Does what it says on the tin.
August 23, 2017 1:58 PM Subscribe
It's a self-righteous lecture on how you should disconnect from the internet sometimes.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 2:02 PM on August 23, 2017 [40 favorites]
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 2:02 PM on August 23, 2017 [40 favorites]
If I wanted self-righteous lectures, I'd read my own comments.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:04 PM on August 23, 2017 [130 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:04 PM on August 23, 2017 [130 favorites]
Yeah, thought they'd do something more interesting with the premise than scold people for having an internet connection.
For a completely unrelated example of a negative premise with a much better payoff:
There is no game .
posted by signal at 2:07 PM on August 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
For a completely unrelated example of a negative premise with a much better payoff:
There is no game .
posted by signal at 2:07 PM on August 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
It's a self-righteous lecture on how you should disconnect from the internet sometimes.
The author should have followed their own advice and gone for a walk or a beer or something instead.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:18 PM on August 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
The author should have followed their own advice and gone for a walk or a beer or something instead.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:18 PM on August 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
this is the content of the page if you view it with your browser convinced you have no network:
Do you want to be productive? Just go offline, because to maintain a constant connection to the internet is to maintain a constant connection to interruptions, both external and internal.
The external interruptions are legion and well-documented: you have a new message on Gmail, Slack, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn. Friends, family, coworkers, and spammers: each have direct access to your precious attention.
But it’s the internal distractions that are truly pernicious. You can mute Twitter notifications and log off of Slack, but how do you stop your own mind from derailing you?
I have spent hours caught in webs of my own curiosity. Most dangerous is the split-second whim, apropos of nothing: “I wonder what the second most commonly spoken language is?” Those 500 milliseconds could change your day, because it is never just one Google search, never just one Wikipedia article. Disconnecting from the internet short-circuits those whims, allowing you to move on unencumbered. (It’s Spanish, by the way.)
This page itself is an experiment in this vein: what if certain content required us to disconnect? What if readers had access to that glorious attention that makes devouring a novel for hours at a time so satisfying? What if creators could pair that with the power of modern devices? Our phones and laptops are amazing platforms for novel content — if only we could harness our own attention.
Offline-only content would also force creators to think differently. Look at this page: there is not a single link, no footnote offering to distract readers. How many good articles have you left half-read because you chased a shiny underlined link? When you are offline, right here is the only place you can be.
I can already hear the groans: “But I have to be online for my job.” I don’t care. Make time. I bet the thing that makes you valuable is not your ability to Google something, but your ability to synthesize information. Do your research online, but create offline.
Now back to your regularly scheduled internet. Just remember to give yourself an occasional gift of disconnection.
❤️ Chris
posted by trackofalljades at 2:45 PM on August 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
Do you want to be productive? Just go offline, because to maintain a constant connection to the internet is to maintain a constant connection to interruptions, both external and internal.
The external interruptions are legion and well-documented: you have a new message on Gmail, Slack, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn. Friends, family, coworkers, and spammers: each have direct access to your precious attention.
But it’s the internal distractions that are truly pernicious. You can mute Twitter notifications and log off of Slack, but how do you stop your own mind from derailing you?
I have spent hours caught in webs of my own curiosity. Most dangerous is the split-second whim, apropos of nothing: “I wonder what the second most commonly spoken language is?” Those 500 milliseconds could change your day, because it is never just one Google search, never just one Wikipedia article. Disconnecting from the internet short-circuits those whims, allowing you to move on unencumbered. (It’s Spanish, by the way.)
This page itself is an experiment in this vein: what if certain content required us to disconnect? What if readers had access to that glorious attention that makes devouring a novel for hours at a time so satisfying? What if creators could pair that with the power of modern devices? Our phones and laptops are amazing platforms for novel content — if only we could harness our own attention.
Offline-only content would also force creators to think differently. Look at this page: there is not a single link, no footnote offering to distract readers. How many good articles have you left half-read because you chased a shiny underlined link? When you are offline, right here is the only place you can be.
I can already hear the groans: “But I have to be online for my job.” I don’t care. Make time. I bet the thing that makes you valuable is not your ability to Google something, but your ability to synthesize information. Do your research online, but create offline.
Now back to your regularly scheduled internet. Just remember to give yourself an occasional gift of disconnection.
❤️ Chris
posted by trackofalljades at 2:45 PM on August 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
but online is where the memes are?
posted by phunniemee at 2:57 PM on August 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 2:57 PM on August 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
-1, not enough cats, would not click again
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:07 PM on August 23, 2017 [17 favorites]
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:07 PM on August 23, 2017 [17 favorites]
Can someone explain how this works? I got as far as checking the source but the javascript code is obfuscated.
posted by quaking fajita at 3:10 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by quaking fajita at 3:10 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Fucking stupid advice. When I'm writing most of the time,, I don't know what I need to research until I get to the point in what I'm writing where I realize I need more information about what I'm writingg about at that moment than my brain can provide. I'd just have to turn the internet back on every ten minutes if I tried this.
I speak for myself personally if course. If you find this self-righteous pap useful, more power to you.
posted by Caduceus at 3:12 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
I speak for myself personally if course. If you find this self-righteous pap useful, more power to you.
posted by Caduceus at 3:12 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
I pretty-printed the JS and it is doing a whole lot more than just delivering a screed about constant connection. What that is, exactly, I have no idea. Though according to the console log it works using a custom React script, to which he links.
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:15 PM on August 23, 2017
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:15 PM on August 23, 2017
quaking fajita, it may use online/offline events and the "navigator.onLine" property.
posted by mbrubeck at 3:16 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by mbrubeck at 3:16 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'll bet nobody else who compulsively checks things online has ever thought of this innovative solution. Thanks for sharing, cartoon heart Chris.
posted by ernielundquist at 3:17 PM on August 23, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by ernielundquist at 3:17 PM on August 23, 2017 [12 favorites]
Eh, it's not the greatest thing I've ever seen, but I kind of like it overall. I guess it's just me. I don't mind the occasional reminder that I waste a lot of my time on the internet. My girlfriend and I have started turning off our phones and computers in the evenings. It's been great. I don't expect everyone to do the same, but I'm happy with it.
Not surprised this is getting such a snarky reaction here, but that's the internet for you.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:20 PM on August 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
Not surprised this is getting such a snarky reaction here, but that's the internet for you.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:20 PM on August 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
Pffft. I often go offline. Then I play games on my phone.
posted by Splunge at 3:25 PM on August 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 3:25 PM on August 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
(It's Spanish, by the way.)
The language with the second-most first-language speakers is Spanish, according to this Wikipedia page, but the language with the second-most speakers, not just native ones, is English, per this other Wikipedia page. That seems to satisfy his criterion of "second most commonly spoken" better.
I am forced to conclude the author was in too much of a hurry not to spend too much time on the Internet.
posted by Earthtopus at 3:35 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
The language with the second-most first-language speakers is Spanish, according to this Wikipedia page, but the language with the second-most speakers, not just native ones, is English, per this other Wikipedia page. That seems to satisfy his criterion of "second most commonly spoken" better.
I am forced to conclude the author was in too much of a hurry not to spend too much time on the Internet.
posted by Earthtopus at 3:35 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
yea I hate it when I have friends and family.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:35 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:35 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
What if readers had access to that glorious attention that makes devouring a novel for hours at a time so satisfying?
I regularly go offline to read ebooks on an e-ink, not-network-connected ereader. I go through a ridiculous amount of MCU fanfic, and occasionally clusters of fiction acquired from HumbleBundle or Storybundle.
I somehow doubt he'd find me more "virtuous" than people who are always connected. (It's the screen, I think. Reading is only a noble endeavor if it involves paper. Reading pixels isn't "real" reading. Reading 250k-word stories about Steve & Bucky's arranged gay marriage probably doesnn't count as disconnecting.)
Our phones and laptops are amazing platforms for novel content — if only we could harness our own attention.
Lemme guess... white boy in the tech industry, not a single parent working three jobs and clinging to the internet as the only source of entertainment that works around a hellishly busy schedule.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:38 PM on August 23, 2017 [10 favorites]
I regularly go offline to read ebooks on an e-ink, not-network-connected ereader. I go through a ridiculous amount of MCU fanfic, and occasionally clusters of fiction acquired from HumbleBundle or Storybundle.
I somehow doubt he'd find me more "virtuous" than people who are always connected. (It's the screen, I think. Reading is only a noble endeavor if it involves paper. Reading pixels isn't "real" reading. Reading 250k-word stories about Steve & Bucky's arranged gay marriage probably doesnn't count as disconnecting.)
Our phones and laptops are amazing platforms for novel content — if only we could harness our own attention.
Lemme guess... white boy in the tech industry, not a single parent working three jobs and clinging to the internet as the only source of entertainment that works around a hellishly busy schedule.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:38 PM on August 23, 2017 [10 favorites]
Sanctimonious prick
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:43 PM on August 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:43 PM on August 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
There is definitely value to being offline. Is thay a controversial idea?
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:00 PM on August 23, 2017
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:00 PM on August 23, 2017
mbrubeck is right. I Ctrl+F'ed the source for 'onLine' and found that it was printing some helpful info to the console log (in Firefox, Tools > Web Developer > Web Console):
But how does it work?posted by a car full of lions at 4:05 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
Check out https://github.com/chrisbolin/react-detect-offline (if you're online!)
Spoiler: window.addEventListener with 'online' and 'offline', plus navigator.onLine
If it isn't working for you, maybe your browser isn't supported - http://caniuse.com/#feat=online-status.
If that's the case, run window.help() for the spoiler.
There is definitely value to being offline. Is that a controversial idea?
No, but being smug and judgmental about other peoples' online usage certainly is.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:24 PM on August 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
No, but being smug and judgmental about other peoples' online usage certainly is.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:24 PM on August 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Not to threadsit too much, but I originally reacted to the directive "must go offline" by turning off my computer's Wi-Fi. I was interested to see how that trick worked!
It didn't, as it turned out--I've still only gotten the text of the article from this thread. And I thought I'd lost this comment, for a while, since I'd switched my Wi-Fi off.
posted by Earthtopus at 4:28 PM on August 23, 2017
It didn't, as it turned out--I've still only gotten the text of the article from this thread. And I thought I'd lost this comment, for a while, since I'd switched my Wi-Fi off.
posted by Earthtopus at 4:28 PM on August 23, 2017
There is definitely value to being offline. Is that a controversial idea?
Thay don't have to be wrong to be sanctimonious pricks.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:43 PM on August 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
Thay don't have to be wrong to be sanctimonious pricks.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:43 PM on August 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
jenkinsEar:
I liked it.
I liked it as an interesting and clever tech demo, and I was glad to interact with it. I would not have without your post. Maybe not the ideal use of it, but a good little corner of the web.
Thank you for your post.
posted by BlackPebble at 4:45 PM on August 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
I liked it.
I liked it as an interesting and clever tech demo, and I was glad to interact with it. I would not have without your post. Maybe not the ideal use of it, but a good little corner of the web.
Thank you for your post.
posted by BlackPebble at 4:45 PM on August 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
Yeah, my first reaction was, "Neat. I wonder how he did that? This would be a cool easteregg to put on a website." My second reaction was, "People actually read the content?"
posted by cjorgensen at 6:50 PM on August 23, 2017
posted by cjorgensen at 6:50 PM on August 23, 2017
Yeah I'm not getting sanctimony or prickishness from this, like, at all. This is a problem with text based media, we tend to read into it what we will, for whatever reasons. I took it as a friendly reminder because Christ yes I'm online wayyyy more than is good for me.
posted by gorbichov at 6:53 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by gorbichov at 6:53 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
me@mertha:~] lynx https://chris.bolin.co/offline/Well, I'm all out of ideas.
Alert!: This client does not contain support for HTTPS URLs.
lynx: Can't access startfile https://chris.bolin.co/offline/
posted by i_have_a_computer at 7:22 PM on August 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Weird, surprisingly negative comment thread here. I'm guessing it's from people who don't get sucked into the internet as easily as the author/me. I'm getting to the point where I leave my phone in airplane mode until I step out the door or risk the strong likelihood that I will spend the first hour of my day exploring various corners of the internet.
I took this page less as a sanctimonious lecture and more as an idea for a new web-based communication medium. Self-contained reading. Reading with a definite end. It's a paradigm that's much about forcing the developer not to rely on links, comment sections, etc. as it is about forcing the user to be offline to read the page.
posted by mantecol at 7:28 PM on August 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
I took this page less as a sanctimonious lecture and more as an idea for a new web-based communication medium. Self-contained reading. Reading with a definite end. It's a paradigm that's much about forcing the developer not to rely on links, comment sections, etc. as it is about forcing the user to be offline to read the page.
posted by mantecol at 7:28 PM on August 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
Gorbichov, I agree. It's a pleasant essay on the joys of being offline. Simple as that.
Caduceus, you know people wrote detailed articles and books about technical or obscure subjects for centuries before the Internet gave us instant access to information. If some needed information while writing, they made a note and looked it up later. Or they did all their research beforehand and wrote from their notes. Granted, there are business and publication models these days that demand the kind of immediacy you're talking about, but those aren't the only ways of writing.
I'm not in total agreement with this; I never go into airplane mode while writing, but I also rarely allow myself to be interrupted or distracted when the muse grabs hold of me. Other times -- ooh, squirrel!
posted by lhauser at 7:37 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Caduceus, you know people wrote detailed articles and books about technical or obscure subjects for centuries before the Internet gave us instant access to information. If some needed information while writing, they made a note and looked it up later. Or they did all their research beforehand and wrote from their notes. Granted, there are business and publication models these days that demand the kind of immediacy you're talking about, but those aren't the only ways of writing.
I'm not in total agreement with this; I never go into airplane mode while writing, but I also rarely allow myself to be interrupted or distracted when the muse grabs hold of me. Other times -- ooh, squirrel!
posted by lhauser at 7:37 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I feel like that was a bizarre amount of trouble to go through to be reminded that the Internet is distracting but you can turn it off. Like, no fucking kidding.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:57 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 7:57 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think the problem is that anyone in 2017 who is telling people that online is distracting is talking to either new college students or people who realised it years ago and learned ways to cope.
posted by Merus at 8:00 PM on August 23, 2017
posted by Merus at 8:00 PM on August 23, 2017
tl;dr
posted by Vitamaster at 8:15 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Vitamaster at 8:15 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Viewed source. Saw link to .js file; loaded it in browser. Skimmed for readable text, found it, didn't have to try any further experimenting. Stayed online the whole time.
The 'must' is apparently just the authour's suggestion of moral imperative.
posted by DataPacRat at 8:32 PM on August 23, 2017
The 'must' is apparently just the authour's suggestion of moral imperative.
posted by DataPacRat at 8:32 PM on August 23, 2017
I'm getting to the point where I leave my phone in airplane mode until I step out the door or risk the strong likelihood that I will spend the first hour of my day exploring various corners of the internet.
Yeah, I think I might have been more receptive to it because I'm also getting to that point. I've actually been trying to figure out a way to disable internet on my phone and just use it as a phone (I'd just as soon turn it off all the time, except I worry that someone won't be able to reach me if there's an emergency). I could turn off all data maybe? Because I honestly hate that the first thing I do when the opportunity presents itself is go look at stuff online (like I am doing right now).
I think the problem is that anyone in 2017 who is telling people that online is distracting is talking to either new college students or people who realised it years ago and learned ways to cope.
I mean, or someone like me who doesn't mind a gentle nudge now and then. Again, that's why I didn't think this was sanctimonious, because I totally needed to hear it today. This could mean that I'm an idiot who should totally have this figured out by now, or it could mean that it's possible to see something like this and not assume the worst about the person who made it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:19 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I think I might have been more receptive to it because I'm also getting to that point. I've actually been trying to figure out a way to disable internet on my phone and just use it as a phone (I'd just as soon turn it off all the time, except I worry that someone won't be able to reach me if there's an emergency). I could turn off all data maybe? Because I honestly hate that the first thing I do when the opportunity presents itself is go look at stuff online (like I am doing right now).
I think the problem is that anyone in 2017 who is telling people that online is distracting is talking to either new college students or people who realised it years ago and learned ways to cope.
I mean, or someone like me who doesn't mind a gentle nudge now and then. Again, that's why I didn't think this was sanctimonious, because I totally needed to hear it today. This could mean that I'm an idiot who should totally have this figured out by now, or it could mean that it's possible to see something like this and not assume the worst about the person who made it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:19 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Weird, surprisingly negative comment thread here.
I'm finding going offline leads to me sleeping more. Maybe everyone is so negative because they're just not sleeping enough!
(Goes off to be a Viking)
posted by FJT at 9:45 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm finding going offline leads to me sleeping more. Maybe everyone is so negative because they're just not sleeping enough!
(Goes off to be a Viking)
posted by FJT at 9:45 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Nobody here is "negative" about the idea that going offline is good. People are critical of this nozzle taking it upon himself to lecture us about it (and do so in such a sanctimonious way--you have to go offline to read his online shit? What a maroon).
(Goes off to be a Viking)
Those do look like pretty good deals.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:56 PM on August 23, 2017
(Goes off to be a Viking)
Those do look like pretty good deals.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:56 PM on August 23, 2017
I liked having to disconnect to read the article. There's an awareness while reading it that you can't open Twitter (or whatever) to distract yourself before you finish it. The actual words of the article aren't that interesting, but, at least to me, this awareness made its own point.
posted by panic at 10:57 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by panic at 10:57 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
The "sanctimonious" part isn't "you should disconnect a bit today!" It's "you should learn to use obscure features of your browser in order to read my message that you should get away from the internet for a while."
With extra bonus assumptions of, "I have problems staying focused with all the distractions available online - so I know you do to!"
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:48 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
With extra bonus assumptions of, "I have problems staying focused with all the distractions available online - so I know you do to!"
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:48 PM on August 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I tried the going offline thing, and it was great. I got more reading done than ever before.
After five days, my boss asked me why I hadn't responded to any client emails- that is, he tried to ask me, but I didn't get the email.
On day six, I was fired. Now is that fair?
posted by happyroach at 11:50 PM on August 23, 2017
After five days, my boss asked me why I hadn't responded to any client emails- that is, he tried to ask me, but I didn't get the email.
On day six, I was fired. Now is that fair?
posted by happyroach at 11:50 PM on August 23, 2017
The "sanctimonious" part isn't "you should disconnect a bit today!" It's "you should learn to use obscure features of your browser in order to read my message that you should get away from the internet for a while."
I have no idea what you're talking about. I read it by turning off my wifi and clicking on the page.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:48 AM on August 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I have no idea what you're talking about. I read it by turning off my wifi and clicking on the page.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:48 AM on August 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
And like so many "modern" JavaScript projects it is crazily over-engineered and fails to show the important part - the content - when the JavaScript isn't working as intended.
posted by dominik at 1:06 AM on August 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by dominik at 1:06 AM on August 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
So I'm back after 5 days offline what did I miss
posted by saysthis at 6:02 AM on August 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by saysthis at 6:02 AM on August 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
So I'm back after 5 days offline what did I miss
The moon blotted out the sun and our President said and did some stupid things.
posted by pashdown at 9:55 AM on August 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
The moon blotted out the sun and our President said and did some stupid things.
posted by pashdown at 9:55 AM on August 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
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Anyone brave enough to try it? What happened?
posted by Frayed Knot at 2:01 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]