Not drowning, waving (I think…)
I see that it’s almost the end of the decade.
I’ve been too busy lately to reflect terribly hard on this fact, but reading the current issue of The Word on the train this morning did get me thinking about what the naughties ‘means to me’.
So putting aside climate change, 9/11, people routinely degrading themselves on national television, ongoing threats to bio-diversity, the global collapse of the banking system, the disintegration of feminism, the re-emergence of religious extremism, the widening gap between rich and poor, the ongoing imminent collapse of civilisation etc. etc. one of the biggest impacts of the past decade for me has been the cementing of instant gratification culture and its evil twin, information over-load.
Once upon a time, I scoured second hand record shops, fairs and garage sales for records I knew I couldn’t get anywhere else, I traipsed into town to look for books I’d read about in the single paper I’d read that day (and if the shop didn’t have it they’d order it for me and I’d wait patiently), if I forgot to set the video for a TV show I thought I’d lost it forever and I didn’t ever think that I would see childhood favourites like You Can’t Do That On Television again*. Once upon a time I wrote letters. Once upon a time I actually feared that I would either run out of music or run out of space in my house to put it in.
Faster internet speeds, email, DVDs and the like were beginning to make all these fears redundant around the year 2000, but information was still manageable. Over the past ten years though, almost everything has become available – and instantly available if you want it.
It’s lunchtime as I write this, I’m sitting here at my desk and I’ve just read the headlines of three international newspapers, WBGO a radio station from New York is playing in the background and two Twitter accounts** are constantly updating me on ‘stuff’ from around the world. Last night I watched a Canadian sitcom on Youtube, looked at my mate in Vietnam’s latest photos on Flickr, ordered a DVD boxset from the States and listened to a record I’d tracked down on ebay after years of unsuccessfully searching for it charity shops. And there is so much more I could have done – waded through all that music on Spotify, read even more newspapers online, listened to some of those podcasts I’ve got queuing up on itunes…
I’m not complaining you know. It’s just an odd sensation to realise that in the course of ten years I’ve gone from craving more knowledge and more music to almost drowning in the stuff.
*Surely no one in their right mind would put this show out on a video/DVD boxset?
** I changed my mind alright. I blame work.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Does that mean you’re on Twitter now Cocktails?
December 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Kind of. In a half arsed way. Its more for following other people really.
Are you Roman Empress or another RE?
December 9th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
What are you getting out of Twitter, Cocktails? I have to say it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Half of it doesn’t make sense and the other half are tweets from people I don’t know from Adam who live in Wisconsin or somehwere.
The jury’s out.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Well, FC, as you know I haven’t been on there as myself for very long, but I think it is useful for a few things:
- sharing information, especially if you’re into any kind of campaigning issues
- keeping an eye on your competitors
- distracting you from work
- helping egotistic celebrities and comedians feel good about themselves and undermine the work of their PRs
I’m not sure if its all that for anything else. But I’m sure other readers of this blog will have a different viewpoint…
December 9th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I still say there should be a ban on all new music for three or four years to allow us to catch up a bit.
December 9th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
There must be a direct correlation between the fact that we are currently in the most dire period for new music that I can ever remember, and the fact that all the old stuff is so easily available. I’ve benefitted from the latter, but it seems to have indirectly generated a good deal of lazy flab where musicians previously sought to push boundaries in creating new sounds.
And there may have been some merit in the fact that old influences were often by definition half-remembered, and so would be naturally adapted, whereas now if you want to know what a particular riff from some obscure seventies song sounded like, you can probably find it immediately and just copy it.
But I do love the fact that nowadays, if I want to look up a Spanish train timetable or get a decent map to a gig venue in Brussels, I can do that straight away. It sure is a double-edged thing.
December 9th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Sorry, yes, Roman Empress. I was being lazy!
December 9th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
That is a fine idea, Simon B. But as ISBW points out perhaps we wouldn’t miss out on much?
Mind you, ISBW, I can’t believe that you’re the person writing this. You’re always going out to hear new music – it can’t be that bad! I have to say I don’t listen to much new ‘rock’ music I suppose, but there is generally good new jazz, folk and soul around, maybe because they’re genres which are more open about their their roots in what’s gone before.
And lest I come across as a completely deluded arrogant twat, I’d like to point out that I use Twitter to keep an eye on work competitors rather than say, readers of this blog.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
when it comes to technology i’m always interested as to where people choose to draw a line in the sand as opposed to contiually pick up new stuff. Why do people stop at emals and not use facebook etc ? I do don’t think either are better or worse I think it’s odd to say well I use se ceefax but sending an sms is beyond the pale. The way twitter helps flter information is here to stay in some form on the web that’s for sure.
Also I am sure that every year is a good year for music, there’ll be some excited 18 year olds jumping up and down 300 yards away in new cross to some ner’do wells as I type. It will be interesting to see though if their passion is the same as people like me who only had about 10 records and played them all to death.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:08 am
It’s communication quicksand – with more and more stuffbubbling up to suck you down. Ironically the more becomes available the less want too I engage with, hardly ever watch TV now (peaktime TV is too ADHD and shouty ), listen to music radio and won’t twitter. Although, as much as I may knock new developments and routines, or the miss hands-on rummaging around at record shops and fairs, I still get a glow everytime some random rarity or obscurity is digitally bagged. And the upside of all this is I’ve discovered some fab bands, albums and songs via the blogs and myspace – and a great sense of community.
December 10th, 2009 at 11:32 am
BLTP, I always admire your stance on technology and embracing the new, but there is a difference between email, facebook and twitter and I can fully understand why people might choose to ‘draw the line’ (like I do!). Email, although electronic, is peer to peer. It is not networked and it is not kept on a server somewhere for ever more. Facebook and Twitter are a little too public for my liking, and I do not have any accounts under identifable names because the powers that be do not need to know any more about me than they already do! There is also a point where you just can’t be arsed with new things.
Mondo, Communication Quicksand – what a great term!! I’m going to steal that one. I think community and ‘recommendations’ are one of the best things about the net and social networking. Although one of the fabulous ironies of this blog, for example, is that although anyone from around the world can read it, most of the people who do seem to live or work down the road from me.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
It’s an interesting discussion but I’m not sure I can add much to it. Information Overload, Communication Quicksand, whatever you want to call it, it’s definitely a double-edged sword.
I’ve been twittering for a while now, and if there are “celebrities” who you genuinely admire, then it can be interesting to know what they’re up to. Some people, er, “tweet” so often that it’s really not the bother. That’s why I’m never really sure why people want to follow Stephen Fry. No-one has got something interesting to say every hour of the day, not even him.
I do find it interesting to get some good music stories/tips/news from the likes of journalists like David Hepworth and Jude Rogers. Tim Westwood can be good value too: there were some great comments flowing in both directions the other week when he got into some bother by talking into his mobile in the quiet carriage of the intercity from Paddington to Swansea…
December 11th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
c/m are you sure your emails aren’t on someone’s server!? they will be on the web mail of everyone you send stuff to and possibly their hard drives. The privacy thing is important but once you connect with another person/computer the infomation you handed over is no longer private even peer to peer. Like I say they are only forms of communcation, my main gripe is people in the media slagging new stuff off when in the next sentence they proudly announce they never use them. Sex tips from nuns springs to mind.
Also ironically most people do “use” these things even if at one remove ie news links first distributed by twitter and then sent via email etc. Anyway it’s good to have choices.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Hoops, I’m currently warming the office with the sounds of David Hepworths tweeted playlist this morning so it is definitely worth it for that! Stephen Fry is a very interesting case – he has a lot of power. Last week he tweeted about a charity and their web hits and number of followers went through the roof. Whether this actually had any impact on their fundraising is another matter, but its invaluable PR. If only I could get him interested in what we do…
Ah, BLTP you are right – my emails are of course on a server somewhere, but what I mean is that you can’t search for them on the web and find them (unless you are seriously good and/or corrupt). You can’t deny that there is a difference between us having this conversation here in a public space and me just emailing you! And it would be very difficult to aggregate my blog posts and twitter with my gmail accounts and various other email addresses, and identify it as one person. Well, I hope so anyway.