See you around on the interwebs: Relationships and communication technology
Tuesday, 22 September, 2009
Operating as a human being caught in a web of relationships is a complex process in the digital age. On the one hand, it's partly because we have so many more communication tools at our disposal to keep up with people—letter writing, postcards, telephone, mobile phone, SMS, email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, instant messenger, etc. etc. On the other hand (well, really, it's a related hand), these tools make communication a lot more immediate and intimate, not to mention easy. And on the other hand (well, again, it's a related hand), the plethora of tools means that we have a lot of choice in the way we communicate. (Okay, maybe those weren't separate hands, but fingers on the same hand.)
I feel I'm getting ahead of myself, so let me deal with one thing at a time.
Choice
I've often thought that a person's choice of communication tool is an outward manifestation of their means of relating. Certain communication tools suit certain personalities more than others. For example, for myself, I like hanging out with people in person, but if I can't do that (because of time or distance), I prefer the written mediums—letters, email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, and so on. It pleases me greatly that so many of our tools are text-based because I absolutely loathe the phone. (To quote H.L. Mencken, sometimes I wish “heartily that Alexander Graham Bell had been run over by an ice wagon at the age of 4.”. I know I'm not alone in this sentiment.)
This is also why it irks me when people say to other people, “Oh, you must join Facebook!” or “You must start a blog!” or “You must join Twitter!” Usually they haven't even thought about why they're saying that; they just want you to jump on the bandwagon (become one of us!) without considering the consequences. Or they're saying it because they enjoy writing blogs/using Facebook/Tweeting, and they reckon you will because they will. But they fail to take into account this principle—that certain communication technologies suit certain people, and certain ones don't—that all are different and are suited to different things.
Another example: MMORPGs (Massive Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games; think Second Life, World of Warcraft, etc.) I'm not into them, but I know other people are, and I appreciate the value they add to their lives. But from what I know about MMORPGs, it's not the sort of thing I'd be into; I'm generally not into games (even when they're as innocuous as The Sims or Farmville).
The amount of choice we have in the way we communicate presents several problems. Firstly, if you're into more than one communication tool, it can be difficult to keep up with everything. (I'll talk a bit more about how I deal with that later.) Secondly, if you prefer certain technologies (the way I do), it usually means you let others slide (e.g. the telephone. This New York Times article about answering machines, voicemail and the generation gap makes an interesting point: answering machines cater to the older generation, and now that we have other forms of technology, they will gradually and, perhaps, gracefully die out. (I see the evidence of this in our lives; my mother-in-law is pretty much the only one who uses our answering machine. In fact, I sometimes think the only reason we have it is because of her, and I wonder what would happen if we decided to get rid of it.) Thirdly, because you let other technologies slide, it means that if other people don't use the same communication technologies as you do, it means it's harder to keep up with them because you have to go to more effort.
For example, I have friends who are phone people. I know they are phone people. I am not a phone person, but I will try to make an extra effort to call my phone friends if need be because I know they are phone people, and if I want to maintain a relationship with them when we are apart, that's what it's going to take. (Often, however, I use the phone as a means to an end—organising a time for me to catch up with them face to face so I don't have to be on the phone with them. And that's better for both of us.)
That said, if you subscribe to the maxim that “the medium is the message” (Marshall McLuhan), you will appreciate each communication technology's benefits. When you and three other friends are trying to find a common date to go see a movie together, it's more efficient to call them or talk to them in person than to correspond by SMS. When you need to find out something quickly, sometimes it's faster to check if they're on IM and ask them quickly then than to send an email. And obviously, for some things, it is much much better to talk to a human than to a machine when you're doing things like trying to sort out the intricacies of your tax return. So even though I hate the phone, I will use it, and am relatively comfortable using it (in comparison to others I know who can't stand using it at all).
So there you go: a certain level of ability with the most commonly used pieces of communication technology can be helpful.
You and you and you and you
Another side effect of the ease, immediacy and intimacy of modern communication technology is the increase in the number of working relationships an individual has at any point in time. In the past (I imagine), your sphere of relationship was restricted to your immediate family, your extended family, your friends (who usually lived near you), your fellow students/work colleagues/business acquaintances, your church (if you went to church) and the neighbourhood (or maybe small town) where you lived. And as you grew up and people moved away, were born or died, those relationships would change. But the sphere would normally stay rather small because time and distance would just make it harder for you to keep in touch.
I had a number of friends from living in Canada—school friends, the children of my parents' friends, etc.—but when I moved here, although initially I kept up with a few of them via letters, after that I only really kept up with Josephine because she was a letter writer and I was a letter writer. (I learned then that not all of us are letter writers. See my previous point about our choice of technology reflecting our patterns of and preferences in relating.) We only correspond a couple of times a year, but that and a few face-to-face visits over the years has been enough to maintain the friendship.
The internet—and, in particular, Facebook—has changed all that. Facebook makes it so easy—mainly because there's only one thing you need to use (the Facebook portal), you don't need to download or install anything, and you don't need to remember addresses or phone numbers in order to contact your Facebook friends; all you need to do to send them a message or to write something on their wall is type their name into the search box. In addition, it's very easy to find people because the social networking aspect of the site allows you to scan lists of who knows who, who you might know and who might know you.
As a result, we are now in this unparalleled position where it is likely that the generation growing up now will be forever digitally connected to the people they went to preschool/primary school/high school/University with. Relationships will not peter off naturally because of time and distance; they can be continually maintained.
This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are, obviously, it is now easier to keep up with certain people that you have always wanted to keep up with, but couldn't for various reasons. Josephine is a good example: neither of us have time to pen those 20-page handwritten letters any more. But I can keep my finger on the pulse of what she's doing through Facebook. The internet brings us closer even as time and distance threaten to separate us.
The disadvantage is there now too many people to keep up with. I have 452 Facebook friends—most of whom I know in real life—or know of. The number of Facebook friends I have represent only a portion of the number of people I know in real life—relationships I have forged through family (all three branches of it), school, university, the various churches I've been a member of, the various Christian groups I've been involved with, work, and so on. The nature of my relationship with each Facebook friends varies; some are closer than others, of course. I certainly don't treat all my Facebook friends the same. How could I? There are only 168 hours in a week, and even if I devoted half an hour to each Facebook friend, there wouldn't be enough time to go around (let alone enough time to sleep).
Shift
All of this means that I've changed the way I use communication technology. I know the nature of relationships means that you can't bundle people into neat categories and treat the people in each bundle accordingly. But that said, you can concentrate on broad areas and do your best to be faithful in those relationships you are particularly committed to.
I am in a very fortunate position because so many of my closest friends use the same communication technologies that I do. It's sort of changed over time: it used to be blogs, it sort of transitioned to Facebook but quickly skipped over to Twitter. This is why I tend to concentrate most of my energies on Twitter: most of them are on it, and it's a lot less cluttered and distracting than Facebook. I still use the other technologies, but to a lesser degree, and when I do, I try to do so in a targetted fashion.
Let me explain:
I think I've ended up spending most of my time on Twitter because it fulfils a number of different needs and functions that other things used to. For example, newspapers: I used to read The Sydney Morning Herald, The New York Times and Salon.com by getting the headlines emailed to my inbox. I find these days I barely look at them; instead, I get my New York Times news on Twitter. Very recently I've been getting the SMH and The Australian too. All I really need to do is read the headlines; if I'm interested, I'll click further, but usually the headlines is all you need to stay in touch. (Unfortunately Salon.com is not on Twitter at the moment.)
In addition (and I can't remember if I've mentioned this already on this blog, so apologies if I have), Twitter has taken over the story of my life, “Blinks” , photoblog (well, to a certain extent) and even the “Current” blog sections of my site.
Like I said, however, many of my closest friends are on Twitter, and the microblogging/email/IM aspects of the technology make it easy to stay in touch with them. They're almost always there—in that ambient awareness thing that Clive Thompson talks about. It's not because I feel a compulsive Gen Y need to stay in touch; the advantage is that knowing what's going on in their lives helps me to pray for them, support them, care for them, encourage them, etc.
However, I try not to be compulsive about Twitter. It can get to a point where it's more annoying and intrusive than helpful. So in TweetDeck (the program I use most to post to and access Twitter), I've set the API refresh to around 10 minutes so that I'm not continually being pinged by updates.
(The recent update to TweetDeck is much more Facebook-friendly—to the point that my replies to other people are being posted there, and I now have the ability to comment on other people's status updates through Tweetdeck. This means I'm going to have to shift the way I use Tweetdeck a little ...)
Facebook would be the communication technology I use the most after Twitter (though it possibly rivals email ... I'll get to email in a sec). But unlike some people, I only use Facebook in a certain way. I don't play games on it. I don't use it much for IM (and when I do, I use Adium, which plugs into Facebook very nicely), and I rarely read my entire news feed. Really I just check it to see if someone's sent me a message, to respond to friend and events requests, to see who has commented on something I said (or something someone else said), to post links on other people's walls (and occasionally messages, but usually I prefer not to communicate with people on their walls because they're so public), and so on. Most of the time, I get in and then get out.
But one thing I've done on Facebook that I haven't really done on Twitter (well, I tried to create a group in Tweetdeck, but I don't use it much) is group my Facebook friends into Friends lists. I don't group everyone; I just group particular people—for example, family, work colleagues, church folk, school friends, the people I regard as my closest friends, etc. Friends lists are really useful because, firstly, they help you stay in touch with people through the ambient awareness thing I mentioned earlier (hopefully not in a cyberstalking sort of way!); secondly, they help you make sense of the chaos of your news feed by filtering it so you only see certain people; thirdly, you can filter who can see if you're online for IM purposes. With some of my lists, I even subscribe to the RSS feed in Bloglines so I don't miss what's happening in their lives.
Blogs
Like I said above, the way that I use blogs has changed. I find I tend to only use my blog for longer pieces of writing, and I save all the shorter tidbits of things for Twitter. (I keep wondering whether I should change my blog design to incorporate more of Twitter but still haven't made up my mind.)
With my blogroll, things have also changed. I'm intentional about certain blogs (certainly the ones under “Friends”), but I also skim-read a lot. I try to comment, but I find these days that relating through blogs doesn't happen much anymore; commenting has moved more to Twitter and Facebook. Of course, I am continually behind, but I don't feel the need to keep up any more. I seem to be looking at blogs more for information or inspiration. I also tend to be using Bloglines less and Twitter more for blogs (as Luke pondered might happen).
This is interesting because my blogroll provided the initial list for my prayer cards (i.e. I group people into six categories— family and school friends, friends and blogroll, churches, universities, Bible college and Matthias Media, and missionaries—and theoretically pray through one card per day. I don't get to it every day, but I do for most days.) I've found that I still pray for the same people; I just keep in touch with what's happening in their lives in different ways—not just on blogs, but through other communication technologies.
As I've increased my activities in other communication technologies, email has suffered. This is sort of odd because email was where it started. But it's now becoming a less efficient means of communication. I tend to use emails more for work stuff (where, paradoxically, it is a more efficient means of communication—probably because when I'm in the office, it's set to download every three minutes and I deal with it as part of my job) and for newsletters (usually more newsletters I can skim and then delete, as opposed to people's prayer newsletters, which require more time and attention).
Farhad Manjoo's article on managing your email is probably the best thing I've read online on the subject. My system is similar, but my current problem is that I have a laptop for work and a desktop PC for home, but the laptop is more convenient and easier, so I end up using that way more than the PC. The problem is all my email, photos and files are on the PC, and I know I need to do something about them to back them up and transfer at least some of that content onto my PC, but finding a spare weekend to do that ... *sigh*.
Anyway, this is why I have become increasingly worse at replying to email. The system for home isn't working because of the dual computer thing, but the system for work is just awesome.
An inner ring?
All this talk of being more intentional and targetted is, I'm sure, making my strategies for coping sound a lot like what C.S. Lewis was talking about in “The Inner Ring”—a two-tiered (or even three-tiered) system where some people are regarded as better than others. (Andrew Cameron's lecture on that essay is well worth a read, by the way.) I don't want it to be that way. And I'm mindful of James 2:1-7: “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory ...” I would argue that I'm talking about something slightly different: I'm making certain people a priority because they're family, church people or close friends, and I'm doing it out of necessity because you simply cannot have the same level of relationship with every single person that you know. It's impractical, plus you will burn yourself out doing it. (And if you don't, you'll get resentful and sin in your anger.) It's not about thinking certain people are better or more deserving; it's about making a commitment to particular relationships.
The one thing I haven't solved is what to do about new people. I remember Sandra King talking about Christians and relationships in Briefing #321—
I once heard it said that people are like Lego blocks. Each block has bumps on it and these bumps are used to join that block with other blocks. Not all blocks have the same number of bumps. The smallest blocks have just one bump; the largest ones can have forty or more.
Not all Christians have the same number of bumps. Some are good at making friends and maintaining relationships with lots of people. But others have different personalities and gifts. Some of us are timid, some of us are limited linguistically ...
and after reading that, I thought, “What if all your bumps are full? What if you just can't handle one more friendship—one more person?” You can't then go jettison some people (can you?) Well, from what I mentioned above, you can't; communication technology means we can never fall out of touch. I guess the degree to which you relate to people can change though ...
But really, all of this makes me look forward to heaven all the more. I keep thinking of John 17:3 and the Bible's definition of eternal life (which is not, by the way, primarily about living forever: “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The triune God's capacity for unlimited relationship is somewhat enviable; could it be that in the new creation, we will have the capacity for the same?
Current:
seen: Moon 15/10/2009
read: The Incredibles 11/10/2009
seen: She's the Man 05/10/2009
read: I Kill Giants (Joe Kelly and J. M. Ken Niimura) 04/10/2009
read: Astro City The Dark Ages Book 1: Brothers and Other Strangers (Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross) 04/10/2009
seen: Children of Men 02/10/2009
seen: Metric (The Metro) 30/09/2009
seen: 500 Days of Summer 25/09/2009
seen: The September Issue 18/09/2009
seen: Gilmore Girls: Season 1 17/09/2009
read: Flight (Volume 1) (edited by Kazu Kibuishi) 16/09/2009
seen: Ponyo 11/09/2009
read: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert) 05/09/2009
heard: Aimee Mann (Enmore Theatre) 04/09/2009
heard: Ben Folds Solo (Opera House) 31/08/2009
read: Phonogram: Rue Britannia (Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie) 26/08/2009
seen: Northanger Abbey 20/08/2009
read: The Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot) 18/08/2009
seen: The Phantom of the Opera 17/08/2009
seen: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 10/08/2009
seen: District 9 10/08/2009
read: Shortcomings (Adrian Tomine) 02/08/2009
read: AIR Volume 1: Letters from Lost Countries (Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker) 28/07/2009
seen: Persepolis 25/07/2009
seen: Ghost Town 25/07/2009
heard: Gutter Twins (Seymour Centre) 23/07/2009
seen: Coco Avant Chanel 20/07/2009
seen: Gutenberg! The Musical (Seymour Centre) 16/07/2009
seen: So You Think You Can Dance? Australia Live Tour (Sydney Entertainment Centre) 11/07/2009
seen: Every Little Step 07/07/2009
seen: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen 03/07/2009
seen: Synecdoche, New York 30/06/2009
seen: Charlie's Angels 27/06/2009
seen: Penelope 26/06/2009
seen: Coraline 10/06/2009
seen: The Sky Crawlers 08/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Ultimatum 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Supremacy 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Identity 06/06/2009
seen: Stick it 05/06/2009
Comment:
@Sarah: Thanks for the tip RE Australian Breastfeeding Association! I never would have thought to look there. Ditto KMart: I was wondering if they did since Target don’t.
@Rae: Thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out.
@Little Rachel: Oh, I’ll definitely be up for visitors! I may not be very good company (brain-dead, etc.) but I’ll certainly appreciate visits!
@Rachel C: CONGRATS!!! So excited for you 
Yours sounds like a good philosophy. One day I shall have to blog about Outliers!
@CafeDave: Thanks for the tip!
@Elissa: Thanks for your kind words! It makes me happy that you and Dave were excited we were getting married! Thanks also for the prayers!
@Elsie: There are lots of other lovely things I could have said about you, but let’s not overload my readers, shall we? ;P
Aww...thanks for the lovely things you said about me! I enjoyed reading this post (as I do with all yours). xo
Congratulations to you both. I know you will be such wonderful parents. You sound WAY too sensible! 
(Sorry to read that there were some unusual comments made about your marriage! We thought it was exciting. We still have a lovely photo of you & Ben in our lovely box of special memories. (I was only 22 when married & I was 30 when we had Bonnie...)
Everyone is different! I nodded through your post. SO many people feel the curious need to share their “horror stories” which is just dreadful. I remember complaining to David who said - go find people who are positive & listen to them. Great advice, which I did. Those people still have a big place in my heart because their advice was honest & gentle.
Bless you & Ben & the little Peanut. We pray all goes smoothly over the coming weeks/months ahead. We sometimes forget what a precious little miracle life really is…
Another book from the dad’s perspective I found helpful was From here to paternity - it’s an Australian book, and was followed up with a blog.
Hi!
I’m so excited for you reading your blog about being pregnant I am 13 weeks pregnant with #2.
You’re so right about all the pessimism “advice” that you get. I got so mad about it but never found a good response. I’ve had such joy right from day one with E that I just don’t want to buy into the negativity (I’m sure kids pick up on it too!).
My philosophy was/is to be a relaxed mum and from that figure out what was best for my baby/child. Get advice when you’re not sure on things or want to know how other people approached things, read books (loved Outliers!) that aren’t all about parenting… but just enjoy.
In a sample size of one to date, I’ve had such a happy, chilled out son right from day one. People say all the craziest advice… glad you don’t do guilt
With love,
R
Thanks so much for writing more! I love hearing how you’re going and all your thoughts.
After watching my sister I agree with you that it seems the first six months are perhaps the hardest. She got quite lonely at home all day; weekends were all right because then her husband was around but it’s just as you say… one feed ends then the next begins! If you are accepting visitors during this period then I hope to use some RDOs to come have grown-up conversations!
The book review of The Second Nine Months makes me want to read it now!
Names: We have one girl name that we both like and no boy names that we agree on. But they are also top-secret… so if anyone else uses them we can’t accuse them of theft! 
Yay Peanut, keep on growing, can’t wait to meet you!
Hello! Thanks for sharing
I loved reading your pregnancy update! I am glad to hear that things are all going pretty well, and I hope the rest of your 2nd trimester is as good.
I just wanted to add, that some other blokes decided that there was not much for the fathers-t0-be, and made a couple of DVD’s just for expectant dads. They are called ‘Being Dad’and i think they are available at big W. I have both though, if you would like me to send them!
Just wanted to wish you all the best!
Love
Rae
re: gluten: no idea!! I didn’t have to go on that diet - it was probably related to the test I didn’t do.
At the risk of adding to your list of advice:
Re: maternity bras - because I’m big I had to look hard for something nice in my size and discovered the Australian Breastfeeding Association. They have a massive range online and most are (dare I say it) sexy.
Re: maternity clothes - Kmart have a nice range of basic stuff.. I only found out towards the end of pregnancy and I would have liked to know earlier!
Re: Parenting classes - if you’re at RPA you can just ring the midwives section (they’ll put you through) and ask directly.
Congratulations again
Don’t laminate your ultrasound picture That is my advice.
Congratulations! This is so fantastic!
Thanks so much for sharing all of this… people swap engagement stories but rarely pregnancy stories! And it’s kind of similar don’t you think, all this excitement leading up to a big day!
So happy for you guys! Actually never been more excited for anyone except my sister! I think it’s because I think that you will both be amazing parents and love the idea that someone could grow up in your family.
Looking forward to many more posts on the topic.
Lovely news, Karen.
Thanks everyone! I will be sure to ask for help when I need it!
Great pic!! Peanut is cute! :D
Praying for you all!
xx
:D
I had a similar sort of morning sickness.. except I threw up! I’m suitably impressed that you coped OS.. that must have been tough.
It sounds like you’re doing marvelously otherwise!
Book recommendation on something a bit less technical and a bit more human: ‘Birth’ http://www.birthnet.com.au/
Praise be to God indeed! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Congratulations, Beilharzen! Welcome to the slightly-bewildering world of pregnancy (and birth...and children...). God has blessed you greatly with this new life. We’ll be praying for Peanut’s growth and development, and for you guys as you prepare.
I’m sure you’re surrounded by baby veterans, but always happy to help with books/advice/recommendations/listening.
B&L;
Excellent job Karen! You SHOULD be pleased with yourself!
Have you discovered http://www.ravelry.com ? It is an excellent site with thousands of free patterns in its database, lots of support, tips, forums etc and of course - friends like me? Look me up when you get there - fionag77
PS Are you just wearing a bulky dress or are you sporting a bump under that dress?
oooh.... It’s done and it looks great on you! xxx
Well done on all that hard work! It looks great and will be very snuggly come winter!
Thanks for letting me know, Timo!
Hi there,
Thanks for pointing out the shortcoming on our website. I’ll pass it on to my colleagues and hopefully it will be rectified soon.
The documentary at Fashioning Now was by Holly Kaye-Smith; I’d be more than happy to put you in touch with her if you’d like.
Again, thanks for the comment, much appreciate it!
Kind regards,
Timo Rissanen
Thanks Mark! Much appreciated!
Rich survey, Karen. Particularly I was struck by the notion of Jesus being clothed with our sins. I heard recently somebody suggest the crown of thorns was a kings crown but it was made of the symbol of the curse in the Garden - thorns. I would like to read your thoughts about Joseph’s coat of many colours.
Looking forward to the next installment. Regards,Mark
It is lovely - and looks great on you.
You’ve made me want to read it - though I may need an interpreter at times!
Well done with the sewing!
I think it looks good - very relaxed and spring-y.
Hey Sandra! Thanks for the tip! I read it yesterday, but I struggled a bit because Lewis doesn’t start from the Bible. I wasn’t convinced by his argument. What did you think?
Interesting post Karen - Thanks
I like the ending too! :D
xxx
Fantastic post, Karen. Just great. Thanks!
Thanks Bec! Eternal life just keeps getting better and better ...
I do like the way you ended this post - excellent thought.
Personally I don’t feel that way. Maybe that’s something you should blog about?
Wow. Lots of things to pick up on there. It’s been interesting to see the changes to your blog these last 6-12 months: Twitter is certainly more immediate, but are there (gasp) downsides to having its constant buzz in the ear?
Is our (already fractured) ability to concentrate on a single relationship at a time further jeapordised by the regular buzz of tweetdeck (and worse yet, by the imagined sense of loss that goes with being off the grid)?
Or am I just projecting my own fears?
Hi Karen!
If you’re still thinking about this… I just read CS Lewis’s essay “Learning in War-time” which exactly addresses this issue (ie. how can we justify cultural & aesthetic pursuits when people are going to hell around us?). Have you read it? i’d be interested to hear what you think..
(i have it in his little volume “Transposition and other Addresses”, but it’s easily findable online)
I’m doing my own series on the trials and tribulations of writing on my own blog here http://sedshed.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Head%20to%20Hand
It’s coming along slowly
Coincidentily, I stumbled upon the above Phonogram vs. the Fans cover when digging around for ID concepts for Salt. A disturbingly brilliant image.
Thanks Karen. At the very least, this post gives some context to your myriad of phonogram tweets. At best, it has reinvigorated my stagnated appreciation of comics.
Seriously, though 4,549 words. Is that the best you can do? I say, longer!
Blinks:
Why non-religious parents are starting to home school their children. Problems with American public schools. New models for education that will work (instead of just rote learning and teaching things to kids earlier).
Maybe discomfort is better for writing.
Showing her daughter that women are great by doing tours and walking in the footsteps of famous women. I like that this article is about engagement.
Jordan White, editor for Marvel, answers questions.
Jamie McKelvie answers questions.
Vision therapy as a treatment for ADHD, learning disabilities and even autism. The scientific community's opinion. The results of concentrated therapy.
Kieron Gillen on Phonogram, Siege, Ares, Loki and his collaborative relationship with Jamie McKelvie.
Superheroes and how they have changed the way we see urban landscape. Their attraction to New York.
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Comments
Wow. Lots of things to pick up on there. It’s been interesting to see the changes to your blog these last 6-12 months: Twitter is certainly more immediate, but are there (gasp) downsides to having its constant buzz in the ear?
Is our (already fractured) ability to concentrate on a single relationship at a time further jeapordised by the regular buzz of tweetdeck (and worse yet, by the imagined sense of loss that goes with being off the grid)?
Or am I just projecting my own fears?
Personally I don’t feel that way. Maybe that’s something you should blog about?
I do like the way you ended this post - excellent thought.
Thanks Bec! Eternal life just keeps getting better and better ...
Fantastic post, Karen. Just great. Thanks!
Interesting post Karen - Thanks
I like the ending too! :D
xxx
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