#takespace

In 2010, reporter Jane Mayer was accused of plagiarism not because anyone actually thought she was guilty of it, but because she wrote an inflammatory story about the Koch brothers in the New Yorker and they were hoping to smear her reputation.

It took three years of further investigation on Mayer’s part to determine that the Koch brothers had hired private investigators to dig up dirt on her, but instead of cowering in fear or turning her efforts in another direction, she went on to further develop her article into a book—Dark Money: The Hidden History of Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.

The result is a 464-page tome on how private funding can not only influence lawmaking but can change nationwide belief systems without our realizing. The examples are numerous but perhaps the most striking is how the Koch’s managed to change our trust in the global warming “theory.”

By spending $25 million in less than 3 years to target fundamental christians as vehicles of their message and funding studies to debunk science that was once considered reputable, the brothers managed to reverse public opinion in their favor.  According to Mayer, the US was more certain about the threat of global warming before the Koch’s put their hand in it and we actually moved in the opposite direction as the rest of the world when it came to fighting it. What’s worse is that their move was not motivated by the actual belief that global warming was false but because any tax or change in EPA requirements could threaten the success of their many profitable yet noxious factories.

Despite the gravity of such findings, I understand that books like Dark Money are not high on everyone’s must-read list. This is not the next Outlander or Mindy Kaling memor, the detail to which Mayer researches her subject is intense and at times both dry and difficult to decipher. But that doesn’t mean it’s not an important read and we should pass it off for something easier to digest.

It’s critical for any person taking space to be able to express beliefs from a well-informed place, which includes understanding the world we live in. So I recommend picking up this book in any way that makes it easy for you. I listened to it on Audible on my way to work, but perhaps Kindle would fit you better. Either way, I urge you to follow this Take Space role model, not only is her work critical for all, but she is the epitome of what it means to Take Space.  As Mayer told the Rolling Stone, “reporting is all about...trying to speak truth to power, and holding accountable those who've got tremendous power.” Taking Space is about finding your voice, standing on your truth,  and using it no matter the cost.

Unfortunately, when you do finish the book, you may question the validity of our political process.  Most of Mayer’s findings were unknown to wider public until she published (hence the smear campaign and the title, Dark Money). Whether liberal or conservative, it’s disturbing to think two brothers from Kansas—who simply have a ton of money and don’t want to lose a single cent of it—are not only able to control our well-being but are able to influence our understanding of the world without our knowing it.

I came up with the idea for Take Space one afternoon last year when I heard Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT who studies the psychology of human relationships with technology say, “I embody the central paradox. I'm a woman who loves getting texts who's going to tell you that too many of them can be a problem.”

I was home alone, watching TedTalks on Instant Netflix that bounced from an app on my iPhone and streamed though my new Chromecast so that I could simultaneously search Linkedin for start-up jobs that offered unlimited vacation time and a take-your-pet to-work policy.

Despite my new found verve for the tech scene and the endlessly amazing perks that came with getting a job in it, I was feeling unenthused about my prospects. I had just decided to temporarily table my dream to be an actor so that I could get a job in an industry that would offer healthcare, pay more, and align better with my values. #firstworldproblems.

Living in San Francisco made tech the obvious choice because who wouldn’t want an endless supply of free snacks while working at a company that is disrupting an industry and saving the world? Yet as I got down to it, something felt just as wrong about joining Silicon Valley as it did joining the obviously fake and harsh world of Hollywood.

Luckily, I had a TedTalk to save the day (as they always do), and it was with Sherry Turkle’s seemingly inane statement on cell phone use that I realized why simply turning to technology wasn’t going to bring me the fulfillment that I’d hoped for in a career.

Silicon Valley is overrun with companies that make our lives easier, connect us more quickly, and find our soulmates, housemates, and workout partners so that we can live more productive and fulfilling lives. It’s a truly invigorating place, perhaps similar to what it would have been like to be in Britain at the start of the Industrial Revolution (if you could replace coal dust with kale chips). It’s an infectious community. It’s impossible to live in San Francisco and not be enticed by it.

Yet each big change brings setbacks. It’s impossible to mention the Bay Area tech scene without discussing soaring house prices and the strain on neighborhood locals.

On a global level, the rise of Smart technology is forcing everyone to keep their heads down both figuratively and literally—I actually walked into someone while crossing the street because we were both texting. According to Turkle, the problem is that technology now lets us chose a “an evening on the social network instead of going to the pub with friends.”  

From the beginning of time, technology has evolved to make our lives better. But with this revolution, we often forget one key thing—technology is a tool and not an outcome. It’s as if we’re stuck before the final step. We’ve created the new wheel but we’re so amazed by how it spins that we forget why we made it spin in the first place.

We’re all guilty of it. Turkle, herself, first came to the Ted stage in 1996 to praise the internet’s use in our social life, only to return for this 2012 speech to say that too much technology is actually damaging to our psyche.

We all know the studies that say spending too much time on Facebook leads to depression. So why do we do it?

Because it’s easier. It’s easier to seem connected to the 1,287 friends I have on Facebook than call the twenty I actually want to connect with. And it’s easier to hide behind the online curated version of myself than show who I really am. It’s no wonder that I feel just as skeptical about the tech scene as I do Hollywood. At least when we see images of celebrities we know they’ve been airbrushed to death. We don’t expect the same deception from our friends. And yet we all do it without realizing it.

Turkle best summarizes this paradox by saying, “human relationships are rich and they're messy and they're demanding. And we clean them up with technology. And when we do, one of the things that can happen is that we sacrifice conversation for mere connection. We short-change ourselves. And over time, we seem to forget this, or we seem to stop caring.”

So why join the tech world if it’s not much better than the film industry? And why start a blog? By turning to the internet to speak out, to take space, am I not curating a new version of myself that is equally deceitful?

Yes. Perhaps, I am.

But at least with technology there’s a glimmer of hope. While we’re definitely still guilty of letting technology get in between our actual relationships, the popularity of companies like Meetup prove that we want to connect with one another in a real way. Chat rooms aren’t cutting it. And Facebook won’t either.

It’s time to use technology as it was meant for. With Take Space I hope to connect to people who I wouldn’t have found otherwise, to encourage others to take space in the real world, and to build the strength to do the same in my own life. We can’t blame technology. We need to see the pitfalls and then fight against them. As Turkle said,

Now we all need to focus on the many, many ways technology can lead us back to our real lives, our own bodies, our own communities, our own politics, our own planet. They need us. Let's talk about how we can use digital technology, the technology of our dreams, to make this life the life we can love.

And so that is why I’m here—to take space in a real way. I’m writing a blog, now, because I can. And maybe I should.

Besides dedicating this week’s post to Sherry Turtle and her 2012 Ted Talk, “Connected, but alone,” I want to give a shout out to a new start-up called Bumble. Think Tinder but with girls in charge. Started by Whitney Wolfe, a former Tinder employee who left after being sexually harassed by the founders, Bumble is a dating app that allows women to make the first move. Men are not allowed to message first and if a girl doesn’t say anything in 24 hours, the match disappears. My roommate went on her first Bumble date last night and said that not only was he the most attractive guy she’s met in SF but he was extremely considerate, intelligent, and funny. Haven’t we always wondered where those men are hiding? Try Bumble and Take Space.