Original Convenience Experience

My Mom Is A Pastor. Let Me Know If I Should Reduce The Preaching.

Another Sunday, Another Naive Weekly - Observations From The Internet Wilderness.

Hi reader,

Today I didn’t know what to write until I sat down and wrote something. It turned out unusual from the normal newsletter. Like a snowstorm in the summer. Have a great week!

Leaf Peeping Season

Back in November, we were traveling around Japan. On one particularly rainy and cold day, we went to take a walk in the outskirts of Kyoto. If we had hoped to have the river path for ourselves, we couldn’t have been more wrong. The area was packed! Thousands of Japanese tourists ignored the weather to take time to commemorate the falling leaves.

Like salmons, we started to walk against the flow of people. Upstream a swirling river. It didn’t take a long time before the flow of people ebbed out. By then we found ourselves on a path without a destination. We would probably have abandoned the road earlier if it had not been for a specific makeshift sign. The sign simply stated, “This way to the great(est) view of Kyoto” and it led us on a road to a nearby mountain hilltop.

How Convenient

I was reminded of this experience this week while listening in on a talk about miso and the future of food. Over the last decade, Panasonic has explored how our society is changing. A very thorough research of the changing consumer demand and the foundation on which the company makes its decisions on what new products to release into the market.

In essence, the hundreds of small trends were put into three main waves. As a kitchen appliance company Panasonic has helped the world move from an “original culture” where everything was made by hands into a “convenience culture” where specific machines substitute our time and effort. Blenders, dish-washers, micro-waves, the list is long if you just open the kitchen drawers.

Today Panasonic observed a change away from convenience culture towards “experience culture”. The great(est) life is no longer seen as the most convenient. Especially the younger generations demand and cherish the rituals of experiencing the creation. And while we can surely still find problems in this behavioral shift, I will for a moment remain positive.

Kryptonite

When we think of new technologies we primarily seem to focus on what we gain. This is not surprising given that each new product is blasted with advertising promising us convenience and superpowers. What I think we don’t contemplate enough about is not what we gain, but rather what we lose. And here I don’t just think about the money we spend when buying a new product.

The smartphone is very convenient, but every single day I lose two hours staring at the screen. I also lose my privacy and I struggle with my attention span. On top of that, I have noticed I started to struggle with remembering street names and giving directions. I also don’t pay attention to the photos I take any longer, neither when I take them or after I took them. All of this was not on my mind when I purchased my first smartphone.

The Great(east) View of Kyoto

In case you are wondering, the view indeed was incredible. Imagine the cutest little temple on the top of a mountain hill. Surrounded by leaves in all colors we were welcomed by a monk who encouraged us to hit the gong. Outside the temple, a Shiba dog was resting and inside laid piles of religious readings.

On one of the papers, the seven social sins were written. “Wealth without work” was the first sin. I don’t know with you, but for me that ties together everything I just wrote.

Roadside Flower

Many years ago I worked in a company where we were a few colleagues who started a secret club we called “busy”. Occasionally we would invite each other to a meeting called “busy”. These meetings had no agenda and was always hosted out of the office. Made to look important, but in reality we were just sipping wine on company time. This app seems to make that much easier, highly recommended.

Readers’ Corner

Thanks again to Emily for putting perspective on last week’s newsletter. Please encourage her to turn her wonderful project into a newsletter.

“It's funny that the idea of "only" having 1,000 people interested in your online idea means it's a flop. But think about that in real terms - that's a theatre full of people listening to your tips - pretty cool huh? I'm having similar back and forth thoughts about this new project I've started. On one side, if just a handful of people are interested I'd be so grateful, while on the other, if I'm going to put time and energy into something, I'd better make it worth it (ie, big)...

Here's to all communities, whatever their size. Making just one other person feel like they have a place in this world is a powerful thing <3”

And to those I still haven’t replied, please excuse my delay. I promise to get back to you. I always become happy for each of your notes and want to return the message with proper replies.

Book Club

• Walking Home - You Are My Favourite: Tree
  I was really happy when my copy of this book arrived this week. Noticing the trees is the purpose of this project where a selected group of photographers shared their favorite trees. It also includes children drawings and pays for 20 new trees to be planted in Brazil.

Naive Weekly

Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly - Observations From The Internet Wilderness.

Last week this newsletter was sent to 280 subscribers, among whom 12 are kind enough to chip in every month or year to support me making time to write this newsletter: Nikolaj, Antal, Søren, Dries, Mikkel, Tina, Aydo, Lukas, Hans, Csongor, Ida Marie & Angela!

<3

Kristoffer