The fact that we can all make stuff and put it out there in this digital universe, for the whole world to see, is so utterly mad that you only realise how intense that is when you pause to think about it.
…
These words. Photos of what you’ve done. Your creations. Visible to all. Around the whole world. Essentially for free.
That amount of information sharing is beyond immense, and makes me need to sit down.
…
“With great power…..“
Analogue vs Digital.
Sometimes that digital stuff is really, really worth doing because it (it being ‘our work’ which we create) can affect the real day to day lives of many who really need the assistance.
Policies, aid, free education, living support, financial decisions, learning courses. Folks have provided their experiences, told their tales, crowdsourced a library of what the world means, and brought together the collective educational knowledge of the worlds best, for free. Others wield the magic staff which lets them make the decisions on where support will go, who to, and how much, with sometimes the send of email.
But we can easily lose our own individual way. Our abilities. Our humanness (It’s an odd word I’ve decided to roll with.)
Part of Humanness is full of our interactions with the real world.
Doing stuff. Making things. Using your hands and your fingers to create and manipulate and understand.
Receiving tangible perceptory feedback through the fine and delicate sensory blend offered up to us, if we care to shut up and listen to it for a moment.
Running your fingertips, with just the right amount of pressure, along and across the grain of a piece of wood, to check that it’s at your desired and satisfactory level of smooth. Feeling for imperfections, or character. Dips, divets, flat spots. Casting a long eye down its edge to level up where you need to do a bit more work. That is the Humanness I mean.
Scrolling isn’t Humanness. Endless YouTube holes isn’t Humanness (though sometimes eye-opening and feels great!).
Tuning your whole attention into an animals response to the touch of your stroke and scritch, looking out for the autonomous response of what’s preferred, where is the spot for that creature, where is absolutely a “no-go-thank-you-don’t-touch-that-tickles-and-I’ll-spike-you”! Building a silent relationship through that intensive interaction. That’s Humanness
(I mean, just check out that hand hold)
These things require us to spend time and more importantly, need full attention.
The inherent sacrifice of choice.
The digital offers a sort of infinite. The analogue forces the finite.
The analogue therefore is just more valuable. You have to make a choice to dedicate your time, space and energy to that one thing which will only exist in that time and in that physical state.
With digital writing, you can write a word, then backspace it to write over or delete it. You can write one page, or ten thousand pages, yet those pages haven’t entered the realm of the tangible. Why stop at ten thousand, when you have the option for a million?
With analogue writing, you have a page, and you’ve written your words on the page. There’s not much of a do-over there; you’ve got to own your actions fully! A wrong word, a slip of the hand, too much space between ink…all of that has happened and there’s no take-sie back-sies! Nevermind talking about paint on canvas! When it’s on, it’s on!
(These examples only stretch so far; “I use my hands to write on a computer!”, “When I print my digital words, they become analogue!”, “But what about erasing pencil!?” …… yes, you’re right. All correct and quite relevant. We’re talking about the broader idea of doing actual stuff and the way your brain feeds off of non-electric tasks. Plop your nitpicker back down!)
But therein lies the beauty. Failure is feedback, right?
–
The point, if I am making any, is that there is a balance to be found. An unsurprising conclusion but an appropriate one. Digital forms and technologies must not be masters but tools, and tools are things which help us to achieve a task easier, more efficiently and crucially with more joy (So keep typing away, no complaints here) I’d say it’s really important to have an understanding of how to use these tools, but even more important not to become used by them.
I’d add, that it is just as important to put down the digital and start using your digits instead, for the same task. Do this with the acceptance that when doing your analogue work, you’re going to make mistakes.
You’re going to create things which are rubbish. You’re going to hate some of it, bin some of it, and maybe never get good at it! Equally, you’ll produce your finest, most proud, yet imperfect work this way.
That’s the point. That’s the work. That’s why it’s called work.
Also remember; stop doing things once in a while and just go outside.
Ironic, that I am sharing these thoughts on a screen, with a keyboard, through the internet.
Anyway, that’s enough words and nonense.
I’m going to go write in a notebook, play with scraps of wood, tinker with my bike and engage with the world.
Bye!
-Frank
Comments