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Comment by have_faith | Hacker News Reader

That was very difficult to read for some reason. The author quotes a lot of other peoples definitions of wilderness, online, offline, digit escapism, etc, but I’m struggling to understand the authors intentions. Does she recommend that I not view excessive time spent online as negative or escaping to spaces that remove it as positive? Should I view my own preferences for the outdoors as an extension of my white-male-ness instead of a pursuit of individual happiness?

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The article is saying that offline/online is like wilderness/civilization — a classification that stratifies experiences and the their availability along moral lines as opposed to pragmatic choices. She also makes the point that it divides along individualistic vs communal lines of thinking, where being alone is equated with being ‘pure’.

For instance, the comment about not wanting to have to choose between being connected to social media and feeling bad vs not being connected but feeling better is a clear reference to the influence of apps like Facebook and Instagram, where research has shown that people tend to feel worse after using them (I’m probably over-simplifying here). If you think in terms of online as “spoiled” and offline as “unspoiled”, it makes you less likely to imagine that online experiences can be improved.

I’ll also give a personal example. I love to go backpacking and I have been able to take my children with me on my last few trips. My oldest wanted to bring a Kindle, which I was fine with. Some people gave me grief about it because I was letting them bring a “screen” on a backpacking trip. This seems weird to me - within a backpacking context a Kindle is lighter and more useful than a book in almost every way (can’t be used as tinder in an emergency but that’s about the only disadvantage). If you’re not willing to bring technology into backpacking because it somehow “spoils” things, then I would like to draw your attention to all those high priced synthetic fiber clothing, dehydrated foods, and the plastic, aluminum and carbon fiber structural components that people happily use to improve their trip. My Garmin InReach does not spoil the trip for me because I can communicate with my wife, it makes it safer and more pleasant for my kids.

I preemptively mourn that at some point people will be able to text, stream shows, and have video calls from even the deepest wilderness areas.

It is great that there are official wilderness areas that are off limits to technology such are drones and even bicycles. I kind of wish there was a way to digitally fence those areas off to some degree as well though as a fellow inReach user I know how useful some tech can be.

Preventing wireless communication, even in wilderness areas seems like a bad idea. I remember a Reddit post many years ago (back when the concept of a internet post from the middle of nowhere was novel) from a bush pilot in Alaska. His plane had some sort of failure (not a crash) that left him stuck in the wilderness. But he had satellite internet that not only let him call for rescue, it let him pass the time by posting about the experience on Facebook and Reddit.

I think this lament gets to the heart of the article's argument. The problem isn't that we'll eventually be able to connect everywhere. It's that being online is harmful or intrusive enough to need an escape.

The call to action is too work towards a future of technology where we don't need to escape to improve our mental health and experience of nature.

When I leave my house to go to the grocery store I have to make an active concerted effort to not compulsively check my phone.

When I head out to the wilderness it does not take the same level of active effort to not compulsively use my phone.

Same, and that gets to the heart of it. Out phones have been engineered to encourage constant novelty and engagement. That's a systemic issue. Leaving a phone behind is a individual solution. This article argues (eventually) for a systemic solution.

The article fails by being condescending towards individual solutions instead of acknowledging them as a helpful stopgap

> can’t be used as tinder in an emergency but that’s about the only disadvantage

If the battery's charged, it's better than tinder! Although you'd only get one try.

This is the high art of “phd word salad.” Painted with precious oils, yet each topic is given a casual canvas slap. The result is not a diagram.

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