The Untethering

The internet is intentionally pervasive. His far-reaching tentacles evolved through Darwinian-like design. The internet is also persistent. He is ubiquitous, pwned by no one. He is everywhere. All the time.

The network will not apologize. The network is proud of this persistence. This ubiquity. He’s earned it.

These traits are what make the web beautiful. By and large, they’re why pixel workers like us do what we do, day in, day out. We carry meaning forward through ones and zeros to communities at scale. Seven billion potential participants interacting with the things we make. All the world’s knowledge, democratized and in our pockets.

But in the face of all the internet’s promise and charm, do you ever dream about giving it all up? Walking away for good? Finally and forever, severing the digital tether?

I do.

Every single day.

Some people dream about winning the lottery. Putting cash money in the bank. Others long for a perpetual vacation on a tropical island. Sand between their toes. An umbrella delicately placed in their cocktail.

Not me.

I daydream of awkward silences and unbroken eye contact. I dream of focus and undivided attention. My thoughts fix on being unreachable and independent, and fully in the moment with the people I’m with.

However, the network commands constant attention. He pings, we check.

I want less real-time, more real time. I want to be here. Right now.

I want to make things with my hands, things that last and have a tactile presence in the world. Things with physicality. Things that take up space. Does it ever bother you that so much of what we labor so hard to make in the digital space is so fleeting, swept away like sand under the waves of browser updates, new operating systems, and software versioning?

The network is proud of this progression and is unforgiving. As he consumes his previous self to sustain his future iterations, we’re left with one choice: Jump on or get left behind run over.

Sometimes I dream of letting go and allowing him to crush me under the weight of his pixels.

In this fantasy, I’m standing still and alone in a swirling digital vortex. I am in the eye and I am calm. Around me swirls the madness of our omnipresent digital fabric. Hexidecimals, source code, selfies, ping, emoji, uploads, likes, ping, navigation menus, status updates, browser widths, ping, downloads, emails, WiFi connections, analytics, ping, retina screens, ping, that goddamn watch, ping, tweets, git push, ping. Faster, louder, swirling all around my still frame. Eyes closed, teeth clenched. Faster, louder. I am still. Swirling. Dizzy. Disorienting. I am still. Ballooning with every rotation until one final pixelated, glitchy gasp.

Ping.

And there I stand. Still. Calm. Enveloped in silence. I am alone in the quiet calm of the disconnected dawn. No longer a statue. No longer paralyzed by persistence, I take a step.

I am finally and forever untethered.