petebooth[iaac]

Modern day consumerism and it’s ability do get make things happen faster, smarter, better and smaller has interested me for a while now. In a society where people demand things immediately, has the appreciation for traditional means of purchase, communication, eating and life in general been completely lost?

I come from Tasmania a small island where it is pretty normal to wait up to 15 minutes for public transport and when it finally arrives it is a bus that takes at least another 20 minutes to get you to where you are going. In Barcelona or London, people get annoyed if they have to wait more than 2 minutes for a metro that takes them 2 stops.
My love of music has also been affected by bite-sized culture. In an act of rebellion against it, I refuse to purchase anything from an online music store, believing that the single song purchase that started with the 45 and now is alive in the form of mp3, will die a death one day and life will return to the album. Heck, I buy all of my music on vinyl!
Even websites are subject to becoming too fast, with rss and widgets you don’t even have to visit the site anymore. The information just magically appears in your inbox without even thinking about it.

Is it better to take a moment and slow down your life and experience things a at a pace that doesn’t hit you in the face, even for just 10 minutes? I would like to think so. Maybe I’m just being nostalgic.

Wired: Minifesto for a new age
Slow Living

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