Addiction.
Earlier this evening my wife asked me, “Do you think you’re addicted to media?” After a discussion about what she meant by media, I got to thinking, am I addicted to web technologies?
My gut reaction was, “Hell no! I can go without internet access whenever I want.” However, I then realised, “Isn’t that what smokers say? Shit maybe I am addicted.” I started to consider, when do I ever actually go without net access. Never. Whether I’m at home, at work, in a coffee shop, at my parents house, sitting in a mates flat, I always have my Macbook wirelessly connected. I have also noted that my attitudes towards people’s response times to email and facebook messages are often unrealistic and this in turn made me think about the times when I have actually gone without the interweb.
I began to realise that I have very rarely be disconnect since my first dial-up internet connection back in 1995. A couple of times my love for the web and all things digital have lapsed, like my first year of University and my semester abroad in the states. However, in the main, I’m “always totally connected” and I always come back to my fascination with online services. I then began to wonder about my learning abilities in this environment and if that had something to do with my passion. My recent foray into the world of Web 2.0 has happened very fast, and while I had a fundamental understanding of all things “web” that underpins my learning curve. It is undeniable that this self learning in an online environment is extremely empowering.
I have never been able to explain to people how I know the things I know about programming, the web, design etc. “I just know them”, has been my only response. I’m starting to realise that perhaps it is that “innate” ability is what makes this addiction such a comfortable place for me. I might have detested everything I was doing in the web world latterly, but now, with some distance, I can use this addiction to benefit my creative endeavours.
That’s enough of that…
K
two fish were swimming in a stream against the tide and they were met traveling in the other direction by another fish. That second fish turned to the two and said ‘hey guys, isn’t the water lovely?’ … they passed each other and a bit further up the river the pair of fish got talking and one said to the other ‘whats water?’