Chris was talking about non-digital *physical* media yesterday and how people are going back to something more tangible - VHS tapes, cassettes, DVDs, CDs, records, books, comics. Reverting to a way of life pre-internet. I love my tech. I can spend hours experimenting, exploring, repurposing apps and creating new workflows, finding unusual use cases. But I do wonder whether we are missing out on a time when people were more appreciative of culture. We sat on a bench in the shade of a huge yew tree in a Church graveyard in Repton. I told Chris about Paul Jarvis and how he quit the internet. He still must use the internet but he has no presence online, no social media, no website, no public writing. This led to a conversation about offline content. Despite our deep reliance on the internet and other online tech, I'm pretty sure there will come a day when the internet goes away. Either because of tech failures, a network crash or some other event. Then we'll need to fall back on typewriters, non-smart devices or televisions, media you can hold in your hand. I remember when the public (not education) internet was getting started. Businesses were resistant to having a website. Those that did get started adopted a brochureware style site. It took a while for people to embrace this new technology. Now, websites are pretty much a given. But there are pockets of quiet resistance. Like Paul Jarvis. Like those of us finding alternative ways. Or realising that *all of this* could disappear one day so you'd better be using [a format that will last](https://sive.rs/plaintext). ## Related Notes - [The Derbyshire Digest - 27th July 2024](https://www.nicolafisher.com/p/the-derbyshire-digest-27th-july-2024) - [[2021 State of the Union]]