Published January 4, 2020 in Quillette
Two years ago I started an experiment I would like to recommend to you. At the urging of my best friend, concerned not just about my happiness but my mental health, I went dark. Perhaps if enough people give this a try it could help pull our troubled culture out of its downward spiral.
What do I mean by going dark? I’ve enjoyed a four-decade long career as an engineer, entrepreneur, and venture capital investor working with many others to help build the digital world in which we now live. As the years passed I became more of an “activist,” devoting increasing amounts of time, money, and attention to various issues and causes impacting the body politic. For 25 years I wrote regular opinion columns for publications like Network Computing and Communications Week, back in the pre-web days, transitioning to Forbes.com, the Huffington Post, RealClear Markets, the Daily Caller, and the Foundation for Economic Education in the digital age. As my tech career began winding down I spent half a dozen years as a fellow at a Washington DC policy think tank, three as a radio show host on Bloomberg Radio where I had the pleasure of interviewing Claire Lehmann when Quillette was just a gleam in her eye, a couple of years as a roving lecturer on college campuses, all seasoned with a smattering of talking head appearances on TV. I had also been deeply engaged in social media since the phenomenon first emerged.
Then in January of 2018 I abruptly shut it all down, because my best friend was right.
To read the rest of the column, click here.
Welcome back Bill.
Thomas J. Dudley
Director, Technical Programs and Industry Engagement
Boston University Photonics Center
8 Saint Mary’s Street
Boston, MA 02215-2421
Office: (617) 358-4924
Mobile: (978) 857-9357
Email: tjdudley@bu.edu
From: Bill Frezza
Reply-To: Bill Frezza
Date: Friday, October 23, 2020 at 4:42 PM
To: Thomas Dudley
Subject: [New post] Build Your Own Intellectual Oasis
billfrezza posted: ” Published January 4, 2020 in Quillette Two years ago I started an experiment I would like to recommend to you. At the urging of my best friend, concerned not just about my happiness but my mental health, I went dark. Perhaps if enough people give this”
Thanks, Tom, but I’m not back. This was my swan song.