My life looks like this. Always, 24 hours a day, I have at least two internet capable devices at hand. During the day I normally have five, an Apple watch, an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac Mini with an external display and keyboard, and a MacBook Pro with a 27” Thunderbolt display, keyboard, and external hard drive. And then of course there is Apple TV.
I’m 74 years old, so I get up a couple times a night to pee, and check my email. During the day I am always plugged in unless I go out for some reason, and even then I always have my phone unless I am actually in the water swimming at Jefferson Springs (I went in today, first swim of the year. Fabulous.).
I see many articles and tweets and whatnot about how terrible this kind of internet symbiosis is, how it is ruining our youth, causing addiction, ruining marriages, allowing Russians to influence our elections, etc. No doubt there is some element of truth to these worries, but I just don’t see it. Why would anyone want to have less information? Is ignorance really bliss? I can understand taking some time off and cutting yourself off from the flow to soak up some nature. That makes some sense, but in my experience even those idylls can be enhanced by information-maximizing substances.
Of course not everyone can handle a lot of information. I understand that, and it’s good to know your limitations, and you have to be a good editor, but the way I see it, there’s no such thing as too much information as long as you’re able to process it. That has always been the case.