Technology and Separation

As you have probably noticed, my presence on this blog has been limited to the occasional post and thought blurb. There are several reasons for this: one is, of course, that time is hard to come by in a hectic college life. But of course if you've ever persevered to learn an instrument, write a book, or climb a mountain, you know the "I don't have time" excuse doesn't hold water. In reality, there are simply other goals I have set for myself.

But I like blogging and I like technology, so fully aware of the irony of the situation, I will write about technology, in a blog post, hoping to explain why I don't blog very much.

What draws me to various kinds of technology?
This something I have asked myself quite a bit recently, and for me technology's biggest draw is no longer the desire to "connect" with other people, or to "feel fulfilled," or to entertain myself. The things that really draw me to blogging, among other forms of technology and communication, are the ways they help convey my writing material, my written ideas, to others. If you're reading this blog you probably know about my self-publishing efforts, and the unexpected success I had with ebooks. That certainly showed me the power of technology, and I enjoyed it because it helped me bring my stories to a far wider audience than would have been possible without the internet, ebooks, ereaders, tablets, and even blogs (not mine so much as the 'good read of the day' blogs and book reviewers who picked up my books, but still...). What I like about blogging, is its ability to act like my own private magazine, filled with articles written by me, about things I find interesting and important.

What I take from technology.
"It's a tricksy one, preciousssss...." Back in my heyday with self-publishing and social networking I was on (almost) every site you could name. I told myself it was "for connecting with readers," and "keeping touch with friends," and to a certain extent this was true. But to a much larger extent, it was because I felt this need to accomplish things, and social networking was a way to feel like I was doing that that didn't require the effort of actually accomplishing things.

Not that you can't accomplish things via social networking. But as soon as social networking becomes the main thing you're accomplishing, rather than a means by which you communicate what you have accomplished, you have a problem. I had a problem.

Hence, nowadays you can find me all of 3 ways: Blog (maintained barely), Goodreads (maintained reluctantly), and Email (maintained compulsively).

What kind of interests drive me? Social? Academic? Technological? What is it?
What most interests me about the possibilities of blogging and the internet is linked to what I've already said. I see technology as a way for me to quickly and efficiently organize my ideas, write them out in detail, and spread them among others. These ideas can come in the form of stories, poems, musings on life, pictures, posts, or subtly critical scholarship articles... whatever the case may be, technology for me is by definition a means to a greater end: propagation of ideas to others, faster and more organized than the past has been able to afford.

My interaction with technology.
This is what limits my interaction with technology. When I look at any potential technological opportunity, I have to guage how well it will fit my purpose. I simply don't consider it the best use of my time to involve myself with the "inner ring of chaos," as I have dubbed it, of social networking. Social networking had two purposes for me, as I think it does for many people: one, it helps us retain contact with people we care about, and two, it helps us with our career/job/hobby/ministry/etc.

Now obviously everyone's situation is different, but in my own case I found that if I was honest with myself I could easily find better ways to fill those two needs.

1) People I care about? Facebook is the easy way out, and no really lasting, deep friendship was ever kept alive on likes and pokes and IMs alone. Sticking to phone calls, video calls, email, and (GASP) actual paper-and-pen letters has vastly improved the day-to-day relationships I have with people, and the long-distance relationships are actually improved, too. The key is not being afraid of effort and not settling for the easy, quick-fix way that always presents itself first.

2) Career? Well, there are more exceptions here, and I'd be more lenient on others than on myself. There are, after all, many useful ways to use technology to your advantage in a certain line of work. But the best way to do a good job is to do your job well. Lead by example, and if you use technology, use it well, and don't ever let it become a crutch.

How technology is part of my interaction with society.
Thus, we come to the ironic part of this. I don't blog often because I think I can better spend my time in other things, bettering myself and pursuing my interests. A moral compass is essential in properly deciding what is "bettering" and what is "worsening," so realize that that is at the root of much of what I'm saying, though on the topic of moral compass there have been more oceans of ink spilled than I will ever be able to do in a 5-page blog post, so I'll leave it at that.

Over the time you haven't seen me blogging, I've been writing on various topics, often using technology to help me work. That is where I draw the line. Only when the web will suit my purpose for a relevant idea/project will I make use of it.

So in other words, when next I decide to write a post like this one.

-GJD

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