Is there a certain point we reach in this technological era where we become so over-saturated with information that we become “blinded” to what’s really important? And by “really important” I mean living our lives. Sure, I love coding for hours on end or posting tweets till my fingers go numb, but at the end of the day, or our lives for that matter, will we be pleased with what we’ve accomplished? Maybe I’m thinking too far ahead here. Maybe the work we’re doing now in the age of the internet will reap great rewards in the future. I don’t know. But one thing that scares me is the amount of information we’re expected to keep up with. Sure things like RSS readers and Twitter are helpful. But when is it all too much? At what point do we overload? I know lately I’ve felt burdened by this thought. Feeling like I have to keep up with this rat race of information only makes me feel less and less apart of reality.
When I go home at night and spend time with my wife and two dogs, this is what reality looks like.
But I understand why some people build their whole lives online. Look at me for example. If it weren’t for the internet I would not have met my wife. And I would not be celebrating three wonderful years of marriage this year. But I also currently socialize online at more than ten different locations and spend all day on twitter talking to friends both far and near. Not to mention the amount of time I spend working on this website. Then factor in all the incalculable hours I spend thinking about new ideas for my blog, or new designs for work. Sharing our lives online has become the new standard. If you don’t have a myspace or facebook or your own blog then you’re considered out of touch with reality. Am I missing something?
I saw a movie a couple of weeks ago where people all of a sudden went blind, not in the Ray Charles sort of way, but they could only see bright white (a mixture of all colors in the light spectrum). The movie is based off the novel “Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira” (literally “Essay About Blindness”) by Portuguese author José Saramago. It had really beautiful cinematography, but that’s not the point. Throughout the movie I asked myself, “what would I do if I suddenly went blind?” I mean with so much of my life dependent on a computer, it was semi-frightening to think about. How would I go on? (And please don’t say screen readers.) But thinking like that is silly right? I mean it’s pretty unrealistic to think I’ll wake up one day and be blind. However, examining our lives and the value of what we do and whether or not it’s relevant to reality I think IS a valid question to ask ourselves.
Please don’t mistake me here though, I love what I do. Being able to create an image or a brand for someone that represents who they are in colors and shapes is what gets my heart pumping. My desire though is to see the design community, as a whole, think for themselves and not just follow “blindly” those who are already well established. We each have a voice/design of our own and that’s what the world needs. Not just more cookie-cutter/assembly-line design. So how do we do this? I’m not exactly sure. But I think stepping outside our comfort zones and unplugging from the overload of information once in a while is a great place to start.
We need to be a part of reality in order to put something real back in our designs.
I’d love to hear what you think about the information overload in today’s world or how you think we as designers can break away from the cookie-cutter way of life.
Good point Kyle.
I also ask myself sometimes what am i gonna do with tons of information i produce and swallow everyday.
My life is being build upon it too since i got into design.
Well, you know, there’s not really much left to do. I just follow my intuition.
If i’m feeling overloaded, i simply reduce it drastically.
If i’m feeling like i wanna have more of it, i simply go for it.
It is always directly proportional to how much importance i give to it.
But it gets confused sometimes, you know :
I like what you said about “It is always directly proportional to how much importance i give to it.” Making a list of priorities is essential to me, whether it be on paper or in my head. But it’s so true that sometimes things cluster all together and it’s hard to separate the pieces.
Ah, this was refreshing! I think just knowing one is not alone is wonderful. I’ve been writing on my blog for over a year now and I’m feeling run ragged trying to keep up with online “friends” I’ve met through my blog. I feel like sometimes my family (just a husband for now) is suffering as well as my own happiness. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s totally awesome that I can talk to people in my industry from all over the world and I’m so happy that I live in a time where it’s possible–but I hate that feeling of obligation to keep up with everything in order to be successful. Ok… in order to be popular.
I like what you say at the end there, “We need to be a part of reality in order to put something real back in our designs.” It’s a necessary break, stepping away from the computer and by being interested in other things; it can help us come up with unique ideas for projects. We can have a different perspective on a project depending on what we do with our free time–SCUBA dive, letterpress printing, oragami, scrapbooking, video games, which TV shows we’re interested in, movies we watch, etc.
*deep breath* ah, thanks for the space to share, Kyle
Found your blog via the Designer Daily writing project and I’m glad I did! It’s always awesome to “meet” other Christian designers.
@Lauren “I feel like sometimes my family (just a husband for now) is suffering”
My wife would agree with you here. She said to me the other night, “Is it bad that I prefer you playing xbox with Matt over working all the time on your computer?” I laughed, but at the same time I know I need to respect her feelings and unplug every once in a while.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and yes, it is always good to meet other Christian designers.
Hi Kyle. I’ve been thinking about this too, and wrote about it in my latest blog entry (how ironic).
I share your sentiment about information overload, especially when it comes to web design. I feel I’ve been looking at other people’s work, or reading others’ writings too much. At the end, leaving myself not much time doing my own work. “Overly Inspired” is the title of my article.
As for life vs internet, I think there should be a fine balance. Social networking is what you make it to be. I see it as a tool, not a substitute for real life.
Anyways, good read.
The scarey part is that we’re moving to a more ubiquitous environment where the computers become (almost) invisible – like the 40 in the modern car. Our things are going onto the Internet, not just us. The challenge then will be, when there is One Web which holds all our information, what happens to the majority of the planet who aren’t on the Web?
We forget that although most of the people we associate with are like us… the most of everybody really either doesn’t plug in or they just use basic email etc… My point being, where is all this leading for society as a whole? Accessibility? Haves versus Have Nots?
Big questions. In the end I am concerned that in the end I’m missing life. That pseudo reality will become augmented reality and evolve into implanted reality… and we’ll miss life itself. A virtual friend is not a friend, not really. Hug your wife, buy a dog and go sit by the river with a sketchbook.
Some research I read recently showed the great difference between the brain activity of analog sketching with a pencil versus sketching the same thing in Illustrator…
@Jin
” I see it as a tool, not a substitute for real life.” This is a good reminder for everyone. It’s so easy to become trapped in social networks and only see people as either online or offline. So sad that it’s becoming the more and more.
@Steven
“I am concerned that in the end I’m missing life.” I think we’ve all been here before. And that’s why it is so important to unplug and get some fresh air.
I’m still gathering some more thoughts before writing an article very similar to this, and truthfully I’m just glad to see that others are thinking about this topic as well.
The Web is still very young. Even we who use the newest and deepest parts of it know very little about it. The next 100-200 years will determine just how ridiculous we Tweople and Facebook addicts really were/are.
Tyler, the web is only a bit over 6,000 days old… I think the next 5 years to 10 years will dramatically change how we see the web and our relationship with it.
Remember, the Internet itself is running on 30 year old architecture. The idea that things will always be this way has never been less true, especially for 100-200 years… killer applications come and go by the year. If, for example, a killer cool competitor hit Facebook you might see a total bailout in a few months. An enhanced Twitter – say voice operated, no typing, permanently hooked as an interrupt to your closed friends – and Twitter would be so lame you’d bail almost immediately.
But the overall complications of spreading ourselves thin as human beings will only get more immersive. And what that can do to our “real” relationships is scarey. If we don’t consciously choose to switch off and sit by the river then we’re going to get less out of real life IMO.
I wonder how many people don’t have a real girlfriend / boyfriend simply because they’re sitting there fooling themselves that Twitter matters. Making love and having babies matters… Twitter is the jukebox.
It sounds like we’re all afflicted with the obsessive web malady though.
sorry, that should have been “closest friends” not “closed friends” lol…