Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Internet time

Author:Geoff Allen
Posted:10/29/1999; 4:13:36 PM
Topic:Internet time
Msg #:12531 (In response to 12514)
Prev/Next:12530 / 12532

The quick reaction thing is really not about the Internet, about the information available, its more about being insecure. If people really trusted that what they were doing is right, they wouldn't worry so much and be anxious, aggressive drivers etc. My wife and I still spend about 3 hours in the veggie garden each weekend tending to our tomatoes and stuff. Hey, that's time enough for a Yahoo!-like company to go from idea to IPO.. So what. We still need to eat, we still need peace :).

Jacob,

Are you sure you don't like baseball? ";->" It's a game where things are thought out, and there is no "clock" to "beat."

Anyway, I'd like to offer my perspective, because I don't live in the Silicon Valley, and I'm glad for that. I live in farmland, in Idaho. Things still happen at a seasonal pace. Wheat gets planted in the fall. It snows. Spring comes. Wheat grows. Days get warmer. Wheat is tall and green. Things get hot and dry. Wheat turns golden. Days shorten. Wheat gets harvested. Things get cool. Wheat gets planted. I like it.

I also like to make sourdough bread. It takes all day for the bread to be ready to bake, and it's soooo good.

I work at a University, as a Unix system administrator. We have schedules, but they are well defined. Don't break anything during a semester. I like it. The deadlines are real, not something that some manager made up.

There are some ways, though, in which things do go faster. It used to be that if you needed to get something to someone, you sent it in the mail, and they got it in a week. Then came air mail. They could get it faster. Then came Federal Express. Suddenly, we had to have things "next day." Then faxes. Tomorrow isn't good enough; I need it now! I agree that technology has changed our perceptions of the pace of things. But it's also altered our expectations. Perhaps in a negative way.

Hey, it's Friday. Gotta remember to put out the sourdough starter tonight so I can make some bread tomorrow. I hope the rest of you can have as productive a weekend.

Geoff

p.s. When I first saw the reference to "Internet time," I thought the topic of discussion was the contrived way of time-telling that Swatch is trying to promote. ";->"

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