An apology note to the world?

8/19/2014

I am pretty sure I'm talking to nobody here but these are words that are heartfelt and I gotta get 'em out. The reason I don't think you're listening is that I haven't done much to promote a recent change in my career, so I don't expect anyone knows I'm here...yet. (Here launching Core 6, that is.) Obviously I've set up the obligatory web site (it's average, IMO, but serviceable), and of course a twitter account...and a bright shiny logo to boot! And while I continue to publish blog posts knowing nobody comes to my site, it's with the understanding that I am going to formally announce what I'm doing in September, when everyone's listening again. And then they'll all flock to this section and read my wisdoms of the past...and then of course, rose petals will appear on my stoop!

Yet the reason I write now is solely because of me...I'm not trying to market or sell or push anything. I just need to talk. Today's subject is loss, and the brief examination of how we feel about our media world and our "connectedness". Literally 5 minutes ago I walked by the TV during a Today Show episode and stood dumbfounded at how one particular marketer is promoting their "back to school" wares...I stuck around for a few more commercials and was equally dumbfounded...I know this is not news, but when did marketing and advertising get so stupid. Are WE stupid? Are we a stupid people here in this grand country of ours? I look around in my professional circles and see so many bright, earnest, and well-intentioned people and then I turn on media (ANY media) and just want to start writing apology notes to the world.

In my deep heart, I love media. I love magazines. I love good television. I love newspapers. I love good web sites. I love good web sites that bring stuff to my door in a day. I love how connected I feel because of media. And yet I loathe it too. And it is with that conflict that I live most days. I am a baby-boomer citizen of our grand capitalistic society and I'm proud of it. But I also feel the need to write those apology notes!

There's a guy I've been following named James Altucher and he writes some pretty good stuff...he wrote a column recently about how to deal with loss which of course, doesn't sound like it applies here but it does. We have lost something in our society as a result of all this "connectedness". There are so many good things that we've gained as a result and I wouldn't change it for anything, but I just think sometimes we need to slow it down and think more. Slow it down and talk more. Just slow it down generally. Most of the article to which I provide a link above does not at all refer to the theme of this post, it refers to losing cherished things in your life (people, friendships, good jobs, etc), yet when I read this verse from Mr. Altucher, I straightened in my chair:

"I wasted so much time worrying. Regretting the loss of a life I thought I was entitled to."

I don't want to feel entitled at all - AT ALL. None of us do. And yet, sometimes media promotes entitlement. Or rather, I allow myself to feel entitled and I blame media. (Yeah I know, I have nobody to blame but myself.) And marketers make me worry that I'm not "doing it right". So what's the loss here for me and us? Have we lost something we can't get back because of all this fancy schmancy technology? The majority of us will probably disagree with me yet I urge us all to think about this deeply. I LOVE technology, but I don't love being a human being and sometimes - a lot of times - I feel I'm slowly being replaced. I don't want to lose myself. None of us do.

Through these posts and my daily life here at Core 6 with my great clients, I will ALWAYS live to fight another day. Today, I leave you with more from Mr. Altucher:

"I lost that life. And found another. It's the gap in between that's the secret ingredient. Be gentle with yourself in the gap. Gentleness is what has worked for me now."

7 Comments

Peter Jurew link

8/20/2014 04:21:04 am

Interesting post. Perhaps you recall that 22 years ago cultural historian Paul Fussell wrote a book called "BAD: Or The Dumbing of America." It wasn't a great book but it did hit home on this critical fact: "We are living in a moment teeming with raucously overvalued emptiness and trash" ... That's from 1992 - before Netscape, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, and the explosion of digital media and devices. Do you think as a culture/society we've gotten better, or worse? (I think I know your answer!) Anyway thanks for making me think this morning!

Chris Andrew

8/20/2014 06:09:37 am

Great post Michael. I also feel conflicted about our industry as well. So many incredibly talented people yet so much of the actual creative or strategic work is lazy, derivative and just plain embarrassing. Put it this way, when meeting people for e first time and I say I am in advertising, I usually am met with "is it like Mad men". I have never gotten wow, must be fun, and creative.

I have seen a lot recently about the disconnect of connectedness (I just made that up, so don't steal it). People are connected in such a way that there is little analysis of what is going on, just 140 characters of blather. And that kind of goes for a society that values Kardashian "talent" over intelligence.

Mary Love Mattox

8/20/2014 11:04:14 am

I love the phrase coined by Chris Andrew "disconnect of connectedness." I think it's very true. We are connected but isolated at the same time. I see it most in my children's generation where they are utterly incapable of making a phone call or answering a phone, but they will text you/me/anybody the most inane things. I fear that we will evolve from homo sapiens to homo mobiliens where our texting thumbs are constantly twitching and our head is bent/bowed in reverence to the Almighty Device.

Ed Delfs

8/20/2014 01:31:34 pm

Michael,

You have eloquently tapped into our collective societal angst around being connected every minute yet feeling less connected than ever. On the one hand, I am proud of my 11 year old who just did the ice bucket challenge to help ALS research, which never would have happened had it not gone viral on the web and on the other hand I will now spend the rest of the day yelling at her to get off the damn phone and to stop looking at damn Instagram. What a conundrum! And we as veterans of the industry are both the most aware of the challenges and likely the most responsible for the majority them by selling the dream over the last 20 years, so let's throw some good old fashioned guilt in there as well.

The question is, what will we all now do to fix this and bring the humans back to humanity? Its right there waiting for us.

Keep those posts coming!

Paul Cassar

8/21/2014 03:17:31 am

I just got back from a 23 day holiday yes thats right 23 days! Something I only did back in the days before the WWW and of course I brought my laptop because I knew I would need it to work right? Wrong. To my fortune my laptop broke down on me the first week out and it turned out to be the best thing that could of happened. At first I was panic stricken, how was I going to stay connected to work, to my friends and to the world? But I did and believe it or not when I got back to work everything was still here where I left it.Of course it was and it was the best holiday we had in a long time.

Neil Monnens

8/21/2014 11:17:46 am

Before the Internet we were limited in our communication choices; phone/in-person/postal. We now add instant message, email, text, FaceBook to that mix.

I use texts/IM to get a quick non-intrusive response from someone, since I accept the person may not respond quickly. I choose email when the message is longer and/or don’t need a quick response or a response at all. I use Facebook when I don’t have the persons email, or the information was culled from FB.

I still use the phone, but I do feel it is intrusive and I don’t call someone unless I can devote 100% of my time to that person. I most prefer in-person as that is when you can relax, usually over a meal, and really catch up with someone. I don’t think Internet communication has decreased my connectedness, but instead, it has given me choices on how to stay connected.

Ed Urgola

8/25/2014 01:56:56 am

It's taken me almost 15 conscious years to step out of the flow an realize that - if I don't make really deliberate decisions - I'll get caught up in the disengaged, multi-tasking hell that is our digital existence. If we're not actively thinking about this, we're almost certainly passively moving along with it.

Engagement is THE BIG question for this slice of our existence if you ask me. And its a tough one.

Bonus... great TED talk that hits on our inability to slow-down in western culture... from its core issue as a dirty word (even the term 'slow' is too often associated with stupidity).

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/14/267186818/what-happens-when-we-slow-down

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