Long distance computer <3

In response to Momus's article research request:

I'm about to write my next Wired column. I've decided it's going to be about the effect of information addiction on the life of couples. And I'd like your help, because I don't want it just to be me going on about me.

This is what I wrote, slightly edited since for coherency & caps:


My relationship is long distance, and for us, all communication is concurrent with browsing. Even phone chat is assumed to be backed by a half-watched browser window, refreshing rss feeds... There isn't any jealousy. I hear the clicks and typing in the background, as does he... It's just part of the audible landscape. Multitasking is a known quantity.

My boyfriend and I have been seeing each other for nearly three years, almost two of those separated by about 700 miles. We chat on the phone frequently, but more often than not, we are bound to computers, talking in text.

We paste links and excerpts back and forth in a steady stream. Sometimes one of us will note, "I'll read that one later," so that we're both clear an even conversation about it can't occur yet. We queue things up. We conference, later, and share our conclusions.

When we visit, we try to get away from the lcd glow, but the frequent times we still end up clicking in the same room at his house, I usually sit on his couch with a laptop on my lap, and he sits at his desk, across the room. We often narrate outloud bits of what we're reading, or send each other links in im, the same way we do when we're across state lines. When he finds something interesting, I will hang over his shoulder, so our ears and the temples of our glasses touch, and observe together. It's a comforting gesture, something I think fondly of when we're apart. When we are at my house, we sometimes sit side by side on my couch (which is the same as his couch, for reasons inexplicable) and put our feet up on my table, side by side. "our laptops love each other," I think I once told him. Mine, iBook, the more feminine. His, the Powerbook, clearly masculine. Without wires, co-browsing is cozy.

We are inherent researchers. We love information. We love sharing information with each other. There is nothing more satisfying than giving a piece of information to someone you know will eat it up, digest it, and return something more than data.