Thinking Out Loud
I’ve often wondered what my writing professor would say if he ever condescended to visit FaceBook or Twitter. Would he rejoice that his too-verbose students had finally learned to condense their thoughts into a few to-the-point sentences? Or would he see those short messages as only an introductory paragraph to an essay? Maybe he would even think, upon reading a “Tweet” or two, that we’d finally learned to deliver the closing punch, just the way he tried to teach us in all those articles he made us write?
To me, FaceBook statuses and Twitter Tweets are only the opening—a few short lines waiting to be expanded on. Only the hint of a story hiding behind the screen. Teasing me to ask for more. Evidence of “the rest of the story” waiting to be told.
But maybe the reason we only write status messages these days is that we don’t take time for more. Or maybe, we really have no more to say.
Perhaps, even, the less said the better. It might be that we Tweet too much. It could be that we’re obsessed with updating our statuses.
Or possibly, very possibly, we are all much too busy, since we have no more time to keep up with our friends than to read their one-liner status updates.
It could be that we have lost the art of long letters and meaningful conversation. Perhaps those 140 character Tweets are all we care to invest in our relationships. And even more sadly still, maybe no one cares enough to read more of our status than 420 characters. Maybe no one wants to read “the rest of the story.”
I have both FaceBook and Twitter accounts, and have even been known to post a collection of status updates on this very blog. Do I always gravitate back to blogging because it is more like a good old-fashioned letter? Or is it simply because blog posts accommodate my verbose tendencies?
Thankfully, there are exceptions to every rule. Nothing I’ve said here is true of everyone all the time. I am just thinking out loud. But isn’t that what most online forms of communication are—thinking aloud?
The question that begs asking then is this: is anyone listening to what we have to say? Or perhaps more importantly, are we saying anything worth listening to?
I still love writing good, long, old-fashioned letters (although they tend to take me months rather than hours to compose these days!), which is one reason why I like blogging – it’s like writing “open letters”. One reason why I’m not on Facebook and Twitter is because I want to develop “real” relationships. But as to your last question … I often wonder, am I writng and sharing anything worth reading on my blog? It’s too easy (for me) to get caught up in posting ANYTHING for the sake of keeping my stats up and (hopefully) my comments coming. I need the reminder to wait until I have something worth reading to share. Thank you for the (very thoughtful and gracious) reminder.
I’ve often wondered the same thing. Do I just blog because I want to talk about myself and I need to feel that I have an audience? Am I really saying anything worth while? Of course there are always those family and friends who enjoy reading my blog, and I love writing it, so I shall not stop blogging! But what are my real motives in blogging?
Yes!
I’m listening! And agreeing, nodding my head, understanding. 🙂
I love Facebook (so convenient!) but it shall never replace my blog, and my blog will never replace personal emails, and those emails will never replace in-person conversation or letters on paper.
E