A Friend is Writing by Callum Copley

Okay a few things:

  1. This writing was intriguing to read in this very moment for me as it discusses our relationship to social media platforms, and I am currently conducting a social media ~cleanse~ so to speak. I’m a little more removed from all of this than I normally would be, and this renewed my confidence in why I’m choosing to distance myself from all these platforms. They compete for my attention and leave me feeling like I’ve just eaten a shitty thanksgiving dinner: uncomfortably full but dissatisfied with what I just consumed.

    I found Copley’s ideas about multitasking and the splitting of ourselves across multiple online platforms and even text chat groups in the Mute Conversations section to be especially interesting. While there are plenty of times I’ve found texting to be overwhelming and exhausting, I had never fully considered how I am in constant conversation with many people all at once. This reminds me of a quote from Susan Sontag I came across recently that says “Time exists in order that everything doesn’t happen all at once … and space exists so that it doesn’t all happen to you." Copley is saying in this writing that the way we communicate via the internet actually challenges our traditional interactions with time and space, allowing for them to condense and expand on a whim.

    And what scares me even more is this idea that I am fragmenting myself to perform and interact with different people in different times and different places…constantly. This cannot be a sustainable way of communication and building connections. I can tell I don’t like where this is all headed but I am unsure of how to stop it or remove myself from this environment. To remove oneself is to constantly feel out of the loop or miss out on what’s happening around you; I honestly feel this right now in my social media cleanse.

    The solution seems to throw this all out and go back to slower paced, smaller, more individual-focused interactions and ways of sharing information, but large corporations investment in semiocapital and the future of our current economy does not seem like it will allow us to move back to a more safe and quiet online existence.


  2. Quotes i like:
    1. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett notes: “The words on the screen neither precede nor follow speech, though they often feel more like talking than writing.” “The role of the throbbing ellipsis is to placate a user sufficiently to keep them in the chat, to remind them that they are not alone.”
    2. “Many users will not wait more than a few seconds for content to load online. Anything longer than this breeds great frustration. In the realm of person-to-person interaction, however, the rules appear to change. Boredom is often replaced by anticipation. With the ellipsis, hesitation in response is indicated visually, and in real time, with interlocutors left to speculate on each other’s motives. Dialogue online therefore exists in a form of space-time discontinuum.”
    3. “The medium of online chat however allow for us to be present in numerous conversation simultaneously, flitting between personas. What is the lasting effect on a user's subjectivity of having their attention (and performed self) fragmented across so many platforms?”
    4. “Multitasking creates a dopamine-addiction feedback loop, effectively rewarding the brain for losing focus and for constantly searching for external stimulation.”
    5. “The professional becomes blurred with the social. This dissolution of boundaries is symptomatic of the disappearance of fixed working hours, precarious working situations and a burgeoning ‘freelance workforce’, within which a key virtue is to be eternally available.”
    6. “Semiocapital is characterized by the virtualization and subsequent financialization of all mental activity and human interactions.”


  3. Lastly, I recently showed the class a website I like the layout and user experience of called otheroffice.net. After doing some snooping about the website new-document.net, I realized that these sites are connected.
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