Virtual Romance = Sick & Wrong
Today The Wall Street Journal ran an article about lonely Japanese men in their 20s & 30s who take their virtual girlfriends on romantic hotel getaways through LovePlus+, a dating-simulation game.
After choosing one of three female characters—goodie-goodie Manaka, sassy Rinko or big-sister type Nene—to be a steady girlfriend, the player taps a stylus on the DS touch-screen in order to walk hand-in-hand to school, exchange flirtatious text messages and even meet in the school courtyard for a little afternoon kiss. Using the device’s built-in microphone, the player can carry on sweet, albeit mundane, conversations.
If the real-life Romeo earns enough “boyfriend power” points—by completing game tasks like homework or exercise to become smarter and more buff—the reward is a virtual trip to Atami.
In the game, the couple tours the local landmarks. The girlfriend changes into a yukata, a casual summer kimono, to go see the fireworks, and then they stay overnight at the Hotel Ohnoya…
Some devoted fans will go so far as to pay twice the rate—most hotels in Japan charge per guest not per room—to indulge the fantasy that they are not there alone. A night’s stay, at most, can cost $500 though many rooms are cheaper.
Read the whole article. This is sad, sick, wrong. The only virtual activity these men should be doing is watching this video.
The Death of the Phone Call
From this month’s Wired magazine, Clive Thompson on The Death of the Phone Call. An excerpt:
This generation doesn’t make phone calls, because everyone is in constant, lightweight contact in so many other ways: texting, chatting, and social-network messaging. And we don’t just have more options than we used to. We have better ones: These new forms of communication have exposed the fact that the voice call is badly designed. It deserves to die.
Consider: If I suddenly decide I want to dial you up, I have no way of knowing whether you’re busy, and you have no idea why I’m calling. We have to open Schrödinger’s box every time, having a conversation to figure out whether it’s OK to have a conversation. Plus, voice calls are emotionally high-bandwidth, which is why it’s so weirdly exhausting to be interrupted by one. (We apparently find voicemail even more excruciating: Studies show that more than a fifth of all voice messages are never listened to.)
The telephone, in other words, doesn’t provide any information about status, so we are constantly interrupting one another. The other tools at our disposal are more polite. Instant messaging lets us detect whether our friends are busy without our bugging them, and texting lets us ping one another asynchronously. (Plus, we can spend more time thinking about what we want to say.) For all the hue and cry about becoming an “always on” society, we’re actually moving away from the demand that everyone be available immediately.
The State of the American Dream
Today in The Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan reflects on what’s happened to the American Dream and offers opinion on what should be done in Arizona:
The biggest political change in my lifetime is that Americans no longer assume that their children will have it better than they did. This is a huge break with the past, with assumptions and traditions that shaped us.
The country I was born into was a country that had existed steadily, for almost two centuries, as a nation in which everyone thought—wherever they were from, whatever their circumstances—that their children would have better lives than they did. That was what kept people pulling their boots on in the morning after the first weary pause: My kids will have it better. They’ll be richer or more educated, they’ll have a better job or a better house, they’ll take a step up in terms of rank, class or status. America always claimed to be, and meant to be, a nation that made little of class. But America is human. “The richest family in town,” they said, admiringly. Read Booth Tarkington on turn-of-the-last-century Indiana. It’s all about trying to rise.
New Media and the Local Church
Collin Hansen writes an important piece, New Media and the Local Church, arguing that “online leadership is real leadership in a new media age,” yet it’s leadership that must be wedded to the non-virtual world.
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Less is more.
My dad doesn’t talk much. I talk a lot. So my problem in life has never been coming up with something to say or make. My problem has been knowing what not to say, a slow learning that less is more.
If an artist hung all of his art on the wall it might look something like this:
;laklakdnvaoefaprgi-0GA/BNAEFKBHA0E9R-0TI Q;OIGH QRPIQ[e fepfgj oeigjaepfog afpog aeofigha oergh aeo naefvm alfbkalkfg a;eofgjaoghjal;efgn alkjfbhae f jRTIQ309YUQ3LASKFN=T03 LKFJBS ;OFIJH;A;lkjlkfjbljlklkrPROGJao;djg;alkdfgj;DG['epit3oruty98q3r7et02e95q'a;dlfkgjfioqehyosrhjq[3ep0o9][PEKGA;EFLKHGJIOQRUYQ3PRIOYQ/A;LKJFp[OWDgiae'prkghjqa0rhu'a[dgj;aoighua'[r0iyaq;rigjp0ghaoeifjhpqROG=wdgoaelfkbjaoefghiargjaefgaefgafrmlkfguoriuy8934uyq=3-a;dflgjaldiguopriyq3proyjoqirugapefogkjkothu0qoruyiqpaorjalkfghbeautifuljoithuaq’progjfgjafhjqpry8p3aorjtlefkgjalkfbjafhguiy8y7tl4k2w2qpwefjaebgmaelfnalnolifjlaefknalefnalefbnakfjhproigpar9uaprogjalefhnolhjpathiapqoruapgmaflbhmoprihpo4ruypaw4royyupr3yu034y409ys;lfekhjoihulkfjhsofihusop9uhoqureyqoiumx3ef,o2gngt5bhm2po4iqrguacmpwecm,as[ofihlakfjalefkjglaefkbma/lckmvba/lkfbmnalfbm c,.vm a/.alekfjga;lfkvma/.c,vm /.c,m va/.,bm/.bmalefkmbalbm93ua;v0;OI-JP/;LJOLHLKJGpdjhg iUEFYG A ALFBALBJA FLLlz;l;fkhnafohuga;opefij/e;zdhj,ioprsthuaerfbmpsrgoiunbwsmljb,cworamjA”E>,xopwucgmpaqior,ghqpotih.qc
Who wants to look at that?
But if an artist carefully selected the appropriate amount of his work to hang on his wall for his audience, it might look something like this:
beautiful
The same principle applies for conversation, movie making, cooking, preaching, decorating, writing, fashion, design, architecture, etc…
It takes a lot of lkjaoiaorkgan;glkajfghoairua;orga;lkdja;lghaoiu in order to get to beautiful. Your audience doesn’t need to see all your oiruy;oiglng;ouh;ljakgo;eiralng;aog;aoiu;aoriua;lkngaelkghu. Leave that on the cutting room floor. Just show them the beautiful.
Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone
Right now I’m reading as many books, magazines, and newspapers as I can get my hands on to learn about the history, pulse, problems, and opportunities of Phoenix. One book I’m just dipping into now is a freshly published book, Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone.
The Secret Powers of Time
This is a fascinating 10 minute video by professor Philip Zimbardo & RSA Animate articulating the 6 different approaches people have to time and what that means for our world. Pay special attention to what is said at the end about young men, video games, and porn.
Self-Service: The Delicate Dance of Online Bragging
Evan Ratliff has written a helpful essay in this month’s Wired about social media, Self Service: The Delicate Dance of Online Bragging. The second paragraph:
For sure, posting anything online is an act of either inherent immodesty or existence affirmation, depending on your outlook: “I’m alive! I’m doing (or discovering) things! People out there should give a damn!” Bragging is practically coded into social media’s DNA, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. We show off by noting the interestingness of our companions, the solidity of our relationships, the fabulousness of our meals. What are an excess of Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections for if not low-intensity name-dropping? “Look how many fascinating people are willing to connect with me.”
Tim Keller: How to Get to Know Your City
Last week I asked Tim Keller what he did to “learn” New York City as he was preparing to plant Redeemer, and if he had any advice for a young church planter wanting to learn a new city (in my case, Phoenix). Tim shared four things:
Fiction. Tim suggested reading good fiction about your city. For NYC, Tim especially benefited from reading The Bonfire of the Vanities. (Anyone know any good fiction written about/from Phoenix?)
History. Tim encouraged studying the history of your city. Tim learned that New York was the only colony not founded by a religious group, that it was the first colony founded solely for the purpose of making money.
Interviews. Tim highlighted the value of pursuing one-on-one conversations with many Christians and non-Christians in your city, asking them what kind of church they think the city needs. (The same day I asked Tim this question I “interviewed” a barber in downtown Phoenix while getting a haircut. That one conversation yielded a load of helpful information about the pulse of Phoenix.)
Culture. Tim encouraged reading a variety of newspapers/periodicals/magazines produced by the city so that you come to understand the many different cultural strands of your city.
Photo: I took this shot a few days ago in Boston.
Tim Keller: The Future of American Cities, Part 2
Tim Keller continues his series of the future of American cities. A excerpt from the post:
There is no complete consensus of experts about the future of cities. Some of the most troubled, such as Detroit, are going to have to make drastic changes, essentially shrinking their urban footprint deliberately and redesigning themselves as a smaller municipality. But that will not be the norm in the U.S. I believe that immigration and broader cultural factors still make cities highly desirable destinations for the most ambitious and innovative people, and that will be crucial in continuing the rise of cities.
