Be There Now
Why The Internet Needs To Be More Like A Bicycle
Owning a bike is like possessing a super power. You get to where you’re going faster. It’s that simple. But, for me, the real joy of biking is it’s ability to tune me in to the collective effervescence of life. Riding to work every morning, I get the same feeling of extreme connectedness that I get at a concert or sporting event. It’s as if we’re all actors in the same play—each one of us doing our part to keep this production running. Unlike the sealed environment of a car, bus or train, cycling lets me feel connected to the world around me.
At its best, the internet can foster this same feeling. How cool is it that I can videochat with my ninety year old grandmother in Italy or tweet at the world’s foremost expert in chocolate chip cookies! But if connecting people is the north star of every major social network (I won’t get into Facebook’s infamous chair commercial), why do they so often achieve the opposite? The truth is social networks are not delivering on their promise of bringing us closer together.
The evidence is so overwhelming, it’s becoming trite. I’m standing in line for 5 minutes—I scroll through my news-feed. I’m lonely on a Friday night—I look at pictures of an ex-girlfriend. The internet is too often like eating iceberg lettuce, filling my empty spaces without substance. Admittedly, this is mostly my fault. I’m a notification addict and Zuckerberg’s always got that new new. There is always more content to be consumed. To paraphrase my friend Nick Corroon, the internet is our Library of Alexandria, but it’s suffering from a serious lack of quality control.
So how can we fix this? How do we keep the social media from perpetuating our loneliness? (Watch this.) How do we let the internet tell us what we came to learn without opening 8 tabs with click-bait headlines from our feeds? (Read this.) The internet is a tool, not a home. But, if we keep going down this path, the internet will become a virtual dystopia with all of the resources in the world eclipsed by a massive pile of shit.
First, we need to make social media more of an open road. Too often browsing social networks is like driving around a roundabout. It’s a vicious cycle. Vicariously searching for excitement in my friends’ pictures from the show last night, inherently calls attention to the fact that I’m sitting alone on my computer. Then I feel lonely and search for “connectedness” by looking at more pictures of my friends. News-feeds are made to keep us scrolling through them. There is always a new notification to give us jolt of dopamine when we need it. So, we get trapped inside the walls of the closed web. We’re spending more and more time inundating ourselves with updates and not nearly enough time creating, discussing, and engaging with meaningful content.
Second, we need to understand that sitting on an exercise bike is not the same as going on a ride. That is to say spending time on social networks is not the same as being social. The other day, I lost my wallet. So, I did what most rational people would do. I got out my phone. But instead of canceling my credit cards or calling the Batkid, I did something shamefully unsurprising—I checked my Facebook status. You see, I had just posted my first Medium article and in that moment of humbling embarrassment, I was searching for some validation of worth. We live in a world where a “like” makes us feel good and 10 “likes” makes us feel great. This is problematic. Only once we stop letting sharing and feedback authenticate our existence, do we let social networks fulfill their mission. It shouldn’t be I share therefore I am or I share because I can. We should share because it adds value to those around us.
Third, technology has to help us cut through the traffic. I’ve preached this gospel before, but I truly believe technology will be key for surfacing relevant, meaningful content on the modern internet. The technology of the web has unbelievable curatorial power. Check out the redesigned TED.com for an example. You can say I have seven minutes and want to feel inspired and it will surface content that delivers every time! Social networks have the potential to do so much good. The internet is a superpower that can get us where we’re going faster than ever before. We just need to do our part to keep the wheels moving and steer it down the right path.
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