growing up the internet by Francesca Maida

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growing up the internet by francesca maida

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growing up the internet

KRISTA TIPPET, HOST Tiffany Shlain thinks of the internet when she thinks of her favorite quote of the naturalist John Muir, that, “When you tug at a single thing in the universe, you find it’s attached to everything else.” She is an internet pioneer and a filmmaker committed to reframing technology as an expression of the best of what humanity is capable, with all the complexity that entails. She founded the Webby Awards — the “Oscars of the Internet” — which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. And for over six years she and her young family have held to a technology sabbath or “shabbat” — 24 unplugged hours each week. Her perspective on our technology-enhanced lives is ultimately a purposeful and enriching one —— the internet is our global brain, towards which we can apply all the wisdom we are gaining about the brains in our heads and the character in our lives.

And I think the challenge is going to be to create enough collaborative tools to make that happen. But that makes me incredibly hopeful.

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TIFFANY SHLAIN There’s a point in the development of a child’s brain where all the different parts of the brain are connected that they can have their first insight. And extrapolating that out to the internet, the moment that we can truly get everyone on the internet connected, imagine the insight that will be able to happen when we have that many different perspectives coming together in one network.

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I love the analogy that you draw with the brain, with our brains, and with human connection. And I think it seems kind of obvious to you — and it’s one of those things that seems obvious when you say it, but it’s really not the narrative that we have running through our culture.

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KT You are really making a connection between the fact that our brains are designed for connection, and the internet is an extension of our brains, that it was made to connect data, but now it connects us. And seeing this digital world that we often define as something separate from us, and even something that’s tyrannical, that’s taking over our lives.

So you can talk about technology as a force for bad, but you can also talk about it as a force for good. Or you could just talk about it as an extension of us. And if we’re mindful about the way we use technology, we can shape it. And it’s not something that’s overtaking us. I think a lot of people talk about, “Oh, I’m so overwhelmed with technology.” Well, you can turn it off, also, and that’s been a really profound thing for me. I was very immersed in technology.

My father wrote a lot about the brain, and he was a surgeon and operated on it. And he did get brain cancer, which was very difficult. When I would go over to see him for — sometimes it was just one good hour a day, we would turn off our phones and just be incredibly present with my dad. And when he died, I just — I said, “Ken, I — can we as a family” — and we have children — “can we turn off the screens for Shabbat?” And we call them our “technology shabbats.” It’s incredibly empowering to also know that I needed to turn it off and that I could, and we made this family commitment to do it. And I find that having just that day without any screens, without any technology, is such a beautiful rebalancing. And I think more deeply. I’m more reflective. I think about the bigger picture. And then on Saturday night, this kind of dual effect, which I didn’t expect at all, is that I kind of reappreciate technology all over again.

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TS It’s amazing. We seem to talk about technology as if it’s other than us when we’ve created it. It’s a reframing. It is an extension of our abilities. It’s an amplification of our desire to connect, of our desire to do more — so, it is us. And we are good, bad, and everything in between.

the internet is in its infancy, and it's

KT The internet is in its infancy, and it’s up to us to grow it up. That we’re the adults in the room, whether we feel like that or not. It seems to me that — you’re also saying that the internet and this technology makes connection possible. It’s an engine of connection, and that growing it up, and shaping it to human purposes for the world we want to live in and we want to raise our children in means delving into it in that spirit, and also, at the same time, knowing when to unplug. Right? _____ KT You point out — is this true? — that there are more connections still — neural connections in any single human brain than the entire internet possesses now? TS A child’s brain. KT Isn’t that incredible? TS Birth to five is the biggest growth period of a child’s brain. And we were trying to show how incredibly important it is to support a brain in those years. Yeah, it’s an awesome fact. If you think about the word “awesome,” “full of awe,” that’s a very big word. KT [laughs] Well, and here’s another one. A little bit less overused, but you even single out this word “ubuntu” which is a South African word, and this beautiful philosophical principle and way of being that was there as apartheid ended. And it means “I am, because you are.” And I’ve seen that watered down spiritually, I think, but you say that that principle, in fact, is a perfect way to think about how the human brain develops.

up to us to grow it up

TS Yeah. I think, being a parent, there’s nothing more incredible than experiencing that first-hand with watching your children respond and grow to you, and guiding, and modeling, and all of these things, too. I think a lot about the modeling, even with my work around character and gratitude and all of these things that you hope to instill, and, yeah, it’s interesting.

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Just as we're raising a child, we need to shepherd this to its maturity,

and infuse it with

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our own sense of character.

KT So the intellectual, creative side of you is thinking about growing up the internet to its greatest potential, and... TS Yes. KT ...in fact, its character. And its potential for incredible connection. But you’ve been working with that idea as you are becoming a mother, and as you’re thinking about healthy child development techniques, and in fact, it’s a perfect analogy. But, again, it’s not the way we tend to think about our lives with technology. TS I love what you just said about character in terms of the internet evolving, that we proactively can evolve the internet and infuse it with character strengths. That is really a framework to think about a healthy evolution of the internet, instead of throwing your hands up and saying this thing is out of our control, and it’s doing all these things. We — just as we’re raising a child, we need to shepherd this to its maturity, and infuse it with our own sense of character. KT Right. You talk about how a child’s brain and our brains are always pruning as we get older, and that what we pay attention to gets stronger, and what you pay attention to less gets pruned out. Like the human brain, those of us who are adults now have lived through this thing, this phenomenon, landing in the middle of our lives, and in the middle of society, and really turning everything inside out in ways that are still playing out. But again, as you’re saying, it’s up to us what direction that takes. TS Absolutely. I think that’s incredibly empowering, too, if you think of it that way. And it’s exciting, if you think, wow, we’re at this point in human evolution and our civilization where you have this tool that’s creating a nervous system for the whole world, and we can shape it. And we can prune it. And we can strengthen things that are important, and weaken things that are not as important — or not good for society. And I think that, with the internet and with technology, if people find ways to break it down and make it accessible — even for me, whether it was the technology shabbat and having some way to engage with it that felt more comfortable to me. I think that’s really important.

KT I think what’s also accessible and empowering about that is your emphasis that it doesn’t say that you have to possess all of those wonderful qualities, but that we do have some strengths, and that focusing on the strengths you have and practicing the strengths you have is also your contribution. TS Yeah, and focusing on the strengths of others. The people around you have strengths, to recognize them, it actually makes them stronger for them, too. …Everyone has strengths that you would never say are good, like something like envy. If envy motivates you to actually, maybe, get a new job, or do something, that could possibly have — it could be useful in some situations. And things like humility, that you can dial up or down humility in different situations, and it’s all about understanding how much space you should take up. KT Yeah. It’s tricky. Humility can be tricky. TS Well, on the one hand, OK, my — if your instinct is to be humble, but then there’s another part of me that’s a complete feminist, and I know that we need to keep pushing it forward. And a lot of times if women don’t say what they’ve done, it won’t get said, and it’s not in the history books. So there’s another part of me that’s like, well, I need to make sure that what a woman has done is known. [laughs] So it’s — I’m inner wrestling with me. But it’s a little — you know what I mean? _____ KT I was at divinity school when my daughter was born, my first child, and so I was doing my version of what you’re doing. I was studying theology. And I was thinking about these ideas, and so, I was reading, at that point, about humility in the Bible, and about what — Jesus always talks about he humility of a child. And I think I had exactly the same reaction you did, as a woman. To me to be humble was to be ineffective and ineffectual. TS Right. KT But I started to look at that word all the way through the text, and the Hebrew Bible, as well, and I realized that I think spiritual humility is actually not about making yourself small or about debasing yourself. It’s about having a proper awe before everything else and everyone else. Right?

TS It’s almost like your place in the larger context. That you always are coming from understanding where you are in the larger, interdependent context of the world. But my question for you is why do you think there is this resurgence of the discussion of character right now in the 21st century in the last couple years? What do you think that’s about? KT Well, to me — so, a word I use probably more than “character,” but I actually think it’s completely connected, is the language of “virtues,” right? Or the language of wisdom, which is different. And wisdom is one of those strengths, but I think character and virtues, which, to me, are maybe the practices that add up to character I find also that the language of virtue, for example, is that people who are a bit older, sometimes, it has baggage to it. But "I find that younger people are — find this language really magnetic. And for me, it’s — again, the language I use more is “virtue,” but I wonder if you find the language of character, that periodic table of strengths, like wisdom, and humility. I don’t know. What else is on there? What else is on there? Probably kindness. TS Humor. KT Humor, yeah. TS Social intelligence.

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KT Yeah, I love that humor’s on there, yeah.

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Time just goes ridiculously slow when your phone is off.

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TIFFANY SHLAIN

TS Right. KT Like growing up our species. Evolving. TS Oh, I love that. Yes. Yes.

KT And do you feel like carving out your Shabbat, just even sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, does that then permeate the rest of the week? TS Oh, yeah. KT Where you are presumably texting and emailing as much as the rest of us? TS Yeah. And I’m doing what everyone else is doing the other times. I’m not like some Puritan or something. I feel so creative on Sunday morning. It’s crazy. This is the other thing that happens that really I find fascinating — when you’re turning off the technology, you are slowing down time. You’re slowing down your mind.

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KT If we combine these different sides of the conversation, and these different sides of your endeavor — you’re talking about growing up the internet by growing up ourselves.

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KT Yeah. So, to the addictive feeling of our relationship with our technology, would you say a little bit about what we’re learning about — the neurotransmitters, like the oxytocin and the dopamine and how those things — and also not necessarily in ways that seem terrible, but what’s released in our brains as we interact with these devices. TS It’s very similar to — I’m not proud of this, but in rebellion in my 20s, I smoked. And I know what that feels like. And sometimes I’d have a cigarette in my mouth and want another cigarette. And I would be blown away that that thought could happen. [laughs] But yeah, dopamine —but the good news is that the — and dopamine, it’s also things that make you feel good, things that make you want more, like food, or sex, or there’s all of these things that you can’t be satiated with.

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And then on the flipside, with oxytocin—this is what I love — oxytocin is the love hormone. When women are breastfeeding, they get flooded with oxytocin. Or it makes you feel trusting. And it makes you want to collaborate.

And they've shown that

when you get a text or an email from someone you love, or someone you feel connected to, you get a rush of oxytocin.

We are awash of oxytocin.

KT Well, the other thing I think a lot about is—the internet is a new and very powerful oversized screen for the old human condition. Right? There’s nothing that happens online that doesn’t have an offline corollary. TS No, it’s amplifying everything that we are. And that’s the amazing thing about it. KT You use the word “beauty” a lot when you talk about technology. And I just—I wonder what—how do you—a phrase like that, that language of the “beauty of technology.” What are the connotations that’s filled with for you? TS I think that just growing up with my father writing Art and Physics, that the beauty of math—the poetry of an amazing equation and code and—I mean, I think art is—I think beauty really can be applied to everything. I see art and science the way he taught me to see it, which is that they’re just—one’s images and one’s equations and numbers, but they’re the same —they’re showing us the same ideas, but in different languages.

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KT So, in terms of this work of the internet being in its infancy, and how its foundation is us, in fact, and how we are building its foundation. Where do you see this happening? I mean, you’re out there talking about this stuff. Where do you see this hopeful, character - driven foundation being built? TS Well, going back to one point you said that I think about a lot is just things that become self-fulfilling prophecies if we keep saying it. I think that with the internet, I absolutely think about it with the women’s story, that we’re always “not” —we’re not enough of this, we’re not enough — we’re not enough board seats, we’re not enough directing jobs. I never think — it’s such a different way to think about the world as coming from what we’re not, instead of, for me, which is, where are we? Where are we on are the arc of history? And how can we shape it moving forward? And I think — I’m very excited about the moment of everyone being online, which I think is going to happen in the next five years. Everyone who wants to be, which will be a very large proportion of the population — again, going back to the neuroscience of a child’s brain, that there’s a point in the development of a child’s brain where all the different parts of the brain are connected that they can have their first insight. And extrapolating that out to the internet — we’re, I think, at this point, 60 percent connected. Oh, I was just going to say that I believe in humanity. I feel like there’ve been a couple moments where we could have knocked the whole — huge swathes of population away. And we didn’t. And I think, on a really

bigger picture, I ultimately believe in humans. And I believe that we’re going to evolve. I think — like anything, with progress, it’s two steps forward, one step back, and there’s always going to be these parts of us that aren’t great, that are horrible, that are violent, that are always going to be there. But I think on a whole, when we get everyone online, I think you’re going to see amazing things happen that we can’t even imagine. KT Think about growing up the internet in terms of what are healthy child development techniques. You’re right. It’s wonderful. And just what you said a minute ago about self - fulfilling prophecies. We know if we’re raising a human being in the world, and we’re constantly generalizing about them and their future on the basis of the worst thing they did, this mistake they made. TS Exactly. KT This flaw, this character flaw. TS Thank you. Yes. That’s the news. KT That’s how we ruin them.

when we get everyone online, I think you're going to see amazing things happen

that we can't even imagine.

we don't think about the effect

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KT What was the one about finishing a text — if your spouse walks into the room, you... TS Oh, actually, I try to really not walk into a room talking on the phone. Because that — you don’t realize how much that, for the person that is in the home, when you’re in mid-conversation, it’s not a great way to greet someone. KT Right. But it’s a little thing that — you’re right. We don’t think about the effect we’re having on each other. Or our presence. Our presence.

KT Our habits kind of work against that, don’t they? TS Yeah. There are just too many things that are more important that could happen at any moment. I believe in humans, I believe we’re in this very transformational period with all this technology, and that we need to evolve and create — whether you want to call them habits or practices that allow for the connectivity while also utilizing this amazing tool of the internet.

TS That’s what’s so beautiful about the — even in the technology shabbats, everyone turns off their phone, all the screens, and you’re just — you’re very present with each other.

Today no one makes anyone feel like they're the most important person in the room. TIFFANY SHLAIN

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I remember when my father died, there was a lot of people at his funeral that I hadn’t met before, but they all came up to me and shared some story. And what most of them said to me in different ways was, your father always made me feel like the most important person in the room. And I feel like today no one makes anyone feel like they’re the most important person in the room.

KT You’re close to a lot of what we’re learning on this frontier about how we interact with technology and what it does to us. You’ve talked about how, when you’ve gone out with your films, you realized how concerned people are about this, and about what technology’s doing to our brains. TS Yeah. People are very concerned. It kind of feels like there’s a hysteria right now about artificial intelligence, which also is an offshoot of that. _____

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KT I wonder, when you think about technology and human connection, I wonder if there are insights into that, aspects of that, that are surprising you right now, that you couldn’t even have known or imagined five years ago, or ten years ago, and what are — are there some things you’ve been learning that feel fresh and kind of take you in the next direction?

TS I’ll tell you, there’s one thing I’m kind of wrestling with how I think about it, which is that we recently have a device in our house called the Alexa. And it’s an Amazon speaker that you can verbally say, “What’s the weather?” or “Put on NPR news,” or “Play Nina Simone,” or whatever, and it just does it. And I’ve been thinking a lot about, was it the screen that was bothering me? Because suddenly there’s this verbal — and it’s really intuitive. It really works. You can say anything and it’ll happen. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about, OK, so I don’t have a screen, but I’m suddenly interacting with this larger infosphere, and is that too much? Is it — what does that mean? I’m thinking about that a lot. Because I think that’s going to be soon just commonplace, where you’re verbally saying all these things into the ether and responses happen. And how is that going to change things?

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TS I’m always surprised by how powerful — and again, I think this has to do with the tech shabbats. Every week I get re - surprised [laughs] there’s a new look of surprise now — of just this sense of connection with people, with ideas, and then I ultimately feel incredibly connected to the people that I meet online, on Twitter — mostly on Twitter, actually. I feel most exposed to new, fresh ideas I wouldn’t have interfaced with. And I’m always like, oh, that was — that’s fantastic. So I love that. I love that. The idea generation that comes from that.

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KT How do you think — the passions you’ve lived into, which have so much to do with technology, and our lives with technology, and connection — how do you think all of that has flown in and shaped your sense of what it means to be human? How would you start to talk about that? It’s a huge question, but how would you — where would you start to talk about that? TS The technology connecting all of us, and the tactility of the technology, is creating this kind of underpinning of our yearning for this larger connecting to something larger than ourselves.

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KT Yes. It’s all the little moments that are tapping into this bigger interdependent network. How we tap into it are the ways that we can infuse the sense of character in how we're growing and evolving the internet.

And this larger interdependent system that we're creating, that's showing us

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what already is there so deeply.

featuring photography by:

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Olivia Bee Petra Collins Marisa Chafetz Dafy Hagai Francesca Maida Will Politan Paolo Raeli Tom Sloan Patricia Witt Nico Young

cover, 7, 20, 28, 29, 32, 42, 43, back cover iii, 6, 16, 17, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 34, 35, 38 cover, i, iii, 3, 8, 9, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 30, 31, 32, 39, 40, 41 4 iii, 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 16, 24, back cover iii, 5, 10, 15, 22, 23, 36, 37, 38, back cover 20, 28, 29 25 1 11

This book was created by Francesca Maida for the 2016 Design Capstone 1 course at Washington University in St. Louis in her Senior fall semester. The work features an excerpt of the March 31, 2016 podcast of On Being with Krista Tippet, "Growing Up the Internet", a conversation with host/executive producer Tippet and guest Tiffany Shlain. All photography was curated by Francesca Maida and includes photos from a group of photographers that range from amateur to veteran talents.

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The typefaces VT323, PT Sans, Mr Eaves Mod OT, Letter Gothic STD, and Permanent Markerwere used to typeset this work, in a variety of point sizes and fonts.