Sep. 7th, 2011 03:43 pm
Techno/Babble
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textualdevianceLJ seems to be dying down in the last couple of years now that people are getting more into short-form stuff like FB and Twitter. Which probably means there aren't a lot of people actually reading this journal anymore, even if they still have it friended. Fair enough.
It also, however, means a lot of my own day-to-day babble is going elsewhere, too (both for format reasons and to try to reach a larger audience), which means most of what's going here is the long-form personal stuff that doesn't fit somewhere else.
Which probably means I'm boring the crap out of the people who actually are still reading it.
Ehm. Sorreh?
I spose it's kinda funny, though. Because I use different spaces for different things, exactly what picture one gets of me is going to depend a great deal on which of my online presences one sees the most:
If you only read here, you'd probably think I'm a navel-gazing whiner with a slight obsession with politics and social activism. If you only read my other journal, you's probably think I'm a mentally masturbating pervert. If you only read my Twitter feed, you'd probably think I'm a pop culture obsessive who never strays far from her TV or computer. If you only look at my Flickr account, you probably think I'm a globe-trotting travel fiend with a sideline in birding. If you only read my comments on political news articles, you'd probably think I'm a sign-wielding activist firebrand. And FSM only knows what you think if you're only reading the totally random crap I post on FB.
And if you never read anything I write online at all, you probably know next to nothing about who I am. ;)
Seriously, though....
It does kinda bug me that the more in-depth communication possible in this format seems to be a dying art. I "know" more people than I ever have before thanks to the shorter-form stuff, but my own personal monkeysphere can't accomodate deeper communication with everyone I contact, even if I want to (really, really want to, in some cases.) Trying to have a moment of human bonding in 140 characters with 213 people just isn't really possible.
The death of human contact predicted by technophobes when we first started toying with Usenet and IRC never really came true, because people were using it as a means of reaching people beyond their immediate neighborhoods, and thus making deeper connections than mere physical proximity can allow.
But I do wonder if we have started edging that direction, now. The means of in-depth, meaningful contact online still exist and always have, but people are using them a lot more rarely, now. Whether that's because we're pushing the limits of our monkeyspheres too hard or because we just don't give a shit anymore, I don't know, but it is kind of worrisome. Technology itself is not a barrier to human bonding, and can in fact be a facilitator for it. But only if we're actually using it for that purpose. If we're moving toward seeing other people online as just NPCs in some giant MMO, we're losing out.
It also, however, means a lot of my own day-to-day babble is going elsewhere, too (both for format reasons and to try to reach a larger audience), which means most of what's going here is the long-form personal stuff that doesn't fit somewhere else.
Which probably means I'm boring the crap out of the people who actually are still reading it.
Ehm. Sorreh?
I spose it's kinda funny, though. Because I use different spaces for different things, exactly what picture one gets of me is going to depend a great deal on which of my online presences one sees the most:
If you only read here, you'd probably think I'm a navel-gazing whiner with a slight obsession with politics and social activism. If you only read my other journal, you's probably think I'm a mentally masturbating pervert. If you only read my Twitter feed, you'd probably think I'm a pop culture obsessive who never strays far from her TV or computer. If you only look at my Flickr account, you probably think I'm a globe-trotting travel fiend with a sideline in birding. If you only read my comments on political news articles, you'd probably think I'm a sign-wielding activist firebrand. And FSM only knows what you think if you're only reading the totally random crap I post on FB.
And if you never read anything I write online at all, you probably know next to nothing about who I am. ;)
Seriously, though....
It does kinda bug me that the more in-depth communication possible in this format seems to be a dying art. I "know" more people than I ever have before thanks to the shorter-form stuff, but my own personal monkeysphere can't accomodate deeper communication with everyone I contact, even if I want to (really, really want to, in some cases.) Trying to have a moment of human bonding in 140 characters with 213 people just isn't really possible.
The death of human contact predicted by technophobes when we first started toying with Usenet and IRC never really came true, because people were using it as a means of reaching people beyond their immediate neighborhoods, and thus making deeper connections than mere physical proximity can allow.
But I do wonder if we have started edging that direction, now. The means of in-depth, meaningful contact online still exist and always have, but people are using them a lot more rarely, now. Whether that's because we're pushing the limits of our monkeyspheres too hard or because we just don't give a shit anymore, I don't know, but it is kind of worrisome. Technology itself is not a barrier to human bonding, and can in fact be a facilitator for it. But only if we're actually using it for that purpose. If we're moving toward seeing other people online as just NPCs in some giant MMO, we're losing out.
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NPC = Non-player characters. In a game, these are AIs/bots rather than other real-world people in the game. These are usually vendors, quest givers, etc.
And I am weird. And proud of it. ;)
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I stay here at LJ because this format is what I prefer. Exactly like you said - it's in-depth (icon pretteh aside), and you can often really connect with someone. I tried Twitter for a while, but it just doesn't make sense to me - Twitter is for people who have very little to say, and can't stop saying it. I did try for a while to keep up with the twitters of various entertainment industry types, but it wasn't anything 'important' enough to waste that much time on (and I can waste time with the best of them, so that's saying something).
I'm just not extroverted enough to blab randomly - it has to be *about* something. (And even here - I rarely *start* posts, I'm more often found commenting on something that someone else has said. It's like I need that jumping-off point, and then I can extemporize on it indefinitely.)
FB has its uses - it's good for sharing articles, and for keeping up with what scattered old friends are doing in a touch-base way, but it's not really set up for true conversation, at least, not in the way that LJ does better.
I'm sad that people seem to be leaving, too (and I'm sure the Russian death-politics has something to do with it - I've been tempted to leave over that as well, except there's nowhere better to go) - this is such a great place for real conversations with people - both people you know, and people you don't know at all. The common factor for getting along here is that you can each express yourself in ways the other understands.
I guess it's this - technology has long been the domain of introverts - so its methods of communication have been geared towards the introvert as well. Extroverts are finally jumping in the sandbox*, and now there are more methods available that suit their wants and needs.
*I wouldn't call Zuckerberg an extrovert, more the type of introvert who has a need to see and know everything about everyone, *because* he's not an extrovert. If processing social information is difficult, you can get a leg up by simply collecting it ALL. (That's my impression from what limited stuff I've seen on him, not including TSN, which I haven't yet seen.)
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Excellent point.
I'm into the random blabbing, and sometimes get personal about it, even on FB and Twitter, but I still really, really need the long-form stuff for venting space. Writing's been my outlet since I got my first diary at 10, and without a journal-type space for it, I get really antsy.