Comments on: “The Death of Mystery” in the Age of the Blackberry http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/ the love of change Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:45:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Special Birthday Edition of Monday Links: January 5th, 2009 | Tropophilia http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1855 Special Birthday Edition of Monday Links: January 5th, 2009 | Tropophilia Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:27:15 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1855 [...] The first documented signs of my Blackberry addiction: “The Death of Mystery” in the Age of the Blackberry [...] [...] The first documented signs of my Blackberry addiction: “The Death of Mystery” in the Age of the Blackberry [...]

]]> By: Sierra A. Mike http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1600 Sierra A. Mike Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:18:40 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1600 I hate it. facebook makes my encyclopedic knowledge of birthdays seem passé. Trivial abilities, like being able to name every Senator, are only impressive on "Jeopardy!." The movie thing Rachel mentioned used to be a big part of my family's cinema post-game, and we had one of those big Hollywood books that answered every question. M.H.'s point about the Internet changing how we think is absolutely true ... reminds me of this: <blockquote><i>Can it be true? Do all Simpsons go through a process of dumbening? Wait, that's not how you spell dumbening... waaait, dumbening isn't even a word!</i> - Lisa</blockquote> I can only imagine what the era of Total Recall is doing in High School. Who needs to know all the countries in Africa when the information is at your fingertips? When it comes to international relations, I think Americans could miss out as one of the (mostly) untouched provinces of intellectualism - foreign language - takes on even more importance as a social handshake protocol. You can Wikipedia a reference to "The Prince" or figure out why John McCain cares about Europe's Georgia more than America's Georgia using a Smartphone, but it can't tell you how to speak Spanish. We live in the age of the poseur, where everyone can be cool and effectively "retcon" their knowledge and experiences while they go outside for a smoke. Will the salon or coffeehouse of the future ask the intellectuals to use a BlackBerry check room? Obviously, I'm presenting the most pessimistic possibilities, but I don't think I'm too far out of the ballpark. Since I first joined the CrackBerryCult in 2005, I've used it to become an "instant expert" a few more times than I'd like to admit. Frankly, it's too much like cheating to me ... cheating at life. Thank God I kept it off in class ... I hate it. facebook makes my encyclopedic knowledge of birthdays seem passé. Trivial abilities, like being able to name every Senator, are only impressive on “Jeopardy!.” The movie thing Rachel mentioned used to be a big part of my family’s cinema post-game, and we had one of those big Hollywood books that answered every question. M.H.’s point about the Internet changing how we think is absolutely true … reminds me of this:

Can it be true? Do all Simpsons go through a process of
dumbening? Wait, that’s not how you spell dumbening… waaait, dumbening
isn’t even a word! – Lisa

I can only imagine what the era of Total Recall is doing in High School. Who needs to know all the countries in Africa when the information is at your fingertips?

When it comes to international relations, I think Americans could miss out as one of the (mostly) untouched provinces of intellectualism – foreign language – takes on even more importance as a social handshake protocol. You can Wikipedia a reference to “The Prince” or figure out why John McCain cares about Europe’s Georgia more than America’s Georgia using a Smartphone, but it can’t tell you how to speak Spanish.

We live in the age of the poseur, where everyone can be cool and effectively “retcon” their knowledge and experiences while they go outside for a smoke. Will the salon or coffeehouse of the future ask the intellectuals to use a BlackBerry check room? Obviously, I’m presenting the most pessimistic possibilities, but I don’t think I’m too far out of the ballpark. Since I first joined the CrackBerryCult in 2005, I’ve used it to become an “instant expert” a few more times than I’d like to admit. Frankly, it’s too much like cheating to me … cheating at life. Thank God I kept it off in class …

]]> By: Rachel http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1598 Rachel Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:40:20 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1598 That is a really, really interesting observation. I've had a similar experience with my parents while watching a movie. "Isn't that somebody?" is my dad's favorite mantra while watching a movie---he'll happily spend the rest of the movie hypothesizing what else that actor has been in. He makes me feel like quite the spoil sport when I easily IMDB it. That is a really, really interesting observation. I’ve had a similar experience with my parents while watching a movie. “Isn’t that somebody?” is my dad’s favorite mantra while watching a movie—he’ll happily spend the rest of the movie hypothesizing what else that actor has been in. He makes me feel like quite the spoil sport when I easily IMDB it.

]]> By: Jorge http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1591 Jorge Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:47:14 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1591 http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/library_of_babel.html http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/library_of_babel.html

]]> By: Tracy http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1590 Tracy Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:57:09 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1590 Taylor, as someone who is both addicted to her Blackberry and also sometimes loves the longhand search for information, I think what your colleague (I'm guessing Mary?) pointed out is what makes the difference. Still, though, that all depends on what you're trying to get from, or do with, the information you're finding. If all you're looking for is an answer to a bar trivia question, or getting past a sticky crossword clue, then by all means -- the Blackberry is awesome. But if what you're looking for is substantive information that will shape your ideas, opinions, or action about a particular topic, then of course it makes sense to resist the allure of the omniavailability of the short, quick answer you can get on your Blackberry screen - because often its not only out of context and therefore not as rich - it can sometimes be so brief as to be misleading, and therefore not really good information at all. And even those of us who love the efficiency of a quick answer ought to still care about making sure we have GOOD information if we actually care about DOING something with that info. Last point -- in addition to having some real love for context, the other reason I still sometimes love the longhand search for information is because - contrary to the instincts of those of us who have come to love the internet - it can sometimes be the most efficient path to a good answer. When I was practicing law and researching certain types of broad legal questions, I still walked up to the library to search through the books rather than starting with a Westlaw or Lexus (the online legal research tools) search, because that was the quickest way to get on the right path to begin with (because I'm a visual learner, and the hardback legal index was visually organized in a way that would show me all the related legal terms I ought to explore and which cases were popping up most often and being cited most frequently). I could still get to the same answer with the online tools, but they just weren't as well-organized visually...so, in my quest for efficiency, even a child of the digital age had to learn that sometimes the digital tools aren't the most efficient - and those old books (which we have a predisposition to believe are tedious) can actually be better, quicker, and more accurate. Taylor, as someone who is both addicted to her Blackberry and also sometimes loves the longhand search for information, I think what your colleague (I’m guessing Mary?) pointed out is what makes the difference. Still, though, that all depends on what you’re trying to get from, or do with, the information you’re finding. If all you’re looking for is an answer to a bar trivia question, or getting past a sticky crossword clue, then by all means — the Blackberry is awesome. But if what you’re looking for is substantive information that will shape your ideas, opinions, or action about a particular topic, then of course it makes sense to resist the allure of the omniavailability of the short, quick answer you can get on your Blackberry screen – because often its not only out of context and therefore not as rich – it can sometimes be so brief as to be misleading, and therefore not really good information at all. And even those of us who love the efficiency of a quick answer ought to still care about making sure we have GOOD information if we actually care about DOING something with that info.
Last point — in addition to having some real love for context, the other reason I still sometimes love the longhand search for information is because – contrary to the instincts of those of us who have come to love the internet – it can sometimes be the most efficient path to a good answer. When I was practicing law and researching certain types of broad legal questions, I still walked up to the library to search through the books rather than starting with a Westlaw or Lexus (the online legal research tools) search, because that was the quickest way to get on the right path to begin with (because I’m a visual learner, and the hardback legal index was visually organized in a way that would show me all the related legal terms I ought to explore and which cases were popping up most often and being cited most frequently). I could still get to the same answer with the online tools, but they just weren’t as well-organized visually…so, in my quest for efficiency, even a child of the digital age had to learn that sometimes the digital tools aren’t the most efficient – and those old books (which we have a predisposition to believe are tedious) can actually be better, quicker, and more accurate.

]]> By: Jessica http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1589 Jessica Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:08:05 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1589 From one of "those people" welcome, I have impressed many people at the bar playing trivia when no one an figure out an answer. I think that knowledge is a currency that was more scarce 50 years ago when technology wasn't as plentiful. I am still in college and I understand what you are saying when you ask if maybe we are loosing something because I see other student struggle to find sources for papers that aren't online, and many are completely independent on using digital sources for everything they do. I took a basic statistic course and was shocked to find that we used excel for everything. We never learned how to do the formulas by hand because, "we use to do that twenty years ago but now everyone uses excel and that is what employers are going to expect you to know." Its like when the cash register goes down and the person behind it can't figure change from $2.05 if the total was $1.55 (you get two quarters then). People who understand how to do hard research and math without a calculator are becoming a scarce resource, but maybe that's good for those of us who can do it. From one of “those people” welcome, I have impressed many people at the bar playing trivia when no one an figure out an answer.

I think that knowledge is a currency that was more scarce 50 years ago when technology wasn’t as plentiful. I am still in college and I understand what you are saying when you ask if maybe we are loosing something because I see other student struggle to find sources for papers that aren’t online, and many are completely independent on using digital sources for everything they do. I took a basic statistic course and was shocked to find that we used excel for everything. We never learned how to do the formulas by hand because, “we use to do that twenty years ago but now everyone uses excel and that is what employers are going to expect you to know.”

Its like when the cash register goes down and the person behind it can’t figure change from $2.05 if the total was $1.55 (you get two quarters then). People who understand how to do hard research and math without a calculator are becoming a scarce resource, but maybe that’s good for those of us who can do it.

]]> By: Taylor http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1588 Taylor Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:49:36 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1588 @ Michael--I think you bring up a good point, and I think the "know it all" and "status symbol" labels that immediate access to information can bring are risks AND what I find grates on older people the most. I've been mulling and discussing the question all day, and one of my coworkers brought up a good point. If we lose anything, maybe it's the context and secondary learning that takes place en route to an answer. I can think of many times when, in the quest for knowledge, I learned more from the things I read along the way than from the ultimate answer. Maybe the INefficiency of searching through books, for instance, leads us on valuable tangents that a targeted Google search will not. I can see both perspectives clearly, but I think I ultimately cherish my access to information too much to let go. @ Rebecca--Thanks for reading (and the kind words)! Feel free to chime in anytime! @ Michael–I think you bring up a good point, and I think the “know it all” and “status symbol” labels that immediate access to information can bring are risks AND what I find grates on older people the most.

I’ve been mulling and discussing the question all day, and one of my coworkers brought up a good point. If we lose anything, maybe it’s the context and secondary learning that takes place en route to an answer. I can think of many times when, in the quest for knowledge, I learned more from the things I read along the way than from the ultimate answer. Maybe the INefficiency of searching through books, for instance, leads us on valuable tangents that a targeted Google search will not.

I can see both perspectives clearly, but I think I ultimately cherish my access to information too much to let go.

@ Rebecca–Thanks for reading (and the kind words)! Feel free to chime in anytime!

]]> By: Rebecca http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1587 Rebecca Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:37:11 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1587 I'm still mulling over the implications of a lack of mystery, but wanted to let you know that this is well-written and a great story! I’m still mulling over the implications of a lack of mystery, but wanted to let you know that this is well-written and a great story!

]]> By: Michael Henreckson http://tropophilia.com/2008/08/05/the-death-of-mystery-in-the-age-of-the-blackberry/#comment-1585 Michael Henreckson Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:59:39 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=368#comment-1585 Having had similar experiences myself, I sometimes think that we are losing something by having information always available. Sure it can come in handy at times, but it also means that I could be looking up the answers to questions ever minute and a half. Will that make me smarter or just more web-reliant? I'm not sure. There is also a danger to looking things up whenever a question comes up. You start looking like you're trying to be a know-it-all. Everyone has questions and you have the verified wikipedia answers within 30 seconds. That makes intelligence less important than the status symbol of having the smartphone with web-access. It's handy to be able to look up anything anywhere, but like a lot of things, it should be used with judgement. Sometimes it's best to resist the urge to reach for the web. Having had similar experiences myself, I sometimes think that we are losing something by having information always available. Sure it can come in handy at times, but it also means that I could be looking up the answers to questions ever minute and a half. Will that make me smarter or just more web-reliant? I’m not sure.

There is also a danger to looking things up whenever a question comes up. You start looking like you’re trying to be a know-it-all. Everyone has questions and you have the verified wikipedia answers within 30 seconds. That makes intelligence less important than the status symbol of having the smartphone with web-access.

It’s handy to be able to look up anything anywhere, but like a lot of things, it should be used with judgement. Sometimes it’s best to resist the urge to reach for the web.

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