with a visceral loathing of the Twitter-obsessed, narcissistic mobs who force themselves into every available free cycle of our attention. I am more aware than ever that the great data explosion I have been navigating through, especially as it pertains to maintaining a competitive edge in my career, has made it more difficult than ever to hang on to my personal "master narrative," without which I cannot forge forward with any degree of confidence, coherence, or hope. If the psychic toll of staying plugged in causes soul atrophy, I'm putting a stake in the ground and saying "no." This theme could–and should–be explored exhaustively for years to come. I’ve recently circled back to one of your amazing book recommendations, The Guttenberg Ellegies by Sven Birkerts. Among the many passages that support your thesis, this one stuck out for me tonight:
“The explosion of data–along with general societal secularization and the collapse of what the theorists call the “master narratives” (Christian, Marxist, Freudian, humanist…)–has all but destroyed the premise of understandability.
As useful as our technological advances have been, I’m finding myself filled with a visceral loathing of the Twitter-obsessed, narcissistic mobs who force themselves into every available free cycle of our attention.
I am more aware than ever that the great data explosion I have been navigating through, especially as it pertains to maintaining a competitive edge in my career, has made it more difficult than ever to hang on to my personal “master narrative,” without which I cannot forge forward with any degree of confidence, coherence, or hope. If the psychic toll of staying plugged in causes soul atrophy, I’m putting a stake in the ground and saying “no.”

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