“I want to know what we should do about this.”
It’s a question I have asked many of the authors I write about here: L.M. Sacasas, Wendell Berry, Ivan Illich, Paul Kingsnorth. They see symptoms in our society and diagnose the underlying disease, usually something to do with technology. Convinced by their diagnosis, I look for the cure, or at least an effective treatment. Surely there’s a pill I can take that will treat the symptoms effectively.
I wait until the end of the essay or book, eager to receive my prescription. But it never comes. Instead I’m left frustrated - what am I supposed to do about this problem you’ve shown me?
Wendell: I see how my digital “knowledge work” job has disconnected me from the land and the good of physical labor, but what can I do about it besides becoming a farmer?
Ivan: Can you just give me a simple definition of what a “convivial” tool is so that I can decide whether or not I should use Claude?
So I was surprised when, listening to a recent Derek Thompson podcast, I had a similar feeling of frustration, but for the opposite reason. I wasn’t frustrated at the guest, Agnes Callard, who filled the doctor’s role and diagnosed our society’s ills as being caused by something she calls “the uni-context.” I was frustrated at Derek for his last question:
I want to know what we should do about this.
A simple answer might be: When you’re having dinner with your family, you can be present with your family, or you can be on your phone, which is a universal room that makes you everywhere at once. So put away the phone. But that feels like a cheap and predictable answer. Do you have something prescriptive that isn’t just “put away the phone at family dinner?”
I was clearly overreacting, but unsure why I was so frustrated about a question I have asked many times myself. After some reflection I came to a realization: I have started to accept that many illnesses, both of the body and of society in general, can’t be cured with simple treatments.
Part of what has helped (or forced) me to accept this truth has been my wife’s diagnosis and treatment for several chronic illnesses. They cause a variety of unpredictable symptoms, require an individualized treatment plan, and still flare up from time to time even with the treatments. At first we thought that she would just take some pills and things would go back to the way they were, but that hasn’t happened.
I want simple treatments for our societal and technological chronic illnesses too. I want “landlining” my iPhone to fix my inability to read difficult books. I want closing my email and messaging apps on my work computer to keep me focused on the tasks that matter. I’m not the only one. We want grayscale, or scrolly chairs, or social media bans, or smartphone pouches, or early 2000s tech to fix the problems caused by digital technologies over the past 20 years. They won’t. Things can’t go back to the way they were.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t apply these types of treatments, but we need to admit that these problems don’t have easy answers. The “uni-context” that was discussed in that podcast is a subject that cannot be easily summarized (you should listen, read, or watch it in full), but Thompson’s summary of it is:
For most of human history, people judged norms based on local context. A home had its own rules, a cathedral its own rules, and a classroom or bar or funeral parlor had its own rules. But now it is almost like we are constantly living in universal rooms, and the universal room we occupy is assumed to have universal values and universal norms.
It was caused by changes in information technologies and migration patterns over centuries. It’s not something you can fix. Even if you don’t have WiFi or cell service in your house, you still live in the uni-context. The Amish and conservative Mennonites I work with live in the uni-context. Paul Kingsnorth and Wendell Berry live in the uni-context. Even if you do your best to fight against it, it still impacts the world around you in ways you can’t control.
I’m not advocating for fatalistic acceptance of these chronic societal diseases, but we need to be realistic about how much impact a treatment can really have. My wife will always have a chronic disease, even when the treatments keep it in remission. The uni-context will still impact how you live and think even when your smartphone is in the kitchen or in a locked pouch.
Anthony: I want to know what we should do about this.
I don’t know.