I read a lot of blogs. I’ve started to follow a lot of people on Tumblr. I watch the Tweets.
The tweets have been getting a lot of press as of late and I don’t need to add to the thousands of sentiments about the power of citizen journalism, but I digress.
Content.
The best bloggers don’t think that much about their content, they just do it. Some choose to air their personal struggles for the purposes of using writing as therapy while also maybe helping someone else who might be going through the same thing.
A person’s state of mind is always changing and personally, I don’t always feel ready to launch into some 3-5 paragraph jaunt into my emotional state or the effects of actions around me. Beyond self, there are many who blog about their kids and many who won’t blog about their kids.
Choice.
A situation in limited conversation poses many choices. A random text message from a friend stating something random they wanted to share with you may or may not warrant a response. Your choice to respond gives the initiator feedback and reiterates the reason why you told them the tidbit of information in the first place. Your response, highly motivated by your mood at that very moment, could alter the conversation drastically.
You’re not in front of that person having a dedicated conversation. You’re not exchanging verbal queues to direct verbiage. You’re not expressing body language to be able to determine the level of interest your participant has in your content of choice.
- You respond half-assedly; the initiator feels as if their initiation of conversation was a waste of time or an annoyance in your day.
- You respond enthusiastically; the initiator feels satisfied to have imparted a moment in your brain and the momentary connection is pleasing to them.
- You don’t respond at all; the initiator is dejected and decides not to text you randomly ever again, hurting the relationship sub-consciously.
You don’t necessarily need to tell the initiator that you’re in the middle of doing laundry, semi-listening to your aunt talk your ear off, watching your cat pee on the windowsill and grabbing a twix bar from the kitchen all at the same time and that was why you didn’t respond to their text / responded half-assedly an hour later. Hopefully your friendship with this person is stronger than the average strand of Alaskan pearls and this small awkward conversational imposition won’t have long term effects. But, you never know.
Add this mentality to teenagers who spend more time texting than sleeping or whatever the hell else teenagers do a lot of, I can’t even begin to imagine the mental implications of miscommunication, rejection, gossip, backstabbing, or even innocent gestures via the pocket digital screen will have on teenage development in the years to come.
How will the content you create today effect the world in the future? Will your random right place at the right time moment be captured in national publications? Will your personal battle with a health issue be discussed in support groups years after your death?
There’s really no telling where our content is going or how the study of this generation’s fixation with whatever the heck we call this will be digested in the years to come.
I’m almost finished reading The Pirate’s Dilemma, which mentions the books The Hacker Ethic and Rules for Radicals, and showcases graffiti art displaying the words ”50 cent” in Darfur. It’s incredibly fascinating. I knew the ideas that were spawned from this book were in my head somewhere, I’m glad they’re coming out. I’ll post about it eventually.
