The loss of physical touch.

[Wings]

That's really neat. Pics?

This is a little project of mine from a few years back. I have no woodworking skills, but I wanted to give it a try and do something productive with my hands, rather than just masturbating. So, I bought a fretless bass. It was unfinished. Really rough. Not sanded or stained or anything. Basically someone assembled the wood for me. I sort of wanted this as a project, as I am NOT a handy person at all. I just don't have that touch. But I decided I would refinish it and sand it down and reshape it all myself. It's certainly no masterpiece, but it was a lot of fun.

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q518/pmann83/WB Sanded_zps0ixahbtm.jpg

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q518/pmann83/WB Fin_zpsiidk5td8.jpg

My favourite part was the fingerboard. As you can see in the first picture, it's not stained and it's sanded extremely rough. I got the shine on it with superglue. It took a lot of time and me gluing my hand to the bass several times. But you put superglue on the fingerboard, rub it evenly, spray accelerator on it to harden, then sand the shit out of it. I did that from about 600 grit all the way up to 3,000. It gives it a hard, nitrocellulose lacquer look, for about $10. Then, I buffed it up to 15,000 grit to get the shine.

I'll have to go out to my shop and take some. I generally just make them and then give them away.

That is SO COOL! I love that look. The Ginger and I have been working on a coffee table inlaying the agates and cool rocks we find up on the North Shore and I have to buy bar top. That shit is so expensive, I wish I could use your super glue method.

 

[Ishmael]

Not that high-tech. Mostly there's cork, bamboo, graphite and sometimes aluminum.

Fly rods? I had an OLD Orvis split bamboo fly rod (#5 line) that I loved. Got stolen, probably by someone that didn't know what it was.

Ishmael

 

[Wings]

Fly rods? I had an OLD Orvis split bamboo fly rod (#5 line) that I loved. Got stolen, probably by someone that didn't know what it was.

Ishmael

Yeppers. I love fly fishing but it's hard to do around here until the splake run up north.

 

[Ishmael]

Yeppers. I love fly fishing but it's hard to do around here until the splake run up north.

I'd ask you what you want for a bamboo rod, but that would be pointless. I probably can't afford it. (The new Orvis rods start at $3,000 and go up from there.)

I hope the bastard that stole my rods rots in hell. He also made off with a #7 and #10 fiberglass rods, no big loss there though.

Plenty of fly fishing opportunities out here.

Ishmael

 

[1HF]

I like to bake, paint, and spend time outdoors.

I still enjoy writing letters. I still refuse to give up my physical books, and will not at this time get some sort of e-reader.

And I really love hugs. Physical contact is super important.

 

[Wings]

I'd ask you what you want for a bamboo rod, but that would be pointless. I probably can't afford it. (The new Orvis rods start at $3,000 and go up from there.)

I hope the bastard that stole my rods rots in hell. He also made off with a #7 and #10 fiberglass rods, no big loss there though.

Plenty of fly fishing opportunities out here.

Ishmael

I've never sold a single rod, they are gifts and gifts only.

 

[Oley]

I like rebuilding old cars and doing the body work on them. You have to run your hands over every square inch for the best finish. It's amazing what your hands find that your eyes dont.
In summer I rarely wear shoes when outside. I love the feel of grass and dirt on my bare feet (and I really don't like feet).

 

[toubab]

'There is something about the move from manual to automatic – from laboriously shaping each letter to just hitting a button – that changes things, and that’s not just true of spelling. I increasingly notice the disappearance of small ways in which humans used to engage tangibly and effortfully with their world but now don’t; a growing physical distance between people and stuff. How many people still wind a watch at night; start a car on a freezing day by easing the choke out to just the right point; insert reels of film into a camera, and take photographs of something other than their own face?'

Full article here. Wishy washy and weak towards the end, but I think it raises an important point, and is another factor in our atomized world. It's why I love the meetings that happen between people here on the GB especially, even if for obvious reasons I can never make any of them: it's a small reversal in the directional flow, from analogue to digital, manual to automatic, hand-built to robot built.

What have you done with your hands today? Who have you touched or been touched by? When was the last time you wrote a letter with a pen, or washed and polished your car by hand, or chopped wood, or used a non-digital camera, or anything that didn't involve the intervention of a computer?

I really hope people here are still writing on paper and reading actual books, peeling and chopping and frying and hugging and kissing and all the other activities that remind us we are physical not digital, animal not machine, and that there is more to life than pixels.

The irony inherent in the medium I am using to post this is not lost on me. Nonetheless.

I see the past, the present, and I think I see the future. I don't like the trend. Not for myself, and not for humanity in general.

Well, thank you Des, for starting my day off on a happy note.

 

[Ishmael]

I've never sold a single rod, they are gifts and gifts only.

If I take you fishing on the San Juan will you put me on your Xmas list?

Ishmael

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Most people favor their tactile and kinesic senses but not all. Many favor their sight, a few favor their hearing. I split between hearing and smell. Touch and pain have little effect on me.

 

[Littlefinger]

I watched a documentary about children being adopted from overcrowded Russian orphanages where they barely ever got held or comforted as infants simply from the lack of staff available and how it was causing a disruption in the older children being able to connect and bond with their adoptive families. Like, to the point where they seemed wild and angry inside, had trouble learning in school, were disruptive and seemed unable to feel love or give love to their adoptive parents.

Touch is very important to our development as infants. You simply cannot hold or touch a baby too much for their own good. Every little kiss, every little reswaddling, every little adjustment in the cradling arm, it sends signals of information to them, stimulating growth and development. We don't stop needing it when we grow up.

I do not see this need for the manual going away. After all, like the article says, those who typed the information during a lecture got more of it down but processed less of it. If our minds do not work that way, then the manual cannot be erased completely.

As it stands, I write constantly little notes on my hands, something I grew as a habit at a young age. I find difficulty now sometimes when trying to date people, like a disconnect in language or a barrier of perception and comprehension. Often times, it makes me feel a sudden shock of isolation and it's one of those things, do you sit there and embarrass them by having an indepth comprehension lesson, to figure out if they truly got what you were saying and were just ignoring you or if they didn't hear/understand and decided to move past it. Either one bothers me a tiny bit to consider as the truth, even though I admit, not every thought I share is a prized and golden one to be commented on. But I usually only notice it happening when I have said something I do wish to have another's input on and if they're not willing to ask when they mishear or misunderstand or they just don't give a fuck enough, then it presents itself as a problem indeed. It's one of the main reasons I friend zone people after a couple of dates. I cannot be intimate with somebody that leaves me to dwell in uncertainty within my own internal world. I can do that alone, with me and my glass dildo, Ellison.

I don't know how much of that is a disconnect with just myself and the individuals I am running into afield, or if this is a growing problem with those in my age group.

 

[GiggLeGasm]

^^^^^
there is one meeting that I attend each month where a massage therapist is brought in to provide head/neck massage during discussions/brainstorming. It's the one meeting that I never miss because I feel connected.

 

[Super-Surprise]

http://i.imgur.com/QWqmr8l.gif

 

[Lorilei]

I don't like it when people touch me, ok?!?!

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/38/d8/c6/38d8c6cc67cb7e1db6dafe4add779dd8.jpg

 

[snugglestruggle]

This thread makes me so emotional... I just.. :sniff sniff:sob sob sob

 

[neci]

i use my touch.

 

[doowdniw]

Working on the cars is my therapy.

 

[dolf]

my work is all touch. and every touch, or the effect of every touch, is always considered. brushing the stray hairs from the face of someone who cannot do it for themselves, or the seemingly casual hand on the arm of someone slumped, just as reassuring contact and confirmation that I am going nowhere. the power of touch and what it can convey is not something I miss.

 

[MonaLittle]

Well, my work is done mostly away from an office setting and in social situations,

I'm one of the few people that do not have a facebook account. I do have instagram & twitter which I don't really spend very much time at. I feel I've found a good balance between selfies and true photography, which is one of my passions and hobbies. I go out every chance I get, camera in hand, and shoot 100's of photo's at a time.

I travel a lot and when Im traveling for fun, I unplug. No pc, no phone. Well, that's not entirely true. I do post an occasional photo and selfie to Instagram from wherever I'm at. But for the most part, I'm tech free.

I still write letters and continue to send out hand written Christmas and Birthday cards. I've also received many, many cards and letters, both get well and holiday/birthday, from my friends here at Lit.

And as most of my friends here know, I'm an outdoors girl. I love any kind of physical activity -indoors & out- and spend as much free time as I can skiing, running, going to Yoga, hiking and paddle boarding.

I haven't even hit 10K posts here yet and I've been a member for 10 years. I spend wayyy more time socializing off the net and away from online activities, as I do plugged in.

 

[Littlefinger]

my work is all touch. and every touch, or the effect of every touch, is always considered. brushing the stray hairs from the face of someone who cannot do it for themselves, or the seemingly casual hand on the arm of someone slumped, just as reassuring contact and confirmation that I am going nowhere. the power of touch and what it can convey is not something I miss.

Agreed. I find the same with my job as well. A gentle touch on someone's arm when they ask me for help, or a faint tap on the back when I need to get by and around someone blocking the way out of my register(and a hastily offered "coming up behind you!"). Just barely there, seconds and fleeting moments but people seem to feel more secure and aware when it is offered.

Facial expression is another powerful and physical thing that the article doesn't mention. It too can be lost in this technological age and it's a very integral part of connection and how we communicate and interact with the world.

 

[Tongue_Twisted]

Not that high-tech. Mostly there's cork, bamboo, graphite and sometimes aluminum.

An entire rod of cork, or just the hand grips and butt?

 

[Wings]

An entire rod of cork, or just the hand grips and butt?

Hand grips and butt. Sometimes when I worked with the scouts it would be a different configuration.

 

[Wild_Honey_66]

this thread.

I haven't been taking advantage of the opportunities I have to touch, and to be touched, and now that someone has pointed it out, I can see how much it has been affecting me.

Funny, I was just discussing the 'healing power of touch' with another Litster about an hour ago.

perfect timing, Des.

 

[CandiCame]

Just yesterday I had to convince my youngest to write a real letter to her close friend who moved to California this past August. "I can just send him an email, mom." The tangible hand-written letter is infinitely more personal. My oldest gets it, and my youngest finally relented, but maybe just to end the discussion. I hope not. I hope she gets it.

Thought-provoking post, Des.

I'm with you on the Litogethers, too. Way to buck the matrix, GB!

I genuinely don't understand why you would ever write somebody a letter EVER. There's a reason that died. It's so much easier to send a message. You don't have to pay for postage. You don't have to go to the post office. You don't have to pay for the gas to go to the post office. You can get an instant reply so you have an actual human connection. That's just so cold and calculated and expensive and impersonal and stupid and time consuming.

As for the rest of you... technology is so much warmer than a world without tech. My brother lives 2 hours away. We can talk instantly. The love of my life lives in a different city- we can jack off together over Skype. What you're saying is the exact opposite of reality.

http://www.pps.org/blog/technology-brings-people-together-in-public-spaces-after-all/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andreas-bernstr/how-communications-techno_b_3435756.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7679734.stm

http://betanews.com/2014/12/17/modern-technology-brings-friends-and-family-closer-together/

I mean... it's not like there's anything stopping old people from writing letters to each other if they want to, but in my entire life I've never received a letter from a human being. I've gotten mail, but it's always been from some/thing/. So if I were to get a letter from a human it would be super... horrible? I'd wonder why they would care so little about me that they would send me something in the way a robot does. Sometimes my boyfriend will send me packages that have a note in them, but he tells me beforehand to expect it via some kind of technology or in person. And generally the note will be typed because what he'll do is he'll order me something, and then the place he orders it from has a thing where you can send a little note with it. That I can actually read. Because that motherfucker has the worst handwriting of anybody I've ever seen.

 

[JohnnySavage]

I have a few old friends that I send handwritten letters to. It's more personal and an indication of affection.