Oelph on Ars Technica wrote this post the other day, entitled “I have to stop reading TechCrunch”:

I've been reading TechCrunch on and off for a little over a year now and finally come to the conclusion that I have to stop reading it.

I dislike Arrington. I dislike Scoble. More importantly I'm getting downright depressed seeing all these damn young kids in high powered jobs in Google or successful startups. All developing websites and apps which seem pretty pointless but still rake in tonnes of investment.

I used to think I knew technology. I'm only 32. But now I realise it passed me by long ago and I'm struggling to understand this new world.

This was my reply:

I think that much of the Scobles, Arringtons, Googles, and Social Web people are in a bit of an echo chamber, where everybody links to everybody else to tell themselves how awesome they are for being so awesome.

I'm older than you (37) and I sometimes feel the same resentment and disconnection, but I try not to let it get to me. Remember, you and I are posting to each other on a web-based forum, which is about as Social Web as it is possible to get. Yes, I like and use Twitter, and I blog, and I checked out Google Wave and all that, but I tend to come back to the Ars forums time and time again.

I'm trying to make a focus shift in my own life as well, from just consuming all the latest web content and buying the latest gadgets (been there, done that) to producing my own content, in whatever form I can. This is far more enjoyable and satisfying than just consuming. I'm betting, for example, that you enjoyed making this thread. It may be not much, but it's yours, and you created it. This is a neat feeling.

Basically, I don't think you are struggling to understand the "new world" at all. I think you've got it.

There are times on forums where you feel you are disconnected from everyone else, and don’t really get what they are talking about, or vice versa. Then there are times, like these, where you really share a moment. Ironically, it was a moment about not understanding other people’s moments, but still…