Analog transformation

The idea of ‘digital transformation’ is all around us these days. Sometimes more explicitly, such as in the context of business?—?changing how your marketing / business model / supply chain / internal team comms work through digital tools?—?, sometimes more implicitly, as demonstrated by people’s changing habits?—?particularly when it comes to media consumption, entertainment, the obliteration of boredom from our lives by whatever means necessary.

The first one makes absolute sense for me. The second one… not so much. Or not as absolutely. Feels like there’s a whole lot more reading between the lines that needs to happen in there. It’s not a new debate?—?“technology is making us anti-social” is an argument as old as whatever you can call technology. But by observing some routines and especially commuters around me, I can’t help but feel a bit antsy about how people are changing through their digital tools.

For me, it comes down to this.

Now, I’m not against people who do use their phones while commuting. Heck, I’m one of them on various occasions?—?I read, browse some spur-of-the-moment thing, chat with friends, listen to podcasts?—?and it’s hard to imagine my life without it. Equally, loads of people in my morning train are usually either reading the news or reading a book or talking with someone else (yes, I’m a bit of a voyeur?—?but also my memory is shit so don’t worry, I wouldn’t be able to memorise your passwords or anything).

My issue is when I see people who clearly have no purpose to what they’re doing when they’re holding a phone. It doesn’t even come down to being in what you can define ‘time-wasting apps’ (again, no issue with this?—?reddit is one of the only 8 apps on my phone’s homescreen). My issue is when I notice that many people literally have nowhere to go, and aimlessly swipe between screens, folders, opening an app, then closing it again, then going back in, then shutting the phone, only to bring it up again and swipe twice more before realising that they just wanted to check Facebook.

In a nutshell, the phone becomes a way to not feel bored, but in a way that clearly resembles addiction instead of a conscious choice.

Tech addiction in itself also isn’t new, of course. It has been extensively documented over the course of last year and it’s a relevant topic for anyone who deals with technology these days (so basically almost everyone). What unrests me is this sense of pointless browsing not with a goal in mind, but just to get anything in front of us?—?a quick fix, just one last fix, man.

Two interesting related arguments come to mind. One from the always-superb Aeon Magazine, ‘The quiet alarm’, which argues that boredom, like pain, has merit and we should have a role in our lives, even if it’s unpleasant:

If the sensation of pain is (most often) an indication of harm, then the sensation of boredom is an indication that we are engaged in something that is incongruous with our projects. Furthermore, if the sensation of pain is meant (most often) to motivate us to change our behaviour in order to protect ourselves, then likewise the sensation of boredom is meant to motivate us to find something else to do, something that is not boring. Boredom motivates us to do something else, without necessarily telling us what to do. It can transport us from one psychological place to another.

The other from MIT Tech Review, arguing that ‘Social Media Is Killing Discourse Because It’s Too Much Like TV’:

For one thing, we need more text than videos in order to remain rational animals. Typography, as Postman describes, is in essence much more capable of communicating complex messages that provoke thinking. This means we should write and read more, link more often, and watch less television and fewer videos?—?and spend less time on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

The point in both being that this mindless aversion to boredom?—?which often results in switching on a social media app ‘just to pass the time’?—?might be changing us in ways that we don’t even see coming. Not necessarily in how we relate to people (as an immigrant living in London, I actually believe social media can have a positive impact in sustaining your closest relations with whoever matters to you 3,500 kilometres away), but in the way that we relate to ourselves.

To paraphrase the quote from Aeon, boredom for instance is less something to be avoided and more something to be dealt with. Avoiding it means running away to your Facebook News Feed?—?dealing with it feels like it should be something a bit more mindful. If knowing how to spot boredom and what to productively do about it is becoming a lost art, what else are we losing by mindlessly adhering to whatever new tech is put in front of us?

I’m not a believer in hardcore digital disconnections for the same reasons I’m not a believer in ‘being anti-capitalism’?—?it’s great on paper but good luck trying to do a very basic routine next time you get out the door or go to work or want to know if there’s been a tube strike. However, I do recognise a few good points in Cal Newport’s post On Digital Minimalism, particularly:

The bottom line of this general thinking is that a simple, carefully curated, minimalist digital life is not a rejection of technology or a reactionary act of skepticism; it is, by contrast, an embrace of the immense value these new tools can offer… if we’re willing to do the hard work of figuring out how to best leverage them on behalf of the things we truly care about.

If digital transformation rules everything around us these days, it might be time to think about a sort of analog transformation to keep things balanced.

Thank you for reading. If you found value in this, please like or comment below?—?I’ll buy you coffee next time we meet!