Communicating. In. Really. Little. Bits.

How many characters does it require to fully establish a thought or premise? The educational system certainly doesn't think of limiting characters--other than what a professor or teacher was willing to read in order to assign a grade, given the numbers of papers they were required to judge. In fact, I seem to recall having requirements for hundreds of words, comprising thousands of characters.

I can't get on board with some of the more popular methods of "staying in touch." Texting, Facebook, Twitter.....a pox on them. Yeah, I know, Shakespeare said "brevity is the soul of wit".....but it is the antithesis of discussion and fully formed thoughts. "Brevity" needs exorcising from the soul of discourse. I think there are serious issues and repercussions to consider, concerning the popularity of short, disjointed, and scattershot blocks of small text.

Visual media feeds information to humans in a format that is carefully designed to excite a particular part of the brain; reducing its "peripheral" abilities in a way. The bright colors and staccato movement of graphics, coupled with short segments, can induce what researchers have found to be a hypnotic effect on many people. I think it also reduces the ability to fully ponder concepts and develop deeper understandings of important issues. Here's an example.....it is May 25, 2009, and the political "flash in the pan", Tea Parties, seems to have dropped off the screen. That was quick. On to the next mass distraction...film at 11:00.

Aside from what happens to cognition in the environment I'm describing, I have another bone to pick about written communications. I happen to think the Golden Rule of writing is to produce one good sentence at a time. That's it; write a good sentence, then follow it with another. Eventually, you'll wind up with a bunch of paragraphs and chapters. It starts with the sentence though. To me, good sentences are a work of art. The spacing, rhythm, and meaning all combine to create a whole greater than its parts. And like creating a sculpture or painting, the elements can be adjusted, altered, and given different "tones", in order to evoke different feelings and meanings. But, like many other fans of the various arts, I am a bit of a style fascist, and old-fashioned to boot. So please, keep the "kewl", "l33t" crap to yourself.....don't send it to me. I would rather you wrote it on a tiny slip of paper, wadded it up, and ate it.

I'll admit, I have a Facebook page......and it's chilling every time I open it. It is the digital equivalent of opening a cold storage drawer at the morgue. Maybe it's me, maybe it's my "friends", maybe it's the medium....but I find no continuity, no real discussion, and very little of what I would describe as "real talk." The last time I looked at it--'bout 30 minutes ago--the phrase "sloganeering" came to mind. It's like looking at a wall full of campaign posters and trying to figure out what the issues might be. Huh?