Twenty years ago, Tim Berners-Lee proposed a novel method for navigating written content- hypertext. Around the same time, a company called "The World" became the first commercial dial-up Internet provider. Incidentally, "WWW" didn't event exist- that was invented in 1991. Today rough estimates put the number of Internet users at roughly 1 in 4 humans on the planet. In North America, the rate of Internet use is closer to 3 in 4. US cell phone penetration has hit roughly 80% and already by 2008 cell phone ownership among 12-17 year olds was passing 71%. The average number of texts per American cell phone user is 188 and climbing.
Tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, text messaging, cell phones, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum, have enabled a state of constant conversation transcending time, space and old rules of etiquette. It is not only common but expected to see meeting attendees quietly typing away on their Blackberries in the middle of a presentation, punctuated by the occasional "silent" buzz of phones on vibrate, all the while a presenter leads the meeting and flips through bullet-pointed slides. Laws have recently taken effect making it illegal for train drivers, subway operators, bus drivers and commercial truck drivers to text while driving as fatal accidents have occurred because people were texting when they were supposed to be paying attention to other concerns. A Metrolink commuter train collided with another train in 2008 because the driver was texting with a teenage train-enthusiast he was "mentoring." Twenty five people were killed. Perhaps a technology can be said to have matured when it has hit the point of becoming obnoxious and even fatal.
The speed and breadth of this communication web that has overtaken our lives, especially in the most developed countries of North America, Europe and Asia, should prompt pause to wonder, what are the consequences of an entire population in a state of constant and incessant chatter with itself?
There's an old joke about the government: "What's the definition of a bureaucracy?" (Answer: "An organization that consumes its own output.") Technology enthusiasts will no doubt be horrified by the comparison. "The Internet and applications like Facebook and Twitter have allowed people to stay connected and communicate in new and fascinating ways," one might argue. "People can stay connected like never before," and "seamless collaboration is now possible with these tools." True, but just because there are new avenues of conversation, we may not necessarily assume that the quality of the conversations being floated over these new channels has improved. One might even argue that instead within the seductive folds of this massive communication bed, the actual quality of the conversations may have instead declined.
I'm struck by the number of people chatting away on their cell phones while driving at all hours. The last time I took a taxi, I think the driver spoke five words to me, and spent the rest of the half hour ride talking on his cell phone. If he works an average of 10 hours per day and takes weekends and government holidays off, I'd estimate 150,000 potential minutes of conversation. There are just nearly 775,000 words in the King James translation of the Bible. The average book on tape is targeted to be about 150-160 words per minute for ease of comprehension. That means he could have dictated the entire Old and New Testament almost 30 times in a single year, and still had remaining minutes to make dinner plans. I'm glad the Apostles didn't have Twitter or my reading of the One Year Bible might instead take the better part of a decade.
Its not just that we're using more technological avenues, but that these avenues are leading us to do these activities more. Take for example the proliferation of office emails. Email was supposed to be a great productivity enhancer, yet in many ways rather than facilitating work, email is work. The very costless properties that make email attractive also lead us to do what we do with all other things that have zero marginal cost- over use it. Emails end up with "cc" lines longer than the email itself and then generate the obligatory series of reply-to-all responses. At some point many of us realize the game with email is to reply with just enough information to kick-the-can down the road so we can move on to the next one. Better yet, forwarding the email along for someone else to deal with-- call it the Cisco router model of executive leadership.
In principle, experience and knowledge of individuals has become fungible across a common market that is leading to more rapid dissemination of information and that's probably a really good thing. Outside of work, this type of information may not be earth-shattering- knowing which plumber to call (Angie's List), who not to buy from (eBay seller ratings), where the best date restaurant is in Dallas (Citysearch) or any number of other pieces of mundane but useful information. Yet, ultimately this type of practical information leads to a more efficient and satisfying economy and society. The ability to extract, consolidate and disseminate this type of information can be hugely valuable, but these types of websites occupy tiny fractions of most people's online time. Online time is typically a composition of light browsing, email and social networking sites. Among the under-30 crowd, the proportion skews significantly to "communication" oriented activities. Throw in texting and other cell-phone enabled communication and the average teenager is spending between 4-8 hours "online."
In the end, that really becomes the issue- we can have these conversations constantly and with an ever-increasing circle of people. But is there really that much for us to say, or do we risk becoming a narcissistic society consumed by limitless avenues for self-expression?
Yes the supreme irony of this viewpoint is that I'm typing this on Google docs, posting it through Posterous where it then forwards on to my Facebook and other blog pages. I'll probably get notices of angry responses on my Blackberry where I can then Tweet a response. At least my hypocrisy will be efficient.
Posted via web from Austin
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