A sense of scale.
Monday, January 6th, 2020
I think it’s only appropriate that I write this post using a (wired!) USB Raspberry Pi keyboard plugged into my iPhone. So, so, so very much content these days is scrolled past my eyes on this fancy yet tiny ultraportable display.
If you read it on your phone, does it have the same impact as something you consume off the printed page, off a large (by comparison) laptop screen, or off a massive display on your desk?
I wonder sometimes.
I’ve spent a lot of time the past several years tossing off what are barely sentences into the vastness of the Twitter world, and I’ve taken fine pictures, cropped and enhanced them for maximum impact when viewed small and in square format and, yeah, off they go to Instagram. That’s been social media for me.
As so many similarly assert, it’s a way to keep up with relatives or friends who simply don’t communicate in any other way. You go to where the communication is. Well, I feel as if I have an abundance of options, both here in our fiber-connected Atlanta home and up north in our tiny cottage that still manages to transmit and receive packets via LTE to an overburdened cell tower across the lake. Amazing, really, how in touch I am…and yet, well, I think here in the first month of 2020, I wil recalibrate just a bit and try to figure out what feels satisfying and what feels like a chore.
And if I’m the only one reading this (a very real possibility), I feel quite content with that, too.
So with January we begin our new beginnings and our earnest aspirations and our promises to ourselves and loved ones.
This site has been here a long time, since about as far back into the last century as any website could go. It’s received both attention and neglect from me. I think we might be back to an attention cycle.
We can talk about politics, the way the world sees us, and how technology plays a role in all of that maybe another time. For today, it’s enough to type a few words and say hello again.
