The World is Outside
Hello readers and new subscribers! I’m Christoph and this is Christel’s Corner, my occasional newsletter about everyday life, design, technology, and things that caught my attention. You probably subscribed because you found me through my website, Instagram, or Mastodon. Or somewhere else? Send me a sign (via Morse code, fax, or hit reply), I’d love to know. And now: On with the show!
The world is outside / I am starting an attempt to live a more off-line life. I’ve always been a computer person, especially an internet kid, but this place and my relationship to it has changed. And while the web still does bring me joy, it also confronts me with a lot of anger—more than it should be. So, I’m trying to relearn to behave like a human made of flesh and bones, moving in an actual three-dimensional space.
While finding non-computer activities for myself was easy (sports, drawing, going places), making connections to others and finding a community that is not merely internet-driven was something I struggled with. I’m not necessarily awkward or strange around others, but I do admit that I always found it easier to get in touch with people through the internet, through text, or images. Turns out: approaching people without any digital layers, just through talking and a smile and my face (…)—it’s a very raw experience. So many insecurities and unknowns and possibilities (both of rejection and enlightenment!). But I’m learning. And I might even be getting better. Meet me outside.
Good digital spaces / They do exist though, the good places on the internet. Sometimes, they might be tiny, narrow niches that just get uncovered by accident. I am thankful that Mastodon continues to be one of those spheres where I can find joyful digital spaces, and interesting people. Just one example: My internet friend Javier created PoetiCal, a calendar feed that shows poems and little text snippets in your calendar. You can subscribe to it for free, and hand in poems and texts yourself. Every day when I open my calendar app, I find new little blocks of joy in there. If you need to turn your calendar into a joyful digital space again, I can highly recommend it!
Human intelligence / A topic that’s hard to avoid these days is ‘artificial intelligence’, and I’ve been lurking and typing around it for weeks now. I decided that I’ll skip it, especially in this dispatch. I won’t let it take up more space than it needs. For me, it is currently not a massively helpful tool, and debating it usually just brings me more anger and frustration. It will keep doing that, as it stick around for a while, but I want to focus more on things that bring me joy: Real conversations, writing, drawing, being creative, using my brain, making connections (in my head and with others). I don’t need to obsess over it so much, and I want to practice what I preach: We don’t need artificial intelligence so much as we need human intelligence.
My next screenless adventure: I will be visiting Warsaw for an extended weekend. Any pointer towards good restaurants, galleries, and odd city lore is highly appreciated. I will report (maybe). Until then: Enjoy the spring breeze, and treat yourself to some offline time from time to time. 💌 Yours truly—Christoph
Post Scriptum — Now Playing / This issue’s title is borrowed from a song I found on an old mixtape. I was gifted a CD from a very offline encounter, with a hand-drawn cover: a literal depiction of the mixtape’s creator standing at a pissoir, POV, so to speak. This drawing will live in my head forever, and I am so glad I still have the mixtape: Ghosts — The World is Outside.