Thinking back on the people who love twitter,
and the people who did use IRC, they are a
lot more extraverted than I am. There is this
idea that you can tell the difference between
extraverts and introverts by the time their
brain processes stuff. Extraverts are faster
and shallower. I think this is something they
actually could see in brain scans. So, even
if you never see people, you can be an extravert.
It's just that you need more stimuli from outside.
It seems reasonable to me to say twitter is more
extraverted than facebook, which is more
extraverted than bulleting boards.
I think gopher might be the least extraverted
place you can find, while still having a sense
of community.
That's what I wrote yesterday. Today it dawned on me that it was
how it all went down in the first place: The extraverts came and
took over. That is what killed the internet!
Sure, it was also the commercial interest and the behemoths, but
could they have pulled it off without having the inhabitants be
mostly extraverts?
As an introvert, you don't run around after the flashing lights
and billboards. You stalk the semi-deserted ruins alone. You come
back to the campfire and let the others know what you saw. You
don't flock and go running over the wildlife with your pals.
Is it really possible I did not put this together until now? It
feels like I must have realised this before. It's so obvious.
It's maybe not as clear with the tweet vs toot thing, but it is
obvious with the way the bulletin boards disappeared, then
blogs, then even facebook itself died for being too slow. It's
the fastness of the extravert brain. That is what is being gamed
by the tech.
Well, that's good news and bad news. The bad news is they are using
introvert spaces as springboards for extravert spaces, so you can
expect any thoughtful place to deteriorate if it is part of the
gameable internet. The good news is that you are not the target.
There's not really that many commercializable interests an extreme
introvert has. Sure, you buy some books, some equipment, then you
find some corner and mostly mull on it. You come out once in a
while and shoot a message some direction. This is not useful for
the algorithm wars. Too little data, too little engagement.
I need to mull on this. The implications are vast.
By the way, I am not saying that extraverts are bad, or something
like that. It is just that introverts are minority, and it would
be cool to have introvert spaces. In the beginning (the mythical
beginning) the internet as a whole was an introvert space. When it
picked up speed, it became less and less so. And now here I am,
pushed to the far corner of it all, pushed back in time, even,
using an antique protocol for communication.
I'll just drop here some of the implications, since it might be
useful later on to at least have a hint at what I was pointing
towards:
Friction. Slowness.
No instant feedback loop.
Long form first.
Feeling of exploration.
Nature vs marketplace.
The unknown fading into a darkening horizon.
More focus on what I think individually
and less on what I think as a comment on something
or as a part of commentators.
No flocking mechanism.
No popularity contest.
Silence.
Peace.
Empathy.
Personalities that draw into their stories
through genuine expression of themselves.
Freedom to be raw.
I am here. You are there.
We are not an entangled mess
rolling down a hill.
Stability.
Groundedness.
Journal-like.
Creativity.
Maker. Thinker. Feeler.
Not a shouting match.
Not crowded.
Respect.
Space.
Warm.
Feeling of being protected
from the elements.
More like a cave or a forest
than the mall parking lot.
Taking a trip to ancient Greece.
Not around to win anything.
Having an idea of what is the front
and what is the back.
Not surrounded by wild animals.
Not afraid.
Not anxious.
Not overstimulated.
Able to put it down.
Able to set a limit.
No FOMO.
No bling.
