writing: Bruce Sterling on oppressive social networking

Nice short piece "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by Google" by Bruce Sterling. I found it from the Slashdot summary of a set of New Scientist articles on social networking.

In another article in the set, Sherry Turkle notes

For some people, things move from "I have a feeling, I want to call a friend" to "I want to feel something, I need to make a call". In either case, what is not being cultivated is the ability to be alone and to manage and contain one's emotions.

I'm guilty of something similar: "I want to feel the shock of the new, I'll keep surfing." But not every day can bring a new Firefox release or breakthrough technology or new media from a favorite artist.

Reading the articles makes me realize how important walking the dogs — without WiFi, music player, or headset — is to staying sane.

Categories: writing, BruceSterling, socialnetworking