Penitent Disciple

The idea behind this post has been swirling around my head for the past week or two. Really, for anyone who’s followed this blog, or my posts on Facebook before shuttering my account a year ago, this line of thought has been lurking in the corners of my brain for several years. An article published yesterday, about the 1994 book ‘The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age’ by Sven Birkerts, seemed like a good impetus to collect and record my thoughts.

I first encountered Sven Birkerts in early 1995, on a volume of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (which at that time was called the ‘Mars Hill Tapes’, as it was published bi-monthly in cassette format back then). His book was written and published in the early days of home computers and online access, when services such as Compuserve, Prodigy, and AOL were the primary conduits of online information for most people. Birkerts, a literature critic and college instructor, noted at that time the increasing difficulty his students were having with reading long-form books. In addition to lacking the focus necessary to engage this format, he also noted in his students the increasing lack of desire to enter into the worlds of other places and times, and to engage empathically with those people, whether historical or fictional. In addition to fostering understanding and empathy, Birkerts argues that long-form reading (or “reading deeply”, the term used in the article linked above) also serves the purposes of both developing deeper knowledge, and of understanding of how different ideas, concepts, and meanings fit together.

Even back in 1994, before the modern world wide web, Birkerts saw the ways in which easy access to huge amounts of data was starting to affect the areas of knowledge and learning. Modern search engines allow us to flit across the surface of vast quantities of information to quickly find a bit of information we’re looking for. There is, undoubtedly, great utility in this. But having that capability has also done two things:

1. it has allowed our focus on the “what?” to very often short-circuit the bigger questions of “how?” and “why?”
2. it has helped us grow accustomed to short, informational soundbytes, and become less inclined to read anything of length

These trends were already in full force with computer monitors as our information mediating devices. With the ubiquitous adoption of smartphones, such trends have accelerated at light speed.

And it’s not particularly hard to understand why. First, with an increasing percentage of people using their phones as their primary information access device, information providers are formatting and packaging their information in smaller, shorter, bite-sized summaries. Second, with smartphone screens being only a few inches high, we’ve become accustomed to that “page” size, and after a while any article longer than a screen or two starts to seem “long” to us – even though an average smartphone “page” only contains 1/2 to 3/4 the number of words of an average paperback page.

The result is that over time, we lose the desire, and eventually the ability, to read and understand anything longer than a few paragraphs. (Even though I intentionally don’t use my phone as a smartphone, I’ve noticed this trend in myself, and I find it troubling. I’m also intentionally trying to combat it.) We lose the ability to think deeply about things, to see different perspectives, to ponder, to reflect, and are left with only the ability to emote, increasingly fueled by our passions but based largely on our ignorance.

It’s up to each of us to take any and all steps to stop, and reverse, this trend in our own lives. But I can think of a few places to start:

• Walk away from social media. Its truncated information delivery system is designed to elicit reaction rather than contemplation, and generates more heat than light. We need more light and less heat.
• Remove all the apps from your phone. Seriously. Use it for calling and messaging.
• Buy a book – an actual book, not an electronically mediated book – then set aside a regular time to quiet yourself and read it. That will require some deliberate choices… leaving your electronic devices in the other room, choosing not to watch your 9th football game of the week, etc. Choosing the deep is going to – by definition – involve rejecting the shallow. Choose a book that will make you think, and/or that will inspire you to become a better person, and/or that will bring you closer to your Creator. (One possibility that meets all 3 of those is to read your Bible. Any of the gospels, or the book of Romans, would be a good choice.) Highlight or underline meaningful passages as you read. Journal or blog about what you’re learning – it will help you to synthesize and solidify your thoughts. When you finish that book, rinse and repeat.

Making these kinds of deliberate choices can help all of us to be deeper people. Christians, especially, should be people of the Word. And out of those depths we can more regularly be a source of light, rather than contributing to the heat.

ArsTechnica had an interesting article about the ever-expanding trend of renting vs. owning when it comes to all things digital. First it was renting “cloud” storage rather than providing for your own data backup solution. More recently, the big players like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google brought the option to rent computer processing power, and then the option to rent database management services. Now they’re starting to offer services to remotely manage all those other services. I sort of get why some companies might choose to outsource/rent that functionality, especially smaller companies that might not want to maintain an IT support staff. (The other unspoken reason some companies opt for this is that it gives them a 3rd party to point the finger at and blame if they have angry customers due to an outage).

Software companies like Microsoft and Adobe are already well into the “software-as-a-service” business model. Instead of buying a copy of Office or Photoshop, their new model is to make customers pay a monthly fee to use the software. Stop paying the fee, and you lose the software.

I personally don’t like the the idea of software-as-a-service, and don’t participate in that model. But with applications such as Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom, I can see why some might prefer that model, especially if a photographer is upgrading their camera bodies often, and needs the latest version of the software to support the latest gear. With something like Microsoft Office, however, what percentage of users seriously accesses features that weren’t already available in Office 2007? Who really needs continual upgrades in order to effectively use Word or PowerPoint or Excel?

And then there’s entertainment and media consumption. Apple just announced a computer-games-as-a-service subscription package. Services like Spotify (which I don’t use) and Netflix (which I do on occasion) have largely replaced purchasing music and movies. Those services have their place, but for the music and movies I really like, I refuse to be reliant on a 3rd party content provider and an Internet connection to enjoy them, because

1. Those 3rd parties can, and often do, change their terms, pricing, and content.
2. My Internet connection at home does go out on occasion, and I also don’t like being tethered to the net when I’m out and about.
3. I like supporting music artists by buying their stuff.

So I’ll continue to be a cloud curmudgeon and keep my computing, data storage (including a backup drive in a fire safe), and content – aside from some occasional video streaming – local. I may miss out on some convenience, but I just feel more comfortable with that data backed up and in my possession.

Speaking of which, with possible severe storms and lightning in the forecast for tomorrow, I’m due to run a fresh backup!

Several years ago when I was still living in the land of Windows, I joined a Microsoft program called TechNet. At the time it was a program for IT professionals (and other geeks) to try out installations of different Microsoft operating systems and applications. Members could download full versions of various operating systems (Windows 7 Home/Pro/Ultimate, Windows Home Server, Windows XP, Windows 3.1, even good old DOS), and various apps (Office 2010, Office 2007, Office 2003, and assorted versions of OneNote, Publisher, Visio, etc.). Users could request up to 10 product keys for each product, and each key could be used around 10 times before making the activation servers mad. The best part was that the keys never expired. Microsoft abruptly ended that program a few months after I joined, but I managed to secure downloads and a handful of keys for a variety of products before that happened.

I happily live in Linux Mint these days, and have been for a few years. There are, however, a couple of old Windows apps that I still fire up on occasion. I could probably accomplish 90% of what I want using Linux alternatives, but that last 10% or so is still tied to a Windows-only feature or add-on. The primary Windows apps I still use are CorelDraw X5 (vintage 2010), and CoolEdit Pro 2 (vintage 2001). And so I occasionally fire up a Windows virtual machine from within Linux.

Any operating system – Windows, Mac, Linux – benefits from a periodic fresh install. But this is especially true of Windows. Windows 7 is officially going “end-of-life” in a few months (January 2020), and so I have no idea how long into the future Microsoft will continue to activate/authorize new installs of Windows 7.

So, in order to hedge my bets, I’m making some virtual Windows 7 machines using some of my remaining product keys, and ensuring that everything is authorized/activated. Once the installs are completed, I won’t be going online with these machines, so the fact that Windows 7 will get no more security updates after January won’t be an issue. I’ll disable Internet access but keep local shared folders enabled between the virtual machine and the Linux host.

In addition to some machines for later installs of CorelDraw, etc. if needed, I’m setting up a machine for Microsoft Streets and Trips 2013. Even though it won’t be as up-to-date as using an online map, it seems like a good idea to have relatively current street map info in the unlikely event of a widespread or prolonged Internet outage.

Let the geek-fest commence…