Dean Huffaker here: My favorite website is WashingtonPost.com, believe it or not. I know that sounds dull, but I haven't yet attained the extent of digital literacy needed to pin my identity to my favorite website. In fact, you'd probably consider me a complete Luddite based on the following character traits:
* I own no cell phone.
* I've never blogged a day in my life.
* I'm not on Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus.
* I did my graduate research from a card catalog in a physical library.
Questions? Comments? Go ahead. Make my day.
Wow! I am amazed that you don't have a cell phone, (no disrespect of course). The reason I am amazed is because I consider my phone such a huge part of how I function in my day. That is not to say I am like a heroine addict to facebook, but just that my ability to access information instantly helps me to feel productive and, at least in my mind, be more efficient with my time. I respect that you did research in a physical library. I can only imagine how much time it must have taken to acquire the information that you needed. So, I do have a question I swear. Having had a cell phone since I was about 17, it is hard for me to remember what life before that was like. What do you see as the benefits to not having a cell phone now?
ReplyDeleteGood question. To me the biggest benefit is not being on call at all times. It's not a privacy thing--I just really enjoy not talking on the phone! My entire family would be lost without their smartphones. I guess I've developed a high tolerance for being lost. A side benefit of living off the phone is bragging rights to being the last person on the planet without a cellphone. I like that.
ReplyDeleteI don't like talking on the phone much either, though I use my phone to stay in touch with my family. I also use it to locate my husband when I lose myself somewhere. For those things, I'm super grateful I have a cell phone.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you do for your graduate research?
And I'm also curious what the catalyst was for taking this class. Are you wanting to use the knowledge for a special project?
I studied 19th- and 20th-century German and American lit; my favorite authors are Heine and Marx, and Twain and Steinbeck. I'm currently editing an ms for a client who wants to publish a print edition and a digital edition, and I'm pretty sure I can handle the digital side with some timely lifelong education!
DeleteThis is awesome. Dean, your badass-ness just rose—in my eyes—to Harvey Keitel-like levels.
ReplyDeleteI suppose this says as much about me as it does you: I value a connection to earth, to the real and tangible, which is something the digital world can rob us of. And I respect the individual who chooses their own course against ominous social tides.
So I'm curious, what values have informed your choices to refrain from interacting with these technologies? What benefits and drawbacks do you see to your choices? And how do you think this course might affect your involvement with them?
Who's Harvey Keitel? (Kidding.) I'm not a technophobe, but I think your term "ominous" is well-chosen. I remember a series of ads Samsung ran in the early aughts: "We Will Find You." The ads depicted scenes exactly like you described, connection to earth. They didn't show people blabbing on the phone, in fact they didn't show people at all, just cool places where people generally go to avoid distractions. The one I remember the best was a beach scene with someone's sandals hanging on a picket fence. We will find you? The hell you will!
ReplyDeleteThe only real value I could name from not being tied to a device is just that: freedom from being constantly connected. I like to choose when I make or take a call, and when I'm not near a phone, I don't miss it. So the benefits as I see them are peace and quiet, and not-insignificant cost savings. Drawbacks are obvious: I don't deny the value of all the good things Jason listed above, and an emergency situation where it would be a great idea to have a cell phone could make me rethink the whole thing. As for the other technologies I avoid, i.e. social networking, I don't think this class will change my views on them, nor will it free up time to frolic in them. But if it does, great!