Twitter - just what the hell is it for? Twits, obviously. Who the hell's interested in what most of those brain-dead celebrities, politicians, nobodies, and wannabes have to say? If it isn't someone who's trying to sell you his latest product, it's some @rsehole (and the two aren't mutually exclusive) who has nothing worth saying, but is determined to inflict his vacuous ideas on everyone anyway. That's the problem with social media - it's given a voice to those who aren't worth listening to.
"Huh! Hark at you with a blog!" I hear you say. Yeah, but my blog is mainly for me. See, because of a medical condition, my memory is no longer what it was and my mind is befogged half the time. I struggle to convey what I'm thinking in a coherent and concise way, which is why my posts sometimes ramble on for ages, and sometimes just a paragraph or two. It's the same cause in both cases - I just can't gather my thoughts together and say what I want to in the way that I want to say it. Doing the blog is mental exercise for me, and hopefully helps prevent further deterioration in my ability to focus my thoughts and communicate them.
It's also a means by which I record my memories for posterity - even if I'm the only person who ever reads them. Increasingly, I find it difficult to recall events, times and dates with the same crystal clarity that I once did. By writing things down in a blog, I can later refer to what I've written to help me remember something I'm no longer sure about. Trust me, it works. It's not the first time I've referred to an old post and been surprised to be reminded of something I'd seemingly forgotten. That's why there are so many posts about my childhood and teenage years - in effect, these posts are a retrospective diary.
Thing is though, once an audience has developed, you have to 'feed' them. They come looking for something to read, and I hate to disappoint them (at least until after they've read what I've written). It's like this: Every morning I fill five bird feeders in my front and back gardens. The birds still line-up waiting for their breakfast even if I sleep-in or run out of seed. (I've got fat balls - no, I'm not boasting - as well as seed, so they're the best-fed birds in the neighbourhood.) Just like the birds, I don't like to think of all you readers waiting for a post when I've nothing to give you. That's why, between the (hopefully) satisfying 'feasts', there's (admittedly) also a fair smattering of 'filler', intended as a snack to keep you going until the next big 'meal'.
Mainly, however, this blog is for me and serves a purpose. Twitter, on the other hand... well, given its seemingly most prominent user these days, maybe it should be renamed Twatter.
I think Twitter is a decent idea, maybe ideal for promoting things or short newsflashes, but like many great ideas throughout history, it is often hijacked by people who misuse it for their own ends whether that is desperatelyy seeking attention by insulting others, or just sheer negativity.
ReplyDeleteAs someone much cleverer than me once said, if you can say what you've got to say in 140 characters, you probably don't have much to say.
Another thought too, Kid, about you using these blog posts to preserve your thoughts. I do sometimes write short essays on things I want to remember, just for my own reference really, things that I would never like to vanish completely from my memory (although I've noticed that sometimes if I write about some cherished memory, I find that my brain doesn't seem to recall the event quite so vividly afterwards, almost like by doing so, my brain thinks the memory is redundant and stashes it away in some dark corner where it can't be seen so clearly. Anyone else have this?).
ReplyDeleteHave you read Isaac Asimov's autobiography, I.Asimov:A Memoir? It has over 100 2-3 page essays about different aspects or incidents in his life assembled into chronological order. It's quite an unusual but very effective way if telling his life story, and is the sort of thing that I'd like to build up my own collection of scribblings up to.
When I first started using the blog regularly, DS, it was mainly to address an 'injustice' perpetrated against me by another blogger, but I soon cottoned on to the fact that I could record my personal memories, first, of comics, and then other interests in my life. In effect, the blog is now the means by which I write MY essays about my own memories, though whether I'd ever have thought to record them if I didn't have a blog I'm not quite sure of. I've not found my memory of some events fading BECAUSE I've written about them, but my memory is generally getting worse anyway. Haven't read Asimov's autobiography, but I've previously considered doing a book containing some of my more interesting personal reminiscences.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is where geezers post gossip, Bible verses, and photos of their grandchildren. Twitter is where teenagers and yuppies post snarky quips that they think are terribly clever (they usually aren't). And Instagram is Twitter for people who can't read.
ReplyDeleteTwitter's character limitations make it inadequate for in-depth discussion of complicated topics. Come to think of it, that description fits most of the people who use it.
Re feeding the birds, our region usually has relatively short, mild winters. I don't want the wild birds and squirrels to become dependent on the feeders and forget how to forage, so I only fill my feeders in winter (well, sometimes in very late autumn), and continue until very early spring, when they can get their own.
I used to feed the birds (tuppence a bag - I wish) only in Winter, TC, but they still came to the garden during the Summer. Then I read that it's best to feed the birds throughout the year (true, there's a chance it may be suppliers of bird seed who came up with that one, but the R.S.P.B. agree), so that's what I do. Too many people are chopping down trees in their garden, replacing hedges with fencing, and removing their lawns and putting down paving, so birds (and other wildlife) don't have the same opportunities (or places) to forage as they once did.
ReplyDelete(Originally published 19 August 2017 at 17:46.)