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Yes, I too find myself feeling somewhat spooked when surrounded by people who are more aware of their 'phones than anything that is actually happening around them.
Should I be? I'm not sure. If I'm sat on a train, I'm generally immersed in a book. Aside from the fact that that's maybe more constructive than cat videos and small-talk, it does undeniably involve a similarly voluntary detachment from my environment.
Somehow, though, it does feel a bit different - those staring at their 'phones do seem to have a rather different air about them than those of us with books, Kindles or newspapers. Something a little less relaxed and more driven. It might well be all in my mind but then again ...
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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PeejayAdams wrote: I too find myself feeling somewhat spooked when surrounded by people who are more aware of their 'phones than anything that is actually happening around them.
I'd call that a sure sign of your mental health 
While I don't see someone engaged with their device as being qualitatively different than someone reading a book, but, I think we are talking here about people engaged with devices in social situations, and while walking and driving ... situations where reading a book would be reacted to as inappropriate.
«... thank the gods that they have made you superior to those events which they have not placed within your own control, rendered you accountable for that only which is within you own control For what, then, have they made you responsible? For that which is alone in your own power—a right use of things as they appear.» Discourses of Epictetus Book I:12
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I agree with RickZeeland that the conclusion is too quick. That said, I also think that what "our digital living condition" actually points out is that for many, many people, that "sense of void" has always existed, even before technology. Perhaps it's a result of the industrial revolution -- the movement toward cities, the break up of the nuclear family, the "materialization" of scientific thought that constantly strives to prove that we are nothing more than bio-chemical processes and that everything around us is nothing more than the result of astro-physical processes. I have no idea whether this sense of "void" existed in more "spiritual" times -- it probably did, voiced so eloquently in "My God, my God, why hast though forsaken me?"
So my conclusion is that we have always felt estranged and a-voided, whether sitting in a lonely retirement home watching daytime soaps or hiding in our caves to avoid staring up at the vast expanse of stars above our heads. Digital living is yet another way of distracting us from the soul question that science forces upon us -- "who am I?" and "is there nothing more?" -- and that religion / spirituality requires us to abandon science and accept the answer purely on faith, which isn't very satisfying either, at least to me. To some of course either the answer of science, "you are a random fluke and no, there's nothing more," or the answer of religion, which is ultimately "you are a part of everything and in particular, of your god's grand plan" is sufficiently satisfying. And for some, there's the attempt to combine the two, something that I personally find appealing and is the reason I study the works of Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy in general -- at a minimum, it is a perspective that engages both my head and my heart.
At the end of each day culminating to the point where one's life ends, how well we dealt with this feeling of estrangement I think often directly affects how well we are prepared for sleep, whether for the night or for the eternal slumber.
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Marc Clifton wrote: we have always felt estranged and a-voided,
Another way of saying that, is to say that ... call it "the malady of the infinite" (Durkheim), "morbio inferiore" (Hesse), or "existential alienation" (Marx, Sartre) ... an enduring part of the human experience, most often associated with older age, is an acute awareness of mortality, of the separation from our "true nature," accompanied, often, by a yearning for an idealized past, what Rene Dubos described as "the myth of the golden age" (in his book, "The Mirage of Health").
For me, it is the essence of the profound lament in "Ecclesiastes;" the crisis that Dante refers to in the opening stanza of "The Inferno:"
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
ché la diritta via era smarrita.
Halfway down life's road traveled,
I lost Heart in a forest of shadows,
Lost all sense of what Life was for ... my own translation And, imho, it's embodied in Pascal's epiphanic scream: "Nature is a fearful sphere, whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere."
In my view, the essay reflects the "collision" of the status of the author, who is a member of the "reading culture" literary elite, and that aristocratic establishment's "shock and awe" as the armies of the digerati disrupt the fundament of its privileges and authority
Be assured that, as I write this, the ghosts of my own late=life terrors are clinking their chains, and mocking me 
«... thank the gods that they have made you superior to those events which they have not placed within your own control, rendered you accountable for that only which is within you own control For what, then, have they made you responsible? For that which is alone in your own power—a right use of things as they appear.» Discourses of Epictetus Book I:12
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Hey, guys! I'm 18 and I've been trying to learn how to program for a few years. The most complicated thing I've done by myself is a web-app that converts arithmetic expressions to i486-compatible assembly. So, what would you recommend me to learn to be able to make some money?
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Oh boy. One of those questions. From my perspective, here's a few suggestions and their reasons.
Python -- it is a decent and upcoming language, easy to learn and use, and has a vast library, including AI and learning, implemented in C that it wraps for ease of use. Just google "Python AI" and you'll see a lot of stuff.
Everything web -- Javascript, CSS, HTML. Because everything is to be the web. Pick a framework, like Angular, VueJs, etc, and learn it. Though there are hundreds, at least learn one or two to be moderately proficient and have an understanding of MVM / MVC / MVVM / whatever. But most importantly, look at how these things work behind the scenes--that will be invaluable.
Learn some database stuff. SQL Server, Oracle, MySql, whatever. Learn the difference between SQL and NoSQL. Data's gotta go somewhere, right? Learn JSON to (which means spend 10 minutes reading about it) because everything is in JSON nowadays, for better or worse.
After that, learn some client/server stuff -- whether it's node.js, C#, WinForm, WPF, ASP.NET (yuck), whatever, just to start rounding the corners. Also REST (write your own server and client), WCF (again, write your own server and client) -- learn the pros and cons of each.
Learn some functional programming so you at least understand the concepts. F#, Haskell, and/or Scala. Understanding some FP helps you understand the functional aspects of languages like C# and Python.
Learn basic Linux. Buy a $5 rPi and play with it (Python is a great language for IoT stuff.)
None of this though will help you make money unless you have proven skills at what you're doing, know people that will give you a chance, and have the favor of a minor deity that will put you in the right place at the right time. Set up a shrine and pray to your favorite deity.
So, to prove yourself, create a blog, write about interesting things, and create a GitHub account and start creating some projects so people can see your code, your documentation, and how you present yourself.
Good, bloody, luck!
modified 7-Apr-18 17:01pm.
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Rare to see you promoting JavaScript 
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Nish Nishant wrote: Rare to see you promoting JavaScript
I'm actually growing to like it, but it's also pretty much one of those necessary things to know if you want to be marketable, or at least have more opportunities.
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I agree - it's sort of a must-have on your resume these days
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I don't quite see why people hate JavaScript so much. In what other programming language can you make a web-app that converts arithmetic expressions to i486-compatible assembly in 700 lines of code?
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Some people don't base their preference for a language based on the terseness of the code. That said, I personally think JS is pretty neat but I do not expect everyone else to share that opinion.
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Even Less if you use TypeScript.
TS is my preferred route to JavaScript these days.
That said, Iv'e been experimenting with Blazor too.... tremendous fun.
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Don't know, I'm strong type coder, then JavaScripter for couple years and hate it at first(remind me of root beer, hated it on first try), then TypeScript surfaced and use it for large project because it offers strong type. Lately, ditched TS and stick with JS because "Duck type" is so much more flexible. Funny, I actually like duck type more than the strong type now. Don't judge a book by its cover.
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Each to their own, I'll never deduct points on anyone for that.
Personally though, I prefer strong typing, I want my tools to tell me when I'm doing something that could potentially blow my foot off.
Remember though, that TS is JS, and all you have to do is make your TS data type be 'any' and hey presto, you can assign anything you like to the variable,blow your foot off as much as you like, but still have all the other awesome stuff that TypeScript gives you such as Generics, Classes, Structs, Interfaces and loads of other things.
Meh, it's all just Cheese on Toast.
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Very well said.
I must get asked this same question about a dozen times a week on Quora.
Usually it's some lazy arse who failed at school, but doesn't want to be left behind in the $$$$ rich world of I.T, so is looking for the quickest way to get from 0 to $$$$ without any hard work being involved.
My reply is the same for both the Lazy Arses and the Genuine folks....
Software development is hard, very hard, you seem to have already figured this one out. But there's so much more to it than just learning to "write da coedz", it's about developing communication skills, problem solving skills, deep analysis skills, and so much more.
The Languages, the Databases, the IDES & Editors, the Frameworks their all just tools, tools that you acquire and put into your toolbox ready to use. The more you learn, the better the tools you have, and the more knowledge you have of what's best to use and when.
There is no shortcut or quick route to earning money, I.T & Software development is a game you play long term, you dont just develop the skills for it over night.
Many of us here in CP have been doing this for years, and you know what, ever after all of that time, every day brings something new, every day sees us learning a new skill.
All you can do is keep at it, keep practicing, keep learning, and as Marc said previously, get to know folks who might be able to get you a foot in the door.
Eventually you will get somewhere, but it's not going to be quick, if you need to earn money now, then the best thing to do is to go flip burgers part time, and keep studying the rest of the time.
Once you crack it, you'll be glad you did, but no one on here is going to lie to you about how hard the task ahead of you is going to be.
modified 9-Apr-18 14:10pm.
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I would recommend learning SQL in the first place as this is commonly used.
Popular programming languages are C#, Java, JavaScript and Python, but all this depends in which IT sector you want to work. If you live in the USA and want to make money, GO is a good choice.
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FlatAssembler wrote: The most complicated thing I've done by myself is a web-app
Your site is down btw.
Website is temporary sleeping
This website is hosted on a free learning platform - 000webhost.com
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"to make money" ... ah, that could be interpreted many ways; one way could be to think about what could you do in the next 12 years to achieve, at age 30, being highly employable and/or wealthy; that might include:
1. taking Marc Clifton's excellent advice to you on this thread, becoming a versatile, well-rounded, software engineer
2. doing degrees in computer science, and math, at excellent schools.
3. doing an MBA at a top school.
4. doing a variety of internships at different types of software companies.
5. becoming an active user of CodeProject and StackOverflow.
6. publishing your work as open-source on GitHub, and engaging with other programmers through that.
7. picking up short-term contracts for programming on-line as your skill-set develops.
I think the key idea is to engage yourself as deeply as possible, and, who knows, at some point you may have a GREAT IDEA that will take you places you never imagined you could go
I congratulate you on your achievements to date, and, at the risk of sounding like the old man I am, I would hope your focus would be as much on personal excellence as it is on financial reward.
cheers, Bill
«... thank the gods that they have made you superior to those events which they have not placed within your own control, rendered you accountable for that only which is within you own control For what, then, have they made you responsible? For that which is alone in your own power—a right use of things as they appear.» Discourses of Epictetus Book I:12
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If your only reason to do something is "to make some money", you will fail.
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1. check your sun signs / horoscope
2. enroll for some finance course or business course + international trade and corporate finance
3. start a career in trading
4. start a side business
5. profit
6. cash out.
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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You don't make money by learning stuff, you make money by trading time and effort for money.
So I suggest that's what you do, get a job (or start your own, but I'd recommend getting some experience first).
Now I was lucky in that I knew someone who wanted to hire me as a trainee with no former education.
If you're not so lucky you're going to have to work a little harder up front so you can show a potential employer what you can do.
The problem is no one wants to hire you if you don't have at least x years of experience or a formal degree, but you're probably already better than a lot of people who already have programming jobs.
You could learn for years and years and there'll always be something you don't know and you'll never have anything to show to potential employers.
So try to get a job, it's the fastest way to learn (and you'll learn things well beyond programming, like politics and how sh*tty people can be) and the only way to make money from it.
One piece of advice though, do something that you love doing, not because it pays well (but try to combine them).
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Well, I've been relatively successful in programming competitions such as the Croatian Open Competition in Informatics (COCI). Isn't that something worth showing to the potential employers, along with that web-app? Or do you think that what I know right now is basically useless?
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I can't really tell how much value your current knowledge is.
I'm just telling you that if you want to make money while coding you should find a job where you can put your knowledge to use
Whether your can sell yourself for minimum wage or €5000,- a month is up to you (and a whole different skill).
Just saying that without a formal education (or something else that really stands out) it might be hard to sell yourself at all.
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