Only the lonely

Generation Net the loneliest of all (Stuff)

Interesting article on Stuff talking about the problems of loneliness faced by I assume the younger generation in the internet age or as they call them, Generation Net.

Not sure that this is anything new - people have always experienced isolation and loneliness - but this article tries to put things into a context around what's happening in the modern age.

A young person is still learning how to manage relationships and inevitably it takes time to take all this in.  Some will succeed whereas many will stumble through their whole lives like a train wreck.

What I think the article is trying to articulate is that young people may be failing sometimes to cultivate meaningful relationships in person.   Retreating to the web for support is not the same as talking things through one to one.

I'd argue that for people looking for help on loneliness the internet has the potential to provide more information than has been available to any generation before.  After all, before the web, if you failed to connect with someone to talk through your issues, you really had nowhere else to look.  Now you have a wealth of opinion at the click of mouse but whether you can actually decrypt any of this detail is another matter.

What we must not allow to happen is that people lose sight of the fact that real human, in person relationships are what life is all about.   The vacuous concept of 1000 Facebook friends is totally meaningless against a single real friend who is there to listen and support you.  The thought that people would actually prefer to hold a text exchange rather than have a meaningful dialogue with real words spoken, facial expressions observed, emotions felt and understanding reached - that would be a tragedy.

Still, people will always experience loneliness.  How they are supported through that time has little to do with technology and much more to do with real human warmth.

Music wars ten years on

Take no prisoners, spare no-one

It was 10 years ago that Apple spied an impotent and vulnerable music industry and unleashed a bombardment that swiftly won them the war and made the rest of the music world their unwilling slaves.

Napster had shown big business the way forward by harnessing peer-to-peer file sharing services to distribute music to the world, albeit by using intellectual property without permission.

The incompetence of the big record labels is hard to fathom but they all failed to recognise the power of this technology that allowed music to be digitally distributed.  They had ample opportunity to embrace this new channel and to hold on to control of their intellectual property but they failed miserably.  Instead of understanding what digital services could do to save their debt-ridden companies they tried to stamp on it and pretend it wasn't there. If ever there was a side that deserved to be well and truly trounced, it was the music labels.

Apple was totally merciless in this war and they emerged as the undisputed conqueror.  There was no ceasefire, no clemency, no return of prisoners.  It was an unbridled massacre.  The white flags hoisted by the record industry were a pitiful site.  They had little choice but to let the victor enjoy the spoils - the right to distribute and take the lion's share of profits from the world's treasure trove of digital music.  Physical music media died on that battlefield.  The future was in digital, not physical distribution.

Streaming services offer hope

Now that memories of the carnage are fading into history and the smoke is finally clearing, there is some hope for a fairer digital future. New providers have emerged from the rubble,  prepared to provide a vast catalogue of music to subscribers, either for a very reasonable monthly charge or totally free if listeners are prepared to listen to few adverts.  Spotify, Rdio and Pandora, amongst others, are the bright lights of this new breed of streaming digital providers.  They have the potential to redress the balance and give consumers some modicum of choice in where they get their music fix.

I don't know if these companies will compensate the artists any more equitably than they are currently but they will surely provide the consumer with a much fairer way to enjoy music.

Losing ground to the streaming services (BusinessWeek)