Clippings

Letters

Peter Lloyd writes When anyone bemoans the death of letter writing, perhaps I should direct the conversation to letter reading. Who reads them?, gives a shocking example, and suggests several sources to follow up.

I sent hand-written letters to several colleagues at a digital marketing agency. None of them read my missives. The letters arrived but languished in mailroom pigeon holes. “I don't ever go get my snail-mail,” one of my addressees explained, when I asked him if he had received my traditional letter. I meant for it to stand out from all the electronic messages I know he receives.

Another statement, Letters may prove more thoughtful and intimate, but it's stimulation variety we seem to crave today, sees to echo Sherry Turkle's op-ed earlier this week.

Documenting Ourselves vs Reflection

Sherry Turkle carried the Alone Together theme to a New York Times op-ed this morning. She wrote
Technology doesn’t just do things for us. It does thing to us, changing not just what we do but who we are. The selfie makes us accustomed to putting ourselves and those around us “on pause” in order to document our lives. It is an extension of how we have learned to put our conversations “on pause” when we send or receive a text, an image, an email, a call. When you get accustomed to a life of stops and starts, you get less accustomed to reflecting on where you are and what you are thinking.
and finished with this reflection
It is not too late to reclaim our composure. I see the most hope in young people who have grown up with this technology and begin to see its cost. They respond when adults provide them with sacred spaces (the kitchen, the family room, the car) as device-free zones to reclaim conversation and self-reflection.

The Doctor is in...in the future

Fast Company demonstrates an unexpected benefit of the Affordable Care Act—as primary care physicians begin to see more patients and respond to the need to emphasize well being and deemphasize fee-for-service treatment, they will have to reimagine their offices. ("Doctors will need to start thinking like merchants and in terms of squeezing profitability out of every square foot. As architects and designers who view "space" as a tool to solve problems and make life better and more interesting, we reimagined the doctor's office as a cross between a vibrant retail space and serious medical office building") The illustrations that accompany this article are stunning; the ideas generated are brilliant. On one hand I'm disappointed that my concept of medical care is rooted so firmly in current practice; on the other I can't wait for ideas like this to be realized.