"We are all Facebookers now."
I have concerns about negative effects of “oversocializing” but I don’t think the Times Online piece’s worries about story telling are likely. Story telling is universal and timeless. There may be fewer people who can do it, but those who can do it well can always find listeners/readers. But I do believe the public’s taste in stories varies a good bit and we are certainly less patient than we used to be… and texting and Twitter and the like are probably contributing factors in that. I think TV is a bigger factor though.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I think they will contemplate what they hear, yes. Today’s listeners are less patient but the shortening and fragmenting of “story” can only go so far before a person starts to crave the real thing. But it’s also true that a great many never discover the joy of a story that takes its time. But the short story isn’t going to ever die… or the long one either, not completely.
I remember as a teen picking up the Lord of the Rings because a gal I was interested in was reading it. Had it in three volumes and it seemed like they weight 10 lbs each. I though “I’ll ever even get through book one.” But it hooked me. Being a slow reader, it took me a very long time but I discovered that there are blessings in a long slow story that just can’t be had in anything quick and choppy.
When it comes to hypersocializing, I’m in the “This prevents folks from getting anything done or learning” camp. I see that as the biggest problem with it. The idea that it hinders “community” seems most far fetched. It is community, just in a different form. But will people get crummier at talking to each other out loud? That’s certainly possible.
I remember as a teen picking up the Lord of the Rings because a gal I was interested in was reading it. Had it in three volumes and it seemed like they weight 10 lbs each. I though “I’ll ever even get through book one.” But it hooked me. Being a slow reader, it took me a very long time but I discovered that there are blessings in a long slow story that just can’t be had in anything quick and choppy.
When it comes to hypersocializing, I’m in the “This prevents folks from getting anything done or learning” camp. I see that as the biggest problem with it. The idea that it hinders “community” seems most far fetched. It is community, just in a different form. But will people get crummier at talking to each other out loud? That’s certainly possible.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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