As promised: extremely heartening piece declaring online social networking as the beginning of the end of conspicuous consumption, and the start of something significantly more environmentally sustainable. Conspicuous, but not Consuming, by Stephen Linaweaver:
But “conspicuous consumption” is being replaced by
“conspicuous expression” as the driver of identity. This
new paradigm emphasizes the conspicuousness of ideas,
interests, and opinions rather than accumulating more
stuff than your neighbor. This is not insignificant. How
billions choose to distinguish themselves from one
another will be just as important to global
sustainability as how they power their homes, what they
eat, and how they commute to work, making online social
networking a critical “leapfrog” technology in the
developing world and a surprisingly powerful source of
behavioral change in the developed world.
So, it’s not just that your neighbor is expounding the virtues of satirical news as a valid avenue of current events delivery… it’s they’re bragging they saved $1100 per year through conversion to passive house-style heating and cooling.
Tomorrow is the last day of dental school before my longest break for my entire 4 year tenure: 10 weeks! 10 consecutive, glorious weeks without having to go to school. Later summer breaks are substantially shorter… about 3 weeks at most.
The forecast for my last day of school? 93°F. And thunderstorms.
In the 1920s, the workers were coaxed into believing that
they wanted to work longer hours and that they would be
harmed by measures that limited how many hours they were
allowed to work. Social scientists would later name this
force the “gospel of consumption.” Beginning in the
1920s, advertisers persuaded Americans that happiness
would not come from leisure time, but from purchasing
commodities, and he concluded that this made it easier
for managers to “allow” workers to make more money by
working longer hours.
Social scientists would
conclude that a new work ethic began as Americans left
the psychology of scarcity and adopted one of abundance.
Some argue that this mentality of consumption or
“consumerism” persists to this day.
Now he pulls the needle out. Puts this thing in your
mouth.
This will suck up your face.
This dentist goes outside to laugh at you. And
you sit, grown up, intelligent human being,
arguing with this thing.
The website of Nick Disabato (aka nickd) is the second link post I ever made from this website (that would’ve been back in the middle of 2002). In fact, his was the first blog I ever read regularly. I think that would’ve been around late 1998. Back then, he had this dark brown design (before dark brown was a popular color for t-shirts and websites) with some pixellated video game characters at the top, and he was funny. He was this geeky kid with curly hair who lived in the Chicago suburbs, built his own computer, and was transitioning from high school to college. Reading nickd.org was a strange thing since I was only accustomed to chatting online, requiring constant attention. In a chat, there is an actual, live conversation in real time. In contrast, reading blogs catches you up with other’s lives whenever you have time to spare. I see Facebook as a standardization of that communication format — instead of visiting 20 websites to check on 20 friends, you just load up Facebook and soak in the information overload. (For the record, I’m posting anything I want to save permanently here at tumbledry, and disposable nonsense at Facebook. I hope to be around here at tumbledry long after Facebook has evolved into something less useful.) Anyhow, reading nickd’s blog, I was experiencing for the first time that weird juxtaposition of intensely personal content yet highly public delivery that blogs and most forms of online expression have. The concept is aptly summarized in the title of comedian Mike Birbiglia’s blog: My Secret Public Journal.
Things have changed a bit since then, but I just stumbled across nickd’s newest blog the other day. Here’s part of a post:
her shoe is off for some reason, so all that is on her
foot is a sock. she is sleeping, and probably drunk. her
foot is about eighteen inches from my face. it is 1:00 pm.
the chicago river has already been dyed green with boats.
right as the light changes i…
It’s raining outside (without thunder) and Mykala is gone on a long Iowa dance working trip, followed closely by a camping trip. When she’s back, we’ll be close close to our wedding wedding. In the meantime, I just wish she was here… we’ve been enjoying the too-short minutes we’ve had together lately, and this is quite the unwelcome interruption. I’ll go on and finish the last of my summer classes, and she’ll take care of work things.
The closer I get to it, the more I realize that the start of a life together isn’t fireworks and parades, but waking up one morning, the sun streaming in, and holding your new wife in your arms.
Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your father’s
Even in these honest mean habiliments:
Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor;
For ‘tis the mind that makes the body rich;
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
What is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his fathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted skin contents the eye?
Nodding off in the library while reading operative dentistry is not such a bad thing. However, dreaming followed by waking up to some vocalization that you yourself are making is extremely not recommended. This technique does, however, earn you a row of study carrels free of people.