Well, for the past 4 years I’ve largely been doing what Venkatesh Rao would call “Waldenponding,” that is, retreating from the Internet the way Thoreau retreated to his cozy cottage in the woods. I’m not completely gone – I still use email, maintain this website (a de facto part of the Cozy Web due to its low traffic, which I’m not trying to increase), and have accounts on LinkedIn and Twitter – but, you know, check out my Twitter account. If Twitter were a forest, my account would be a chipmunk hiding under a pile of leaves. I’m only there to see what ideas are circulating so I won’t be surprised when they pounce on me IRL.
If asked why, I would have said I didn’t like what the Internet was doing to me, my friends, or the entire world. That most of the “news” on the Internet was essentially gossip. That the entire Internet is more noise than signal and social media in particular was a machine for generating outrage and, perhaps, psychosis.
But I must say, Twitter has been an invaluable resource during the COVID-19 pandemic. It gave me solid news from Italy (see here) when cable news channels in the US were still arguing over whether it was even a big deal and the newspaper (yes, the literal newspaper still comes to my house) was being pretty vague. In early February, Twitter users warned of shortages of essential items imported from China, like everyday first-aid supplies. They told me to expect a quarantine and explained why. Photos of huddled masses yearning to enter Costco made me glad I’d been there two weeks previously—thanks, Twitter! Now, Twitter is proving a rather lovely and still-informative place to hang out during the quarantine. And as I was writing this, I got an email with the subject heading “here’s an interesting covid19 Twitter thread.” (See here.)
Can we believe everything we read on Twitter? Obviously not. But everyone knows that by now, right? A better question is: Would you rather read an article by someone with a journalism degree, where two virologists are quoted saying things like, “We won’t really know what to expect until we get more data”? Or detailed threads by numerous virologists and doctors? If they disagree, you can watch them argue it out and that’s an education in itself. Twitter also gives you the full range of videos of penguins wandering around empty aquariums.
As for “the end of Waldenponding,” I’m not going to start tweeting up a storm. But I am going to admit that we actually need these platforms and that people who are using them well are performing a valuable public service. Are other semi-Waldenponders like me starting to agree with what Rao tweeted this morning?