Escape the Timescape
Escape the Timescape
Your plants are alive and move around in real time. We just don’t live in the same time-scape. Therefore we don't see it.
Another Sunday, Another Naive Weekly - Observations From The Internet Wilderness.
Once my voice mutated, people who called our landline would not always realize that the person who had answered their phone call wasn’t the local pastor, but his 13-year-old stepson. It was rather awkward for me to interrupt people who, without notice, would start sharing vulnerable moments, asking them to wait for me to get hold of my stepdad.
I was reminded of answering the landline the other week when I was talking with my mom. Like my stepdad, she too is a pastor, and although I was never mistaken for her on the phone, people would still call her frequently. People generally speaking only call their pastor when something odd happens. And odd doesn’t seem to know working hours.
Back then we would have an answering machine capturing the odd calls that came at night while we were sleeping. The answering machine would also be on whenever no one was at home. It didn’t matter whether we were out walking our dog Rufus, grocery shopping, or gardening, if we weren’t home, the answering machine was on and people would instead leave a message.
To be a pastor is an odd job in the sense it doesn’t have specific working hours besides the Sunday ceremony. To be a pastor means to always be at service for the local community. But, to always be at service means something very different today than when I was a 13 yo boy.
Today people still call my mom frequently, at any hour of the day, but instead of the landline (R.I.P.), they call her mobile phone. She turns off her phone before going to sleep, but her phone is on when she is driving her car, walking in the forest, and basically every waking hour except during church ceremonies. People can always reach her. And people expect to always be able to reach her.
Being a pastor has always been an odd job, but what I find odder, is how it seems we as a society collectively have accepted to always be at service. We call people whenever we need them, we expect quick responses, and we feel sorry when we are late at replying to an email. We are caught in a time-scape that values efficiency and response time, but I wonder what other time-scapes we could escape too?
Roadside Flowers
Delightful Surprises From The Information Superhighway
I am not smarter than a chimpanzee. I only reached level 10 in Chimp.
I wrote a message to you with Jazz Keys.
I made a text world for Naive Weekly where you can leave any message, link, or ASCII Art you want. Make your own at www.yourworldoftext.com.
Internet Blackhole
Rediscovering the Small Web
Wonderful article reflecting on the development of the internet from personal hobby websites of past decades to today’s commercially driven internet. I feel it very much aligns with the past weeks’ issues of Naive Weekly and refreshingly avoids making easy criticism.Step Chickens and the Rise of TikTok ‘Cults’
The latest trend on TikTok is semi-cults around individuals. One of the first cults to make it big is Step Chickens started by 27-yo Melissa Ong. Recently she took her cult onto a dedicated app that quickly made it to Apple’s most downloaded networking apps. Rarely do I read a New York Times article understanding so little of what is happening.Nine Local TV Stations Pushed the Same Amazon-Scripted Segment
I don’t want to judge any of the nine local TV stations that pushed the exactly same Amazon-scripted segment, but I do want to judge the system that makes this happen.
Understory
Patrick Tanguay writes Sentiers, a weekly newsletter I’m always excited to receive. Patrick covers thoughts about imagining, critiquing, and building the future. I’m always impressed with what he surfaces and I bet you’ll be too. I’m frankly honoured that Patrick reads Naive Weekly.
My internet friend Paris Marx is one of the most prolific leftish voices on the internet. I have previously recommended his newsletter called Radical Urbanist, but this time I want to highlight the podcast he started a few weeks ago called Tech Won’t Save Us. Paris is incredible at picking out the right interviewees, and over the weeks he has quickly improved as a podcast host, striking the difficult balance of leading the conversation without putting words into the mouth of the interviewee.
Naive Weekly
Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly - Observations from the Internet Wilderness.
Joshua, thank you! Monday I woke up to the email notification telling me that you upgraded to being a paid subscriber. Hard to describe the feeling, and I still find it hard to believe every single time it happens. Thank you!
Last week this newsletter was sent to 544 subscribers. Nineteen people are crazy enough to chip in every month/year to support me making time to write this newsletter: Nikolaj, Ditte, Antal, Søren, Dries, Sarper, Joshua, Thomas, Mikkel, Aydo, Lukas, Hans, Csongor, Dad, Ida Marie, Yinka, Stine, Troels & Angela!
Photograph by Ana Santl.
<3
Kristoffer