Tuesday, March 10, 2015

It's OK to turn the phone off

A Kingston worker installing a flag on a pole on Broadway.
Today I saw a Kingston worker slowly ascending and descending into the right position to place a flag on a pole. I had never thought about how it was done, and my appreciation for the little things improved a little. There are things happening, and we don't notice when we are on our phones.
Let's notice.

Like, for instance, 'donkeyball' is a thing that happens in the Catskills and, yes, people have noticed.


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Anyway, The New York Times has a remarkable story about how the anonymous social network Yik Yak is negatively affecting college communities. but don't worry if you live in a community without a college. Most of Yik Yak around Kingston is kids complaining about how there aren't that many posts. That is also the case in Margaretville. I mean, what are they going to yak about? Donkeyball?
SUNY New Paltz, Bard, Marist and the other area colleges, however, have a lot of anonymous young people saying exactly the kinds of things you'd think anonymous young people would say.
No, you can't call your professor "babe."

Yet, having the Gray Lady report on The Next Cool Thing is pretty much a sign that the olds have gotten notice, and the youngs will go to a new social media thing that will appear and disappear before you figure out what it means. Last week, for instance, Meerkat was having a thing in Media Twitter.  And then:

The news media have a complicated relationship with social networks. Did you know local media have a snapchat dilemma? LOLOLOL.

Small local news organizations don't let small local news organizations snapchat, or Vine, or pin, or Tumblr, but we do it anyway? We should ask Jelly.

This is all made possible by phones, the future garbage we are all buying.

These, by the way, are all items I would expect Gigaom to thoughtfully cover. But it shut down yesterday, after running out of money.  So instead, you get this snarky post. This is why we can't have nice things, so follow us on Instagram?
Anyway, the lesson here is that you and me and even your brands have to bring it down a notch. There are too many shows and too many apps and too many sites and not enough time. So let's prioritize. It's OK to not be on everything. It's OK to turn the phone off.

Yes, I'm talking to myself.

One cat: Turn it off.


Yesterday's Internet, Today! today got a little too social media-centric, but hey, that's what I do. Anyway, you still got a Google Glass photo with a mini story, some links passed around the day before or this morning, four trending-but-crimeless Daily Freeman stories and a cat. Tell your friends to subscribe, for freesies. 
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