Abandon the ship of digital whatever it takes. There are two ways to interpret this sentence: abandon the digital ship, where the whatever it takes refers to the act of abandon the ship; or abandon the ship of the digital where everything has to be digital no matter what. In this case, both interpretations are correct. This is now my little digital lifeboat and there is no space for bullshit.
Here you are, reading this blog. Welcome. This is the very first article I am inaugurating schriftmatik with. What does schriftmatik mean? It is a word that I invented one evening out of the blue while looking for a name for the folder I use in my computer to store my writings. I spent more than three months looking for a name for this website, as I am already using federicodalbianco.com as address of my online photographic portfolio. Some of the other possible names to be placed before the .media were: xcduck, where xc means cross country, and duck is the critter I am very fond of; frdrk, basically my name in Norwegian without the vowels; freddiewhite was an option too but nobody really calls me freddie. The very basic-yet-professional federicodalbianco was an option as well, but too cumbersome with that dot-media in the end. And who cares about professionalism, this is an amateur’s website. Other names have been evaluated but I’m cutting the list short. Schriftmatik came last to the list, as a Saturday nights revelation, and it has been promptly adopted as formal name. I think I like it as it is less personal than all the others, so it leaves me the option of uploading reportages and stories of other people and places leaving the subject free of the author’s identity (and since I would be the author, that’s probably for the better).
Ok right. You probably have read my messages on the various social networks and decided to click on the link, you alone know why, or maybe you don’t. Anyways, maybe you still have a question: why did I decide to limit my social network presence and use? It’s trivial, really: I don’t need them. A little more precisely: they don’t serve me: I get nothing more than what I input in them. Moreover, I have the strong feeling that they actually take away things from me. What? Well, time for example. The shape and substance of the contents is optimized to capture and hold the one exposed to them. Once upon a time, years and years ago, social networks were a place to primarily see what friends and family scattered around the world were up to, they were a way to keep contact with relevant people. They were an instrument for community. They shifted bit after bit into a telemarketer’s wet dream. On my feed now, no more posts from people I follow, only trending content and/or commercials. This turns me into an idiot. I feel it, I notice it every time I suddenly realize that, of the last two hours I spent on socials, I remember nothing, but, but, but, the time went by, the thumb for scrolling has been used, the phone’s battery is drained, I didn’t move of a centimeter. My thoughts have stopped. Stop. No more myself, just the ‘content’. No more myself. A little time travel that works only forward, and suddenly it’s six in the evening, I did not load the washing machine, I missed the appointment with my psychologist, I have nothing for dinner, I am thirsty and I still have on the skin the sweat from the factory’s shift. This is why I am making this website. At least one of the reasons. Of these reasons, the most evident, and others will emerge with time. Another reason for this website is to practice the languages I know. Every article on the blog and every story will be written in Italian, Norwegian, German and English; the main content of the blog articles will be the same, but there will be differences in some details, both in content and writing, so every article will have something unique. Keep in mind, my mother language is Italian, so I will be making evident mistakes in the other languages. Mistakes are made for learning, and I still have to make a lot of mistakes. You probably already noticed some.
ça va sans dire: if you know me, and you are curious about what I am up to, where I am or what I think, if you want to have me among your contacts and you care about me, or if you hate me, or anyways if you think about me every once in a while, I wonder where Federico is, well, if you are part of this tiny and very exclusive club, I want you to have access and time for your curiosity. Yet another reason for this website. Maybe the most important.
What to expect from this website? Nothing, everything, a little something, I don’t know. I am not constant with what I do and sometimes I can’t fight my way out of a paper bag. If you know me you know it: this is how I am, but I promise: I want be better – and I’m getting better. So do not expect lots of sparkles or to jump from the chair. After all, I am a quiet guy and I don’t want to disturb. Or not?