the rant....
You know, my favorite time part of the night used to be when I would sit down and read the posts that my friends had left throughout the day. Even when there were no words and the posts were merely pictures without captions - they would still make me smile and my day would be better knowing that my friends were doing things, thinking things, making things go and reflecting on their lives. I am sure that is still the case but these days coming here to read anything is about as silly as looking at the ground in a dark cave and hoping to find the sun. It's a ghost town here lately. Twitter, Facebook and the like have sucked the desire to actually sit and write out of most people and suddenly unless it can be posted on a wall or said in under 140 characters it isn't worth it to most. It makes me sad to log in here and look at my friends' pages and see how long it has been since they actually wrote anything here as some of them were my favorite writers. In fact, I mourn the loss of real writing and dialogue in general. It seems that even my conversations these days are cut to short little increments - as if it can't last more than oh, lets pick a number, say 140 words. I grow intensely upset and weary of shorthand conversations. It's no wonder the book business is tanking - this short attention span, give it to me now, hard and fast society cannot support it., not to mention that the red pens would run out of ink long before finishing a single chapter of the edit. Grammar and polite conversation have been replaced by acronyms, abbreviations and competitions of wit and sarcasm - people talking over or mocking even their own friends as they have learned to do in the heart of the interverse.
None for me I say to the readers, if there are any left. My brief flirtation with Twitter lasted longer than I expected and left such a bad taste in my mouth that I would eventually turn off my phone so I didn't have to keep up with who was condescending to who in the name of witty repartee. The one time I posted something pretty dear to me, I received 3 sarcastic and toxic replies from my friends - and should've realized then that it wouldn't be for me. Still, I gave it the good, honest try and decided in the end that while some people thrive on that kind of constant stream of information and enjoy the hunt for that perfect and winning way to say something - I would rather be excited about text messages coming to my phone instead of dreading that alert.
The internet brings out a certain ugliness in people when we forget that it is meant to be a tool and not a lifestyle. Just because you can type 200 words a minute, doesn't mean that you should forget the manners that you hopefully grew up learning. If you would like people to come to something, call them up and invite them. If you want to know how someone's doing, take the time to ask, or more than that, actually listen to their answer. And if you're going to condescend to someone, complain about something or even compliment the way something's done, I think you should look whoever it is in the eye to do it. Yelp, Twitter and the like make it too easy to remain oblivious to the fact that you are talking about people or even friends in a very public forum - and in the guise of reciting Your reasons, Your experience or Your feelings, you tend to ignore or stomp on someone else. The kinds of things that I have read are enough to bring tears to my sensitive eyes and would never, ever be tolerated in the 'real' world. If you had to look at someone while spouting off the horrible drivel or caustic replies that occur every single day anonymously or are written from the comfort of your own screen, not only would a lot less be said - but we'd all be ashamed at one time or another. The worst thing about it though, is that we would not be as horrified as we once were. Because we spout off all day from the safety of our screens, our civility amongst each other is already taking a hit. People are interrupting constantly, or talking louder than the person already speaking, sitting across from friends while puttering on the smartphone and not finding it rude, and the constant self-centered chatter is the norm these days. I find it appalling and am too sensitive and too quiet to deal with that kind of whirlwind of noise and technology. It's not that I'm afraid of it - it is that it's horrifying to watch people fall off the courteous train in such giant numbers.
And yes, do not think that the irony of writing this rant from behind my own screen has been lost on me for one second. But know that I have written page after page on this very thing in the last few months in real journals before ever deciding to post it here. It has been bothering me for quite some time.
For those keeping score now -
I do not have a Facebook account.
I threw out my Twitter on Thanksgiving night.
The MySpace is barely used.
And if I ever say LOL I would like to be shot. Immediately.
However, if you're wondering maybe why I'm not at something or you haven't heard from me in a while, it could be that is the reason why. So many times I have heard, "well, I posted it on blah-blah"...as if it's my fault for not having that. And you know what - it is my doing because if it is important enough, I'd hope to hear about it directly. I realize though, that I am in the minority and that people have become accustomed to being inundated constantly. It is a little isolating to not be one of them - but you know, I am trying to be better at humanity and personal communication. I have decided that 'social networking' to me does not involve typing and that I don't have to write or design anything for the masses
Well, except maybe some jewelry....which my tin foil hat and I are going back to do now. After all, we have a show next week and should be in the studio instead of on this damn soapbox anyway.
That being said, I do miss hearing stories. If you've got one to write, I'll still be here, for this feels different somehow. I've just outgrown the one liners.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program
None for me I say to the readers, if there are any left. My brief flirtation with Twitter lasted longer than I expected and left such a bad taste in my mouth that I would eventually turn off my phone so I didn't have to keep up with who was condescending to who in the name of witty repartee. The one time I posted something pretty dear to me, I received 3 sarcastic and toxic replies from my friends - and should've realized then that it wouldn't be for me. Still, I gave it the good, honest try and decided in the end that while some people thrive on that kind of constant stream of information and enjoy the hunt for that perfect and winning way to say something - I would rather be excited about text messages coming to my phone instead of dreading that alert.
The internet brings out a certain ugliness in people when we forget that it is meant to be a tool and not a lifestyle. Just because you can type 200 words a minute, doesn't mean that you should forget the manners that you hopefully grew up learning. If you would like people to come to something, call them up and invite them. If you want to know how someone's doing, take the time to ask, or more than that, actually listen to their answer. And if you're going to condescend to someone, complain about something or even compliment the way something's done, I think you should look whoever it is in the eye to do it. Yelp, Twitter and the like make it too easy to remain oblivious to the fact that you are talking about people or even friends in a very public forum - and in the guise of reciting Your reasons, Your experience or Your feelings, you tend to ignore or stomp on someone else. The kinds of things that I have read are enough to bring tears to my sensitive eyes and would never, ever be tolerated in the 'real' world. If you had to look at someone while spouting off the horrible drivel or caustic replies that occur every single day anonymously or are written from the comfort of your own screen, not only would a lot less be said - but we'd all be ashamed at one time or another. The worst thing about it though, is that we would not be as horrified as we once were. Because we spout off all day from the safety of our screens, our civility amongst each other is already taking a hit. People are interrupting constantly, or talking louder than the person already speaking, sitting across from friends while puttering on the smartphone and not finding it rude, and the constant self-centered chatter is the norm these days. I find it appalling and am too sensitive and too quiet to deal with that kind of whirlwind of noise and technology. It's not that I'm afraid of it - it is that it's horrifying to watch people fall off the courteous train in such giant numbers.
And yes, do not think that the irony of writing this rant from behind my own screen has been lost on me for one second. But know that I have written page after page on this very thing in the last few months in real journals before ever deciding to post it here. It has been bothering me for quite some time.
For those keeping score now -
I do not have a Facebook account.
I threw out my Twitter on Thanksgiving night.
The MySpace is barely used.
And if I ever say LOL I would like to be shot. Immediately.
However, if you're wondering maybe why I'm not at something or you haven't heard from me in a while, it could be that is the reason why. So many times I have heard, "well, I posted it on blah-blah"...as if it's my fault for not having that. And you know what - it is my doing because if it is important enough, I'd hope to hear about it directly. I realize though, that I am in the minority and that people have become accustomed to being inundated constantly. It is a little isolating to not be one of them - but you know, I am trying to be better at humanity and personal communication. I have decided that 'social networking' to me does not involve typing and that I don't have to write or design anything for the masses
Well, except maybe some jewelry....which my tin foil hat and I are going back to do now. After all, we have a show next week and should be in the studio instead of on this damn soapbox anyway.
That being said, I do miss hearing stories. If you've got one to write, I'll still be here, for this feels different somehow. I've just outgrown the one liners.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program