I wonder if the blog/ facebook/ twitter culture has served to make us much nosier than we would be otherwise: If we didn’t have these at our fingertips, we wouldn’t feel so inclined to record all our thoughts. What we’re doing/ who we’ve been with/ what’s going on. How many times do we update our statuses, or go and look to see what’s going on in someone else’s life? Replacing conversation with a general status update, a comment on someone’s picture makes us feel we’ve talked with them about the event. Are we becoming a nation of screen zombies? Msn used to be the only part of life that was instant and via the computer, even with that messaging conversation media I would msn friends in halls who were in the room opposite me; and our bedroom doors would be wide open! What si it that makes us seek this private lack of privacy? Are we scared to have conversations face to face? On the phone? To write a letter and have to wait days to see what the other person says? Or is it that we’re just too impatient. It would take too long to wait for someone to write back, to wait until the morning when we would see someone and be able to talk with them face to face. I am speaking as one who is a part of this culture, not separate to it. I’m writing this on my blog, thinking that I am important enough that people will read it, thinking that what I have to say is worth sharing with the entire world. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. The fact is, it doesn’t matter all that much today. The fact that I have a blog, a facebook, a twitter (as of two weeks ago!), what does it mean? Does it have meaning? Are we encouraging a nation of self-confessed authors, who write as they will musings and ramblings, a nation where the written word comes easily, where opinions can be swayed by a lay-person’s writings? Is it a positive? A negative? Neutral? Are we cheapening the written word? I suppose only time will tell.
|
