1. The
    Good
    Room

  2. Frank Chimero, 2018.

Spaces Speak

Digital ones should, too.

I want to talk about ways to find a clear path through how we use technology and what we expect from it. There is so much convenience, but so little comfort. Everyone is tired. It feels like many of us are in the first stages of untethering, and we can use this situation as an opportunity for reassessment. We know that digital technology isn’t going anywhere because of its obvious benefits, so the primary question becomes:

How do we fix the way technology fits? Is there a way to keep some of the benefits and diminish the damage?

Place 1

In 1886, Samuel Tilden, the wealthy former governor of New York state, died and left a few million dollars for New York City to establish and maintain a free, public library and reading room. The main branch of the NYPL is obviously a beautiful and impressive place, but it shares its most important characteristic with any other library location in the city: it is free and open. Everyone has access to the library, whatever their purpose.

The library is what brought them together, and it asks for nothing back. Its purpose is fulfilled by all of us using it.

This all sounds very rosy and pure, but the first visit to the library as an adult can be a little unnerving. It feels like you are doing something wrong by being there. What’s the catch? Is it a trap? How often is nothing expected of us? It is so rare in New York (and in many other places).

Because our presence is expected to be the start of a transaction.

Place 2

As the city was breaking ground for the library, another large construction job began about 8 blocks away. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was building a marquee station for New York City. In 1910, New York City’s Penn Station was open. What a magnificent space: airy, light—inspiring in the same way as many of the train stations you find in Europe.

The story has a sad end.

No sentimental stories about my charmed experiences in Penn Station for you. If you’ve been to New York, you know that Penn Station looks nothing like what I’ve just shown you Here’s why: after World War II, American families flooded out of the cities and into the suburbs. There, they opted to drive instead of travel by train. Pennsylvania Railroad’s business went bust, and by the ’60s, the company was forced to sell the land and airspace above the underground stops.

Land Grab

I’ve shared the story of these two buildings for a few reasons. The first is to emphasize the importance of a good room. What kind of thoughts are possible at the library versus the ones that are had in the current Penn Station?

If technology is a place where we live, a place that we carry around with us, shouldn’t we choose to be in lively and nourishing digital environments?

Another reason for the comparison is to remind you that we have both commercial and non-commercial elements in our lives. Each has their role, but we shouldn’t misapply commercial approaches to all our needs. Life would be miserable if we only spent time in commercial spaces, because not all value can be captured and supported in a commercial context.

We all know this, so it is a pity how overfitted and commercialized the internet, our second home, has become.

Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon aren’t going anywhere at this point—nor should we expect them to—so it’s best to recalibrate the digital experience by increasing the footprint and mindshare of the kinds of cultural and communal value they can’t provide.

The web isn’t like Manhattan real estate—if we want something, we can make space for it.

Different measuring sticks are also in order. If commercial networks on the web measure success by reach and profit, cultural endeavors need to see their successes in terms of resonance and significance. This is the new game, one that elevates both the people who make the work and those who see, use, and enjoy it.

Choice & Will

The digital landscape has an influence on our lives, but we are more directly affected by our personal choices. We must fend for ourselves, whether or not the technology industry chooses to deal with the implications of their work.

Immunization
Reading a book on paper is a simple, easy step to regain some composure and inoculate yourself against hysterics. That’s it, that’s the whole tip. Books are medicine. Most importantly, reading a book is active, unlike most of the passive consumption we do in front of screens. I think a lot of the anxiety we can feel from technology comes from that passive relationship alongside its speed.

Abstinence
A drastic step I’ve seen is called “digital detox.” It’s sort of like a destination cleanse diet: you go off to the woods outside San Francisco, for instance, and give them your phone, laptop, and any other digital paraphernalia. The purpose of the trip is to disabuse yourself of your screen addiction by staying away from all screens and media for a week.

Regulation
Most of us can’t control our whole technological situation, so it’s been fascinating for me to see how people shape it in the one place where they have the most influence: raising their children. I don’t have kids, so it’s been especially interesting hearing the different standards my friends have set up.

I have no right to judgements about this, but the situation has shown me that we also create these sets of rules for ourselves.

It’s just that the ones created for our kids are more evident because they are a mindful construction.

My technological profile makes it seem like I skipped the 20th century, and it’s not just because I live in a New York City apartment without air conditioning. Let me tell you about my setup:

  • Yes to electricity.
    No to microwaves.
  • Yes to movies.
    No to TV.
  • Yes to iPads.
    No to Netflix.
  • Yes to new iPhones.
    No to doing anything new with them.
  • Yes to Amazon Prime.
    No to the creepy wiretap speakers they sell.
  1. What’s missing is the spiritual meaning of technology.
  2. - Kevin Kelly