- There are perhaps no more tragic creatures than middle-aged, middle-class tourists, unused to traveling in unfamiliar places, on a lifetime dream vacation. You can tell they are used to feeling highly competent in their home worlds. Their thin fenders are being worn through rapidly, making every interaction a bruise and everyday functioning a rapid drain on social energy reserves. It’s not just cellphone batteries that drain more quickly in roaming mode.
In a dominantly exploratory daily routine by contrast, fenders grow thicker over time and maneuvers more heavy-handed. The result is a sort of globally adapted abrasive coarseness. Watch a seasoned road warrior blow through an airport cafe, often leaving a bruised barista in his wake. Or watch a traveling salesman imperiously commandeer a cafe table in a strange city rather than merely occupy it. That’s thick fenders and heavy-handed social maneuvering for you. You can often tell such people by what they physically carry around with them. Their laptop cases have a battered, survivalist quality to them. Their phones (they often have more than one) are much more intimately married to their bodies, via headphones. They handle local fauna like baristas and Uber drivers, instead of being handled by them.
"It’s not just cellphone batteries that drain more quickly in roaming mode." ... what a sentence. Incidentally, if you get far enough to read about 'hate-favoriting', it may remind you of something.
I really enjoyed this read once the other started getting into the identity splitting portion of it, and how "likes" on Facebook are equivalent to digital eye contact. Great read flag! I mostly agree with what the author put forward. Oh! Oh oh oh! Is it ironic badging? Or hate-sex...or both.Incidentally, if you get far enough to read about 'hate-favoriting', it may remind you of something.
I'm not sullying it! As someone who has not knowingly participated in hate-sex, I am not speaking for or against it's merits. Don't knock it til you try it, I guess.
This was an awesome read. The author delves really deep into how each interaction shapes us. It reminded me a lot of how there is such a difference in life tempo between metropolitan and rural areas. In a city you are constantly being bombarded with environmental changes because of the dense populations. Rural cities don't have that. I travel a lot for work and leisure and never took the time to think critically about everything that is happening around me. I get aggravated easily with people who don't know how to move through crowds and efficiently interact with their surroundings. I guess I have been too quick to judge many.
I especially had fun with the sections that talk about moving through crowds as an art form, because I'm reading Mieville's The City and the City right now. Which will make sense if you've read it, and not if not.I travel a lot for work and leisure and never took the time to think critically about everything that is happening around me. I get aggravated easily with people who don't know how to move through crowds and efficiently interact with their surroundings. I guess I have been too quick to judge many.