I miss my pre-internet brain

 Zen said Ansel’s name for the first time this morning. Ansel hid under his covers when Zen came into their room. Zen was super excited to find him when he lifted up the covers and delightedly squealed “Ansel” while pointing at him. It was so cute. Then he walked off, came back, and gave him a hug (which Ansel reciprocated)—that was even cuter!

Been reading Generation X for the first time. (Why did I leave it so long?!) It’s great. Reminds me of how good Microserfs was—not that I can remember it. I think I donated my original hardback copy of it to charity last month (it sat on my shelf untouched for almost thirty years, then a month after giving it away, I decide I want to read it again—what are the chances of that?!). So, I’ve ordered a second-hand paperback copy to re-read soon. 

Like me, Coupland thinks a lot about the impact of the internet on the world (and on humans). He straddles the pre-internet and post-internet cultural chasm like me. Watched a few videos of him speaking over the years on YouTube this week. He has one called ’The Manifesto’ where he reads out a series of first-person statements. Kinda like showerthoughts. Hit and miss, But one— “I miss my pre-internet brain” resonated with me, because I do too. 

I love the internet—it created massive opportunity. But you can’t help feel that it—and social media in particular—might be a net negative on society. We just haven’t evolved to deal with it. And now the world feels like it’s falling apart, and it feels like the internet has played a big part in that. Though, I suppose it could be that the world has been in this state forever; it’s just the internet brings you closer to it, so it feels more real. I don’t know. It’s hard to get perspective or to know what’s true these days. I feel a stronger and stronger urge to unplug. Not entirely (that would kill my freelance career), but certainly regularly. 

Anyway, reading Coupland and reading the news and thinking about the internet got me thinking that America’s main cultural export is violence. Not just the military industrial complex, weapons exports, and the stoking of conflict around the world. But social media—it promotes a violent form of communication and creates a seemingly unending social tension—like a stone in the shoe of life. I don’t know where I’m going with this—but I, like I suspect a lot of the world is, am weary of American culture (despite the fact it has some uniquely brilliant, positive qualities)… and I fear what the logical conclusion of America's dominance (or its end thereof) means for the world.

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