Okay I have more comment to comment. Wait. Wait. So like.
Anecdote time. :D
So like. Okay. Imagine a MUD. You know what a MUD is? Text-based MMO. Right? Right. Okay. So. I played one for YEARS at the tail end of HS and into college, and it was great, I loved it a lot, but the one thing it really taught me was that I didn't have to read everything on a screen when it flew by. There was no way. I have absolutely applied this to internet Everything afterwards. Selective attention as a skill.
Imagine you're fighting in an MMO and every time you or the other thing attacks, you get just this WALL of text describing the mob and the attack and like...half a dozen other informational things and it's flying by at a round every second or two and you're just like. What the fuck even is going on? So eventually you adapt and you just...shunt things away. And figure out what's important to actually pay attention to.
And I think we're in the adaptation phase? Philosophically, that is. In the world. With respect to this new version of reality in which attention is the currency. Information age and all that. And I get it that we culturally probably should be like...dude. Cool the fuck down with bothering people, to marketers and designers. Because you're right that the onus shouldn't be upon the individual. At The Same Time, I also think that the landscape has just fundamentally changed with how distribution and access has broadened with time.
I'm deeply upset but the Algorithm as like, a semi-mystical deified entity, but that is an entire other topic and tangent. But barring the Algorithm (or...subverting the Algorithm?), I really do believe that cultivating selective attention is a very important skill. But it also requires you to know/understand what you think is important enough to pay attention to? Which I think is...part of the issue.
Like in gambling with loot boxes. Getting the Thing is not...actually important. It will never BE important. It is pixels. When the game goes under, everything you purchased will vanish. It's sort of like...spending within your means? Working with what you have? (I have a whole rant about living extravagant lifestyles paycheck-to-paycheck which is ANOTHER tangent sprawling across keeping up with appearances vs. shitty economy and how who does what and why has dramatically shifted.)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-10-25 03:30 am (UTC)Anecdote time. :D
So like. Okay. Imagine a MUD. You know what a MUD is? Text-based MMO. Right? Right. Okay. So. I played one for YEARS at the tail end of HS and into college, and it was great, I loved it a lot, but the one thing it really taught me was that I didn't have to read everything on a screen when it flew by. There was no way. I have absolutely applied this to internet Everything afterwards. Selective attention as a skill.
Imagine you're fighting in an MMO and every time you or the other thing attacks, you get just this WALL of text describing the mob and the attack and like...half a dozen other informational things and it's flying by at a round every second or two and you're just like. What the fuck even is going on? So eventually you adapt and you just...shunt things away. And figure out what's important to actually pay attention to.
And I think we're in the adaptation phase? Philosophically, that is. In the world. With respect to this new version of reality in which attention is the currency. Information age and all that. And I get it that we culturally probably should be like...dude. Cool the fuck down with bothering people, to marketers and designers. Because you're right that the onus shouldn't be upon the individual. At The Same Time, I also think that the landscape has just fundamentally changed with how distribution and access has broadened with time.
I'm deeply upset but the Algorithm as like, a semi-mystical deified entity, but that is an entire other topic and tangent. But barring the Algorithm (or...subverting the Algorithm?), I really do believe that cultivating selective attention is a very important skill. But it also requires you to know/understand what you think is important enough to pay attention to? Which I think is...part of the issue.
Like in gambling with loot boxes. Getting the Thing is not...actually important. It will never BE important. It is pixels. When the game goes under, everything you purchased will vanish. It's sort of like...spending within your means? Working with what you have? (I have a whole rant about living extravagant lifestyles paycheck-to-paycheck which is ANOTHER tangent sprawling across keeping up with appearances vs. shitty economy and how who does what and why has dramatically shifted.)
This comment is a mess. Have a nice night. Ahaha.