PopTechnoPhobia
When
it started, John was in love.
He
had always had a passion for
computers - he was one of
the first people I knew who
owned one. He began programming
back in junior high school.
A few years later he discovered
bulletin board systems - the
interactive predecessor to
the modern internet. By college
he was a regular user of newsgroups
- a loose collective of university
students and computer whizzes
around the world that traded
information via email.
Now
there he was, just after college,
excited about something called
the world wide web. It was
going to be cool, it was going
to be revolutionary, it was
going to totally change the
way we got our information.
For
John to be excited about something
new was, well, pretty normal.
This is the same guy who bought
most of his high-tech gadgets
long before most of us had
even heard of them. His car
has so many gizmos in it that
there is no room for passengers.
He's always preferred Linux
over Windows on his computer.
He's also the only guy I know
who has a Global Positioning
System receiver in his automobile.
For
the uninformed, GPS units
allow you to know exactly
where you are on this earth
to within sixty feel of absolute
by taking a series of readings
off of the numerous stationary
satellites orbiting the planet.
Combine this with software
that includes maps so detailed
they can tell you what street
you are on and which gas station
you will pass next and you
have what John has called
the ultimate "nerd navigation".
So
he was all excited about this
world wide web thing at a
time when most people had
never even heard the phrase
"dot com." He even convinced
me to do a website for my
music and he did all of the
programming for it.
Fast
forward five years. The web
has indeed revolutionized
the transfer of information,
creating a uniquely interactive
medium unlike any other that's
come before. Every mom and
pop store has a website, every
man, woman and child has a
homepage. Like most people,
I've learned to design my
own web pages.
But
John is no longer in love.
The desire he felt for the
web has cooled. While graphics
get flashier and flashier,
John uses a primarily text-based
web browser - one that displays
no images. While even my mother
wanders the web and uses email
on a semi-regular basis, John
barely surfs the net and rarely
emails anymore. In fact, he's
become downright crotchety
about the "information superhighway".
"I
hate buzzwords" he'll grumble.
"I hate Flash and Shockwave,"
he scowls. "There's too many
people on the 'net" he sighs.
And
I realize that, for John,
part of the fun of the internet
was its exclusivity. It was
like having a membership to
a private club. Like most
techno-minded people, John
liked being in the know. Now
the extensive saturation of
the web has taken the knowledge
that he had and disseminated
it to the masses. Even people
who couldn't tell you both
the democratic and republican
nominees for president are
well versed in html, ftp,
tcp/ip and more. What began
as a grand exploration into
the unknown has now been converted
into a theme park filled with
ugly tourists and bratty kids.
Mainstream virtual storefronts
have all but obscured many
of the creative, independent
voices that first gave the
web it's identity as a renegade
collection of nerdy free spirits
and geniuses on the fringe
of society.
Quite
frankly John doesn't want
to deal with all the tourists
or the bratty kids. Yeah,
he was in love when it started.
But that's over now - overrun
by the masses. He'd rather
talk about something less-mainstream,
less buzzworthy.
"Did
you know that they've launched
more GPS satellites?" he inquires.
"Did I tell you that I'm ditching
Linux because it's become
too commercial?" he asks.
Of
course I didn't. I've been
too busy on the web.
This
column © 2000 Lee Totten
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