The Right to Urge or the Urge to Write?

It is interesting how many people spend greater and greater portions of their life writing about what they are doing. There has been an explosion in the social networking scene with an insane notion that people might actually be interested in exactly what I am doing right at this very moment in time. The advent of programs like Twitter and facebook updates before them allowed people to communicate the most trivial of details about their lives and their real time existence however to what purpose? What do we really gain from 'telling people' how we feel at a certain moment in time - when often the people we inform can do nothing about our situation? Have we reduced our ability to communicate with other human beings in a meaningful way and to develop friendships that will stand the test of time to mere media style sound-bytes of what we consider to be relevant information?

Blogs sites like livejournal, xanga and blogspot have for a long time now been repositories of the words that ricochet around inside people's minds looking for a place to find a permanent home. When I was little those repositories were the infamous 'diary'. Teenagers everywhere (especially girls) had little notebooks where they would write their thoughts down each night before retiring to bed. These books would become like best friends and confidants who would be the only other thing that knew every deep dark secret of teenage angst. Those diaries would hold every inner thought and would consequently be placed amongst the most highly treasured and protected possessions. But can we honestly say that releasing these inner most thoughts from the closed pages of a diary equate to the world wide release through an internet blog site? Where did the secrecy go? Where did the intimacy of having a safe location where you could store your deepest dreams, hurts or fears? Have we allowed technology to create a society where there is no inner voice, no filter that sifts what is flowing out and attempts to determine whether what we produce actually shoudl be produced? Have we ultimately lost the thing that we all crave so much - have we lost our ability to cultivate and maintain friendships?

I fear that we have. I fear that we have lost the ability to pick up the phone and call another human being and to discuss the same issues that so easily appear on our Twits or FB updates. It is easier to leave a comment on a person 'wall' for them to read than it is to actually tell them in person - after all, what will they say? What if they don't like it? It seems that our insecurities have risen to such a pinnacle that we leave 'hit-and-run' messages with our 'friends' and think that we are truly developing the kinds of connections that matter.

So next time you get the urge to write, let me (ironically through my own writings) urge you to consider why you are writing. What are you trying to convey? Who are you trying to convey it to? Are you writing to encourage a friend? Then why don't you call them instead, write them a card and deliver it by hand. Engage in face to face dialogue, build your friendship - and make it last.