April 27, 2008


“Where do people find the time?”

My mom has often asked me, in a tone of disdain, how people find the time to do so much stuff on the Internet—stuff that she thinks is, with a few tiny exceptions, worthless—and I’ve been saying to her for years, “They spend less time than you do slackjawed in front of the TV.”

In this short talk, Clay Shirky puts a number on that amount of “found” time. And then he explains how what people are now starting to do with that time is fundamentally different from watching television.

I think it’s fair to say that if you’re interested in Clusterflock, you’ll be fascinated by this talk.

Here’s a transcript, for those who are distracted by Mr. Shirky’s fidgeting around next to the podium: Gin, Television, and Social Surplus.

comments

22 Responses to ““Where do people find the time?””

  1. Clay Shirky on the Cognitive Surplus « GracefulFlavor on April 28th, 2008 at 8:15 am

    [...] (via India @ clusterflock) [...]

  2. Amy Mabli on April 28th, 2008 at 9:23 am

    I wish the street vendors were pushing gin carts down my street instead of selling Mexican ices.

  3. Andrew Simone on April 28th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    This is the single best thing I have ever seen on this site. Thank you, India.

  4. Deron Bauman on April 28th, 2008 at 10:52 am

    I thought it was this.

  5. Sheila Ryan on April 28th, 2008 at 11:12 am

    I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Andrew is an Excitable Boy.

  6. Cindy Scroggins on April 28th, 2008 at 11:27 am

    Where do people find the time?
    “No one who works in TV gets to ask that question.”

    This is a wonderful talk. Thanks, India.

  7. Deron Bauman on April 28th, 2008 at 11:48 am

    thank you, India. fantastic.

  8. India on April 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

    I thought y’all might find it worthwhile.

    And I must admit that I’m relieved by his principle that “It’s better to do something than to do nothing.” Makes me feel a lot less shitty about using the Internets as a heat sink for most of my own cognitive surplus. No, I am not turning myself into a vegetable; I’m participating in a postindustrial revolution!

    Oh, and he teaches at that school where I’m going.

  9. Cindy Scroggins on April 28th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    India, I didn’t know you’d gone back to school. Tell us about it.

  10. India on April 28th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    I’m not there yet. Classes start September 2.

  11. Cindy Scroggins on April 28th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    Oooh. That sounds wonderful.

  12. More Writers Than Readers? : clusterflock on April 28th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    [...] lunch I read an article which reminded me of Clay Shirky’s observations applied to literature: “As publishing has become less expensive, the urge to write my own self [...]

  13. Andrew Simone on April 29th, 2008 at 7:57 am

    Well played, Deron. Well played.

  14. Seth on April 30th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    This concept, rather than scientific learning or any rival doctrine, is where I see the greatest social change. My first thought about people no longer accepting passive or fixed types of religion actually came to me as a young boy, pre-internet during a church sermon.

    I wanted to ask a question about something during the sermon but wasn’t allowed to. Why not? I thought bitterly. Why do we just sit here soaking up this lesson with no room for our own input or experience?

    While I do not expressly oppose organized religion I see this as a threat or the impetus for a significant paradigm shift.

  15. Rick White on May 6th, 2008 at 7:45 am

    Wonderful presentation with excellent points. What’s the most interaction a TV can provide? Changing the channel? Calling in to vote for your favorite singer on American Idol? No thanks.

  16. Where do people find the time, stupid tv as taken it, watch this it’s important to the next generation of media. « Don’t Panic on May 8th, 2008 at 11:18 am

    [...] Where do people find the time, stupid tv as taken it, watch this it’s important to the next generation of media. http://www.clusterflock.org/2008/04/where-do-people-find-the-time.html [...]

  17. Where do peolple find the time? « Living and Thinking on July 4th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    [...] “Where do people find the time?” : clusterflock [...]

  18. Room362.com on August 5th, 2008 at 11:48 pm

    Where do people find the time?…

    I recently was Stumbling and happened across the following video. Now, when people use StumbleUpon they are usually bored and aren’t really contributing to the world as we know it. Now, it strikes me as ironic that I found and watched a video lik…

  19. Of Television-Induced Stupor and the Social Revolution | JoelHough.com on August 10th, 2008 at 12:40 am

    [...] Check it out over at ClusterFlock. [...]

  20. Room362.com » Blog Archive » Where do people find the time? on March 4th, 2009 at 11:49 am
  21. The Meaning of Life (well… sort of) at Pedro Martins on April 7th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    [...] Where do people find the time (via clusterflock) [...]

  22. Eliminating Waste: The Television Time-Sink | Being Kaizen on May 9th, 2009 at 10:20 am

    [...] of American Idol. A commenter on the post links to this video of Clay Shirkey giving a talk called Where do people find the time? In this talk, Clay discusses the “cognitive surplus” realized by our industrialized and [...]

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