Join me in a journey down the online off-ramp.

I worked at America Online. I started my career at CompuServe, which pioneered the online mode of living that we all take for granted today. AOL developed things further (AIM anyone?), the Internet drove it further, and AI is taking things beyond any conceivable limits. I’m beginning to regret those life choices.

Let’s take a concrete example from this morning. I’m about to turn 65. The government helpfully sent me a thick paper booklet entitled “Medicare and You” that lists coverage options, what’s not covered, costs, etc. I’ve been researching this for several years already, so I nearly threw it in the trash as I do with most paper mailings. But, partly in instinctive rebellion against the call of doom-scrolling, I sat down and browsed it. I learned things I didn’t know. I underlined things. I circled things. I confirmed some things. I’m glad they sent it and I’m glad I glanced through it. Printed boldly on the front in the middle of a red blotch are the words

“Go digital! … make this your last paper copy”

Is that a threat or a promise? AAA stopped printing their very useful travel guides years ago. Every bank and doctor’s office I deal with is nearly rabid about getting me to opt out of paper statements. Many won’t send them once you’ve cut over to online. Some charge to print/mail them. That seems fair.

The info is all online. What’s the problem?

People will die & go bankrupt because info is hidden in plain sight.

Everything that goes online gets lost in the infinity of the web and LLM training data. Sure, it’s there. Sure, I can access it. But will I? Maybe not. I have an infinite amount of things (Google ads, e.g.) competing for my attention. Maybe prioritizing an infinite pile of online info is an impossible task?

“But ‘we’ put the information online. ‘We’ met our legal obligation. ‘We’ provided the information to you. ‘We’ expect you to know everything we put online better than our customer service people or AI chatbots do. ‘We’ stopped printing and mailing, so our costs are down. It works for ‘us’. ‘We’ are excited …."¹

For the particular example chosen, a booklet explaining medical care options targeted primarily at older adults, the problems get worse. I walked the last few years of life with my father and reset his online banking password for him at least 25 times and he kept insisting the problem was the bank, not his cognitive decline (he was in denial). What would have happened if he were expected to look this information up online, or if there were a requirement to access all the info on a smart phone app (everbody has a smart phone, right?) with a screen that’s too small for older eyes, or using a UI that keeps changing or via a confusing, unhelpful chatbot. Now you’ve got information that’s completely inaccessible to your target audience.

OK. Boomer problems. But the point still stands:

Information hidden in a sea of other data is not information.

The surprising utility of a printed guide

How did having a big fat printed paper guide to Medicare benefits that I almost threw away help?

I actually looked at it. I learned some important things about what is and is not covered on my medical insurance. I was able to use multiple senses to reinforce the learning. I wrote in it. I underlined things. The process was active, not just “sure another thing on my phone, whatever, next”. It is a physical object so spatial memory is involved. I was forced to prioritize (trash, read, keep) it.

Sure, maybe we’ll all have personal AI agents who take care of everything for us soon. We can stop thinking and taking responsibility for ourselves. There’s a movie title there, maybe “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Agentic AI”.

I don’t expect companies to start printing things and mailing out statements again. I don’t expect the problem of cognitive decline to go away. I don’t expect information overload (“Future Shock” anyone?) to go away. I’m mostly noting the thresholds we’re crossing and making personal choices where I can to backtrack some where it is possible to do so.

Off-Ramp baby-step one. Writing and thinking on paper.

One area I have control over is how I produce information.

@slackline@mastodon.social pointed me at a couple excellent articles

@eludom @sacha Remembered reading this post by Neal Stephenson on how he writes (a lot of good long books) with fountain pens

Writing by Hand is Good for your Brain - Here’s how to do it

It cites the same article as Scientific American

Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom

I’ve noticed for a while that writing on paper somehow “feels different” in terms of the thought processes. These explain it. The core of this article was originally written on paper. I’m going to do more of my writing and thinking on paper as part of my journey down the “online off-ramp”. Stay tuned.

Footnotes

¹ The English language needs new personal pronouns for corporate blobs. “We” are never “excited” by a product launch or a price increase. It’s all just calculated for effect by people sitting in rooms talking about “brand”, “customer experience” and other nebulous terms. “It” or “the Borg” might fit better, but then the Borg never seem very excited either :-)