4/24/1997
Ordered 56K modem. Will increase surfing speed x4. [This was a major increase in modem speed. The computer was a Dell Pentium 90, with 8MB of RAM and a 14.4K modem. (Could we go back to using a "dial-up" connection when no one's dialing?) You might want a slow lane that costs more to prevent spending too much time on the internet. We think it's social media that's addictive, but it's actually the internet.)] 4/24/2022 Music started dying beginning in the 1980s because of MTV, that shifted the focus from music to image, and that music needed packaging and marketing—which holds true to this day with social media and into the future with whatever comes after it, such as the Metaverse. The other inflection point was the PC which diffused attention in myriad directions. It's ironic that even if music dies, sound doesn't, and we can appreciate it (and create it) at that level. *** Using the hypothetical that the music of the 2040s is a repeat of the 1960s, then the music of the 2070s will be like the music of the aughts. People that will remember that period in their youth will be in their 80s, and perhaps not be nostalgic for it. You'd have to get in the headspace of those born in the 2060s, which is difficult to project. Then again we could go full retro and use music from 100 years prior, Ziggy Stardust, with futuristic "upgrades". Most people will still be familiar with David Bowie in the 2070s and there will be celebrations of his birth in the 2040s and the 50th anniversary of his death in 2066. (You can't go wrong with folk roots, or just roots music in general or any music that has withstood the test of time). *** As to how people now respond to social media, I saw shifts around 2000 when the internet was being used more for "internetty" things (memes) rather than an information resource. Prior to that, I recall that the Web was seen as utopian, although even in 1995 people were cynical, expressed in books like Silicon Snake Oil. It's interesting how some young people have a fascination with the 80s, pre-internet and pre-computer. This is not to suggest it was a Utopia then: we were at the leading edge of culture wars, coupled with the advent of the PC and the internet, both liberating beyond our ability to realize the stresses it could put on democracy in the future.
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AuthorLee Barry, Musician/Content Producer Archives
May 2024
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