Comments on: Our Love Affair with Digital: Are we Being Led Astray? http://www.davidbrewster.com/2009/11/20/our-love-affair-with-digital/ Writer: Copywriter, Ghostwriter, Corporate Writing, Articles Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:14:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: David Brewster http://www.davidbrewster.com/2009/11/20/our-love-affair-with-digital/comment-page-1/#comment-160 David Brewster Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:26:07 +0000 http://www.davidbrewster.com/?p=313#comment-160 You make a good point Nicole. (Thanks for your comment.) In some ways you are arguing something similar to what I'm saying in my more recent post (Why Technology will Never Replace the Knowledge of Elders) - that the fundamentals don't change, just the media. In that sense I guess I've contradicted myself from one post to the next - oh the joys of blogging! On the other hand, today's news stories in Melbourne - over 40 Virgin Blue flights cancelled because of a single faulty cable, and a car out of control because the cruise control wouldn't turn off - are good examples of the vulnerability I wrote of. Perhaps it's the risk of an instantaneous "collapse in a heap", as opposed to degradation over time, which is particularly characteristic of our reliance on things digital. You make a good point Nicole. (Thanks for your comment.) In some ways you are arguing something similar to what I’m saying in my more recent post (Why Technology will Never Replace the Knowledge of Elders) – that the fundamentals don’t change, just the media. In that sense I guess I’ve contradicted myself from one post to the next – oh the joys of blogging!

On the other hand, today’s news stories in Melbourne – over 40 Virgin Blue flights cancelled because of a single faulty cable, and a car out of control because the cruise control wouldn’t turn off – are good examples of the vulnerability I wrote of. Perhaps it’s the risk of an instantaneous “collapse in a heap”, as opposed to degradation over time, which is particularly characteristic of our reliance on things digital.

]]> By: Nicole Irwin http://www.davidbrewster.com/2009/11/20/our-love-affair-with-digital/comment-page-1/#comment-159 Nicole Irwin Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:44:46 +0000 http://www.davidbrewster.com/?p=313#comment-159 I wonder if you have considered just how much this applies to most things in life. A conversation or letter is ephemeral. The words on pages of books fade. Video tape leaves deposits on the player that ever so surely degrade the output until it is unwatchable. I can recite recipes from a soapbox, but without an audience at that exact time, the performance is pointless. My blog - provided the intergoogle doesn't collapse in a heap - allows far greater permanency than traditional media. Any reliance on technology makes us vulnerable to its failure; I don't think digital technology is any better or worse than its analogue counterparts. I wonder if you have considered just how much this applies to most things in life. A conversation or letter is ephemeral. The words on pages of books fade. Video tape leaves deposits on the player that ever so surely degrade the output until it is unwatchable. I can recite recipes from a soapbox, but without an audience at that exact time, the performance is pointless. My blog – provided the intergoogle doesn’t collapse in a heap – allows far greater permanency than traditional media. Any reliance on technology makes us vulnerable to its failure; I don’t think digital technology is any better or worse than its analogue counterparts.

]]> By: Catherine White http://www.davidbrewster.com/2009/11/20/our-love-affair-with-digital/comment-page-1/#comment-154 Catherine White Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:33:15 +0000 http://www.davidbrewster.com/?p=313#comment-154 Well said, well written and well... sad but true reality. Since I've begun a partial sabbatical, I feel more in control and less stuck in a timeless quicksand from which I sink every time I log on. The first week was rough, even after four weeks, I feel anxious if I've not logged on for a whole day. At times such as these, I remind myself the masses baying for my blogging blood at my window can wait. And they do ...without a second thought for my late blog, or overdue status update. Well said, well written and well… sad but true reality.

Since I’ve begun a partial sabbatical, I feel more in control and less stuck in a timeless quicksand from which I sink every time I log on.

The first week was rough, even after four weeks, I feel anxious if I’ve not logged on for a whole day. At times such as these, I remind myself the masses baying for my blogging blood at my window can wait. And they do …without a second thought for my late blog, or overdue status update.

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