Likely people were annoyed that they would be obligated to read something instead of skimming a text message or listening to an audio a 2x speed while doing their dishes.
And I'd say it isn't even just attention span that is the problem. People see EACH OTHER as just forms of casual entertainment. I've had so many people I thought were friends, but they're only available when they've nothing better to do. I am not a TV set.
What the fuck was that? I kept scrolling, anticipatorily wincing in expectation of a pop up or subcription nag or video advertisement, and it was just... text.
That was very disorienting. I need to take a break.
Hi! The first thing I think about is: be sure that the solution you choose to host your typecast generates a RSS-feed, in order to be visible on typosphere.net. Beyond that, it's very much up to you: a lot of typospherians use Blogger, so it may make it easier for others to comment on your post if you choose that too.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
PLANET 10!
WHEN?!
REAL SOON!
Then it changed. And it changed fast.
So much this (thx for sharing).
Like the author, save it happened here in France, school taught me handwriting using a pencil and after the basics were good enough, rather quickly, 'upgraded' me to a fountain pen. Sure, I may not be that young of a person anymore, nearing my 60s, but I'm not yet 'a long gone and forgotten past'. In that time frame we went from a school in which seeing a tv on a cart was an exciting event to a class in which the kids could be remote and in which the teacher is on the verge of being replaced by AI... A class whose very purpose (educating kids) is already being questioned: people starting to wonder if it's not a waste to teach kids now that AI can do everything.
In the very early 80s, my dad brought home our first computer (a pre-Mac model, from Apple). If I knew what computers were already, up to that very day the most high-tech was... my grandfather's typewriter and a game console from Atari (which I barely played with). Less than 50 years later the computer has invaded all our living spaces, personal and professional alike. It has spread like a virus and has even started to claim that it's not just making things simpler for us, then that it was smart, it now starts saying it's an intelligence that could soon do much better and way faster than us all the things we do. And most of us are like 'Mmm, 'k, fine. What's on the telly tonight?'
That's too fast a change and a change that's controlled by too few of us... without any of them being made accountable for the consequences.
Indeed!
The best typewriter is the one you're enjoying right now.
It's pure magic.
You say that like it hasn't been the new normal for the past decade.
People here are lucky, I would love some autumn temps instead of -5-10 with high humidity and wind.
France is like Usenet this year: stuck in an eternal September.
It’s supposed to be plus 8 tomorrow. In Canada. In DECEMBER.
It's a quite common thing, especially on older machines. There's often no zero, and no exclamation mark too: the goal is to have more room for other signs, make the machine less heavy and less costly.
To type a 1 on a machine like that, just type a minuscule “L” (I bought my machine in 202l is almost indistinguishable from I bought my machine in 2021 on a typewriter). For zero, just type a capital O, and for exclamation mark, a point, a backspace and an apostrophe.
Why is there no 1 key on that typewriter?
Nice link, and a delightful quick read of the typed letter..
Thank you.
Yup, due to it's minor variations, a typewriter has more style and soul than printers ever will
Hot take on artificial intelligence:
Artificial intelligence is like someone "pouring out their zettelkasten" to answer a potential question. They might cover the surface level information, but there's rarely any considerable depth, engrossing insight, and never any honest humanity.
I'm not sure giving your address is a problem; it's a public information. What bothers me is the doxxing; I don't want my online identities to be easily linkable to my actual name. (But if you want to make an exception for me, I could make an exception for you: write me a DM ;-) .)
There groups that will help you find people ;)
I've heard of TypePals.com that offers a repository of people wanting to exchange typewritten letters, and that seems cool!
Snail mail is a lost art. Alas.
I used to send 2 or 3 letters each week back in the 90s, as a young adult. And I received as much: I knew my postman's name and they knew mine as well, we regularly chatted. Those letters were was rich, long conversations that could go on for months if not years, and the fact that we had to wait to get a reply to our last letter/postcard made it even better. Mail art was also very common. And, well, it was fun exchanging ideas with one another too.
Fun and interesting. Watching younger people nowadays, constantly angry, sad and stressed out, I doubt they have really won much by getting rid of snail mail in exchange for instant electronic communications, be it through messages, emails or social media.
Looking back, I realize being slow was not that bad.
What's even sadder, to me at least, is that even though I would love to encourage more people to try snail mail by inviting them to send me a card or a letter, by sending them one, the Web has turned into such a fucked up place, filled with so many weirdos, I also know I would be crazy to share my postal address with anyone I don't already now IRL. And alas, here in France at least, in most large cities it's very difficult for an individual to get a PO Box.
So, if you can get a PO Box, and if you feel like giving a chance to snail mail, go for it. There groups that will help you find people ;)
The assassination of Kirk seems to be the main interest if our typecasters today!
The first one called Kirk “a good man”, the last one “an asshole”, it's interesting to see the spectrum.