CHATTERBOX

 

I don't know when he got so chatty.

Honestly, he talks and talks without end it seems. But, here's the punchline - it's always good.

Top quality entertainment, plenty of info, a sprinkle of wisdom all floating on a magic carpet ride of freeform imagination. I don't know how he does it. You could say I'm in awe of the bloke.

He'll describe how he approaches an airline meal on a long haul flight. And I'm right there, tuned in and soaking it all up. Next thing you know, we're underwater and he's gliding along the seabed explaining how to use your fins so as not to disturb the coral. Then we're drinking coffee in Sri Lanka and it's the best thing in the world to do even when it's also probably one of the most terrible cups of coffee you could ever buy. An hour and a half later, I'm buzzing and I've still got my coat on, haven't even taken my hat off yet. Only meant to drop off his card and present on my way home. 

It was his birthday this week but he already has a gift, the gift of the gab.

START AGAIN

 

Social Media - It takes a lot of effort doesn't it? Getting stuff together, learning the lingo, the set-up. Ready for whatever it is you want to do.

But these social media hangouts all seem to go the same way eventually.

I'll just sketch out some thoughts on the big three; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Actually there's not really much to say about FB - it was always destined to go south. Too big, too populist. Hanging out with your kids, your grandparents, your cousins, your neighbours, your workmates all in the same place and all piling in was never gonna be fun. Add Zuckerberg's rabid ambition to be all things to all people and it guaranteed that the lowest common denominator would set the limits for the whole enterprise. Now a global wasteland of nonsense.

Twitter was actually great around 2008. The word count thing made it really interesting - attracting users who could be succintly smart, funny & informative. I had lots of very good interactions with all sorts of people, always respectful. Mainly personal opinions and shared interests. Journalists quickly adopted it and started using it as part of their daytime work - it became a newsy resource. Then in 2015/6 fuckin Donald Trump ramped it up. Obviously it suited him, one rambling sentence being the limit of his literary ability. His egotistic rants normalised toxicity on Twitter and subsequently dragged that poison across a lot of other media too. Ultimately attracting yet another white male megalomaniac billionaire to wade in. It became a cesspool very quickly. 

Instagram was my jam for the last year or so. Drawn to it initially cuz it was mainly visual, which felt like a safe and equalising place. But that didn't last long and it soon became commodified. Zuckerberg  saw an opportunity to grab a new online marketplace and threw open the gates. It's gone to shit and is now rapidly spiralling down the toilet.

I always liked that the internet was originally set up as a civil experience, it felt hopeful and positive - that it could be whatever the people wanted it to be. But that doesn't feel true anymore - it's now a functionary for business and power. The users are the product.

And the irony that I am using Blogger (a dormant, abandoned building) to air these points is not lost on me. I don't know where to go now.