Delightful read! Last year I realised I had gotten into the habit of buying books and not actually properly engaging with them as I was buying at an unsustainable rate (because it was so easy). I've been on a book ban the last few months and have started using my local library instead. I'm now reading far more than I was before and the entire process of reserving a book and waiting for it or going in to browse what looks interesting and interacting with the librarians has made reading feel like when I was a kid again. Couldn't agree more that convenience has come at a cost.
As someone who still goes into a shop to buy a CD, this was a brilliant summary of how I feel about too much convenience. I shall immediately seek out the How Do You Cope episode. Thanks John!
Magnificent stuff. The BPB section had me recalling my childhood in a provincial East Yorkshire town when an occasional 50-min bus ride would take me and my brother in music into York and Track Records. We formed so many bonds there.
Later, a small record shop opened in my town. It didn’t stock much, but I bought all the Divine Comedy I could. Because it was there and because I kinda liked it.
If you see this, one small recommendation. I used to review albums (inc Singer’s Grave). Many
were by artists I’d never heard of, but a couple have stuck with me. You _may_ (or may not) like the song Lucia by Hiss Golden Messenger.
Great post John and for somebody just a few years older than you, I had a very similar relationship with music. In 2004 after idly pursuing the racks, I bought The Zutons debut album solely on the strength of the artwork, without having heard a single note. It remains a firm fave 20 years on. I still love a record shop and I'm pleased to note that HMV, after years of relegating music to the back of the shop behind DVDs, games and other miscellanea, now have entire floors dedicated to vinyl (In their flagships at least).
Cricked neck!!!! Aaaargh!!! Bob & Brad on Youtube. I laughed at them (at first) but they have sorted my cricked neck/back out a fair few times now. Even the time I decided that doing more yoga would help my already painful trapped nerve & made it ten times worse, their advice got me out of a neck pickle! Compression & Decompression. Even if you don’t follow their advice, it’s worth a Youtube dive for their awful jingle. Bloody nice blokes & good eggs!!!
Loved this. Read it in bed this morning. This afternoon I got an email from a shopping chain asking if I’d be interested in drone delivery of shopping. I still said yes but while thinking “see? That’s EXACTLY what John was talking about. No popping down the lane waving at the dog walkers (they can’t help it) and bicyclists (ditto), no chatting to the ticket checker in the car park, no socialising in the shop…just one terrifyingly efficient delivery.” Sigh. The trade off between being human and being efficient AGAIN.
Cricked neck is awful. I have no words of wisdom to offer other than it will get better, achingly slowly. Literally. Sorry about that. Love you!
As someone from the "younger people" group, I thought this was a very interesting read (listen). I feel like the Internet is very much a double-edged sword, in that it allows people to connect but is also deeply impersonal (I couldn't tell you the names of at least 50% of the people I regularly see on my feed, I just know their faces), and that you can buy things from anyone regardless of scale while also destroying small businesses. I try not to buy from places like Amazon or AliExpress, but I'm also aware that I'll often buy things (second-hand or new) from eBay or Vinted, and while those are definitely small businesses (or not even businesses at all), they are rarely local (not to mention how environmentally unfriendly it can be to keep ordering things in the first place).
I don't know if there is a solution, but I would love to see a world in which online and physical shops continue to exist alongside each other, like supermarkets that haven't fully switched over to self-checkout yet. Sometimes I'm happy to nip to the local high street to get things - other times, I'm very grateful to have a service that can deliver stuff directly to my door. It saddens me to see that a lot of my my local high street's small businesses are, as you say, things that cannot be delivered to our door: vapes (illegal to sell online here), tanning salons, and food.
PS,
RE: Spotify, I also don't get why the "liked songs" can't just be set to public, but I do have a tip to make the copying less laborious. You can treat the tracks just like files! If you want to keep your "liked songs" playlist up to date, you can just mass select them (click the top song in your selection, then hold Shift and click the bottom one) and drag them (or even copy-paste them, using keyboard shortcuts!) to the right playlist. If you're extra lazy, just select a whole bunch and add them to the playlist, and Spotify will ask you if you want to exclude the duplicates. (Or, if you ever un-like songs, you can just use Cmd + A (or Ctrl + A) to select all of them and delete them, then use the same method to copy-paste all of your liked songs back into it, without needing to delete the playlist itself.)
I'm not a fan of Spotify's overall business practices (and I hate how confusing their privacy settings always are) but I've been using it for 10 years and it continues to be a great way to listen to music. (I fear that I may not be their standard user, though, as I pretty much only stream music I already know or new releases from my favourite bands. I don't like their generated playlists or suggestions - I know what I want to listen to, thanks!)
I’m the same age as Bonnie Prince Billy and I too desperately miss the curation of music by a DJ who wants to take you on a certain musical journey, as well as the effort involved in having to obtain music. I was spoiled growing up with great indie radio stations and lots of friends with broad musical tastes who would trade tapes back and forth. I still have a Skinny Puppy EP a friend loaned me back in 1987. Now I fear being an old man trapped listening to what he used to in high school and uni.
As a spritely 43 year old (had to double check that), I find myself increasingly harking back to the days when you had to discover things instead of just being pushed them by an algorithm.
I also find that having physical aspect of engaging with things helps them stick in your mind more. Maybe why I really like learning piano.
Delightful read! Last year I realised I had gotten into the habit of buying books and not actually properly engaging with them as I was buying at an unsustainable rate (because it was so easy). I've been on a book ban the last few months and have started using my local library instead. I'm now reading far more than I was before and the entire process of reserving a book and waiting for it or going in to browse what looks interesting and interacting with the librarians has made reading feel like when I was a kid again. Couldn't agree more that convenience has come at a cost.
As someone who still goes into a shop to buy a CD, this was a brilliant summary of how I feel about too much convenience. I shall immediately seek out the How Do You Cope episode. Thanks John!
One word: critical thinking.
Thank you for so beautifully crafting the vibe mail to analyse modern technology.
Question: Would installing an internet free hour in the day be worth the chaos to teach young people critical thinking?
I hope your crick straightens out soon.
Properly lovely missive! Thank you, and sorry for adding to your notification woes here.
Magnificent stuff. The BPB section had me recalling my childhood in a provincial East Yorkshire town when an occasional 50-min bus ride would take me and my brother in music into York and Track Records. We formed so many bonds there.
Later, a small record shop opened in my town. It didn’t stock much, but I bought all the Divine Comedy I could. Because it was there and because I kinda liked it.
If you see this, one small recommendation. I used to review albums (inc Singer’s Grave). Many
were by artists I’d never heard of, but a couple have stuck with me. You _may_ (or may not) like the song Lucia by Hiss Golden Messenger.
Either way, huge thanks
Great post John and for somebody just a few years older than you, I had a very similar relationship with music. In 2004 after idly pursuing the racks, I bought The Zutons debut album solely on the strength of the artwork, without having heard a single note. It remains a firm fave 20 years on. I still love a record shop and I'm pleased to note that HMV, after years of relegating music to the back of the shop behind DVDs, games and other miscellanea, now have entire floors dedicated to vinyl (In their flagships at least).
Cricked neck!!!! Aaaargh!!! Bob & Brad on Youtube. I laughed at them (at first) but they have sorted my cricked neck/back out a fair few times now. Even the time I decided that doing more yoga would help my already painful trapped nerve & made it ten times worse, their advice got me out of a neck pickle! Compression & Decompression. Even if you don’t follow their advice, it’s worth a Youtube dive for their awful jingle. Bloody nice blokes & good eggs!!!
Loved this. Read it in bed this morning. This afternoon I got an email from a shopping chain asking if I’d be interested in drone delivery of shopping. I still said yes but while thinking “see? That’s EXACTLY what John was talking about. No popping down the lane waving at the dog walkers (they can’t help it) and bicyclists (ditto), no chatting to the ticket checker in the car park, no socialising in the shop…just one terrifyingly efficient delivery.” Sigh. The trade off between being human and being efficient AGAIN.
Cricked neck is awful. I have no words of wisdom to offer other than it will get better, achingly slowly. Literally. Sorry about that. Love you!
This was lovely to read, thank you John!
Hikikomori sounds a lot like the world of The Machine Stops... written in 1909 by the incredibly far-sighted E.M. Forster.
Hi John,
As someone from the "younger people" group, I thought this was a very interesting read (listen). I feel like the Internet is very much a double-edged sword, in that it allows people to connect but is also deeply impersonal (I couldn't tell you the names of at least 50% of the people I regularly see on my feed, I just know their faces), and that you can buy things from anyone regardless of scale while also destroying small businesses. I try not to buy from places like Amazon or AliExpress, but I'm also aware that I'll often buy things (second-hand or new) from eBay or Vinted, and while those are definitely small businesses (or not even businesses at all), they are rarely local (not to mention how environmentally unfriendly it can be to keep ordering things in the first place).
I don't know if there is a solution, but I would love to see a world in which online and physical shops continue to exist alongside each other, like supermarkets that haven't fully switched over to self-checkout yet. Sometimes I'm happy to nip to the local high street to get things - other times, I'm very grateful to have a service that can deliver stuff directly to my door. It saddens me to see that a lot of my my local high street's small businesses are, as you say, things that cannot be delivered to our door: vapes (illegal to sell online here), tanning salons, and food.
PS,
RE: Spotify, I also don't get why the "liked songs" can't just be set to public, but I do have a tip to make the copying less laborious. You can treat the tracks just like files! If you want to keep your "liked songs" playlist up to date, you can just mass select them (click the top song in your selection, then hold Shift and click the bottom one) and drag them (or even copy-paste them, using keyboard shortcuts!) to the right playlist. If you're extra lazy, just select a whole bunch and add them to the playlist, and Spotify will ask you if you want to exclude the duplicates. (Or, if you ever un-like songs, you can just use Cmd + A (or Ctrl + A) to select all of them and delete them, then use the same method to copy-paste all of your liked songs back into it, without needing to delete the playlist itself.)
I'm not a fan of Spotify's overall business practices (and I hate how confusing their privacy settings always are) but I've been using it for 10 years and it continues to be a great way to listen to music. (I fear that I may not be their standard user, though, as I pretty much only stream music I already know or new releases from my favourite bands. I don't like their generated playlists or suggestions - I know what I want to listen to, thanks!)
Hope you’re ok!!
Hope you’re ok!!
I’m the same age as Bonnie Prince Billy and I too desperately miss the curation of music by a DJ who wants to take you on a certain musical journey, as well as the effort involved in having to obtain music. I was spoiled growing up with great indie radio stations and lots of friends with broad musical tastes who would trade tapes back and forth. I still have a Skinny Puppy EP a friend loaned me back in 1987. Now I fear being an old man trapped listening to what he used to in high school and uni.
Yepp, definitely too much tech! (And there’s those dazzling crocs again!)
As a spritely 43 year old (had to double check that), I find myself increasingly harking back to the days when you had to discover things instead of just being pushed them by an algorithm.
I also find that having physical aspect of engaging with things helps them stick in your mind more. Maybe why I really like learning piano.