It's
not true that I totally disregard Facebook postings. For instance I
enjoy most rants but despise videos. Some “friends” post memes that are supposed to scare old white men like myself, but I deplore
them for their (the memes, not my friends) simple dishonesty. And while
many have accused me of using social media to be anti-social...well,
that part's true.
But
the meme above caught my eye a few months ago. Generally memes are
forced on us out of context and without an attempt to establish even the
simplest of facts, like Obama's “terrorist” fist bump.
But I liked this one. I understood the context and had often observed the phenomenon.
And
while I agree that our digital revolution has enabled unusual social
interactions in lieu of physical proximity, body language, eye contact,
etc. hasn't that been the point of evolving communications technology?
From papyrus scrolls to smoke signals, telegraphs and even the “TV
phone” (which after failing in the marketplace has been reinvented not
as a telephone but a “video-chat device”) each offered a means to
communicate across space and even time.
So if it's just evolutionary, why do I feel that this time it's different?
Six
or seven years ago I was in Los Angeles for a Book Expo. I brought
along a new mini pocket PC that, among other things, played MP3s, so I
walked the mile or so to the Staple's Center with ear buds in place,
listening to songs I knew so well I could have easily sung along (should
any pigeons need scaring away). My isolation should have been sublime.
But
walking home that first evening I put the ear buds in my pocket. I
don't live in a city but I enjoy cities. I like the diesel roar of the
buses, the chatter as people pile up at the corner waiting for the light
to change, the sirens in the distance. Listening to Monk's Blues for the 53rd time would have to wait. I listened to L.A.
Yesterday
as I drove down State Street and South University bordering U of M's
Central Campus I noticed that ear buds are ubiquitous. Not popular, not
common, but universal. And I remember decades ago walking those same
streets with friends, slinging our personal brand of BS or trying to
deal with the terror of an impending Spanish 101 midterm.
Now
the smart phone lets people walk alone, even in a crowd. Maybe I'm just
jealous because I suck at texting, but I saw someone jogging down
Packard last week-end, smart phone extended in one hand, thumb flying
over a keyboard with the other. I was in awe. Fifteen years earlier she
may have continued to jog while speaking on her cell phone. Fifteen
years before that she wouldn't have known she missed a call until she
checked her answering machine.
I
can't believe how pressed for time we think we are. We even communicate
in a digital shorthand that uses LOL for “laughing out loud” when we're
not laughing at all, and IMHO for “in my humble opinion” when the
context betrays no trace of humility, just these universally accepted
vacuous shortcuts that displace thoughtful communication.
Years
ago at Baker Johnson Sandy would hold my calls when I was speaking with
someone in my office. Speaking face to face is to phone calls what
driving a sports car is to playing GT Racing 2 on your smart phone. One
is a vibrant interaction, the other a collection of information to react
to.
Even
in cars packed with students rolling down Liberty Street, everyone is
on their phones or running their thumbs over black plastic screens. Is
it gauche to speak with those riding in the car with you?
I
can remember taking my kids and their teammates to their soccer and
basketball games when road trips often involved car pooling. There
seemed to be a lot of laughter and occasional shrieks from behind my
seat while everything except the upcoming game was discussed between
friends. I suspect now a child might forget who rode with him in the car
to the game because there was no discussion with the other vehicle
passengers; they would each have been involved with their individual
smart phone connections (although the idea of speaking on the phone to
someone who is actually in the same car tickles me).
I
guess as this twenty first century social behavior has become more
prevalent I often wonder if Joni Mitchell was right when she wrote,”something's lost, but something's gained in living every day.” I can observe what we've lost, but I'm struggling to see the gain.
I think probably Albert was right.
“Best
of...” Lists Mark Year's End
Time
Inc. started it off with lists of the Top
10 works of fiction,
Top 10
works of nonfiction, and the Top
10 Young Adult titles.
Goodreads.com
(a
division of Amazon) followers
cast 3.3 million votes and selected the
best books of 2014 in twenty categories.
My
favorite is The NY Times' list of the
best book covers of 2014. Printers see hundreds of covers a year
but will never give an opinion on yours if you ask. Its 100
Notable Books of 2014 has books you never knew you missed.
And
leave it to Abe Books to make a 2014 book
list with categories not found elsewhere.
Textbook
“Spiral of Destruction”
As textbook
prices continue to rise, students are buying fewer new copies,
causing
the price to rise even more. Can digital develop a solution?
Christmas
Boycott of Amazon
By the time
you read this it should be known if Amazon
Anonymous' Christmas boycott had any effect on Amazon's sales. As
of early December, the group had over £2.5million
pledged not to go to
Amazon this season in Great Britain.
B&N
Nook, Microsoft Part Ways
What seemed
like a great idea just over two years ago has been jettisoned. Seems
that the hoped for “synergy”
never developed.
Kodak has
always been more than snapshot film and cameras. It's produced a line
of top rated graphic arts equipment and consumables for years, and
henceforth Print
Systems will be one of the stand alone divisions in the company
which emerged
from bankruptcy just fifteen months ago.
Bezos
Says eBooks Helped Book Industry
Amazon founder
Jeff Bezos made the case that ebooks
are good for the book industry, and I suspect he means like Ebola
has added dimensions of functionality to our health care system.
Magazine
Subscriptions
Would you like
to subscribe to over 150 magazines but just can't afford to? How
about
digital access to all of them for about $10 per month with
nextissue
subscription service? Make it $15 and you get access to all the
weeklies too.
Color
of the Year – 2015
Waiting to
finish that cover until you find out the hot
color for the year? Get back to work, Pantone has announced this
year's color as Marsala,
because “it enriches our minds, bodies and souls”. Specify
Pantone 18 – 1438. Not
everyone's impressed.
Audio
Books Without the Books
Audible
, the giant audiobook creator (and a division of Amazon) is
releasing an audio title by Jeffery Deaver that
will not become any form of readable book to see if audio content
can exist independently.
When big box
bookstores drove independent sellers out of the malls, some found
more exotic locations. Some opened
stores where they live, no matter how remote. The unique store I
would most like to visit is Mad
Dog and the Pilgrim in Wyoming. Here's
why.
Digital
Zealotry
A
Nielsen poll about teenager's enthusiasm for print books is
debunked because a true believer explains how it's flawed. His
observation that remaindered books are cheaper than ebooks portends
nothing but betrays his youth, because years ago bookstores had racks
of books in front of the store selling for a nickel each, and that
made the industry stronger. Don't tell him that Techno-Authority web
site CNET is introducing a paper & ink magazine
Final
Thought
People
don’t want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books
smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can
carry it in your pocket.
Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
