There is a spectrum of communication, which deals with importance and frequency. They are inversely related. The more often you talk to someone, the less important or momentous the subject matter is likely to be. You can trace this over history, in a general sense, truncated below:
Most of human history: Letters. Sometimes painstakingly crafted, works of art in themselves. Sometimes the only surviving documents about people who have long since passed...and yet we can learn so much about their worlds, their lives, their realities. But at the very least, they contained a certain weight, a certain critical mass. People wouldn't take the time to send a letter saying "Not much happening here". You knew when you had 'enough' to take the time to write.
Fairly recently: Email. Easy to send at relatively convenient times. Free. Correct spelling optional. Since there is no act of writing, easier to put together, and ultimately, reasonable to send out with very little actual content. But still, it takes some time, so usually you have SOMETHING to say.
Allow me to pause for a moment and point out the similar history of written communication in the world of art. Moving from ancient times, stories passed on through oral tradition, painstakingly memorized and repeated, people devoting their entire lives to retelling the story......on to novels, crafted over years and years and as a result, limited in quantity but all the more precious and valued. You could go two different directions from here - novels give way to short stories, but short stories largely die out - they can't seem to find a home, and the amount of work needed to craft them far exceeds the appreciation. But in the meantime, in our modern age we start churning out formulaic novels and so our favorite 'authors' can put out an impressive body of work but the value of each individual one becomes less and less.
And here now, the paths of communication and art converged somewhat, a few years ago in the world of blogs. Communication like a letter or email, but put out there for all the world to see and judge like a work of art. And the main criticism with blogs back when they were a fairly new phenomenon was that it was people's random thoughts and who really cared? Blogs were everywhere, people would write what they thought when they thought it, and we could all SEE it. But each individual blog post was less and less important. Who can remember a blog post that changed their life?
But this wasn't enough. We pushed it further along the spectrum. Next it was facebook, with status updates about what people had for dinner, or the condition of their sprained ankle, trumpeteted like a billboard for all your 'friends'. And it went even further with twitter. Happily, twitter still seems to have a decent backlash population...those who think it's a little silly. But most of my peers in 2010 are quite comfortable with facebook and its place on the communication frequency/importance spectrum. It seems to be where we are right now, and I respect that.
But for me, I fit more in the blog category. I'd like to think of myself as a 'letters' guy, but the fact is, I don't have time. I'd love to have the freedom to sit and construct a beautiful thought and then translate it to words for all to understand...but I have sibling fights to manage and diapers to change. The only reason I have the freedom to put all THIS into words right now is that it's 'records day' and all my 'records' are up-to-date. So while I don't have time to make all my thoughts beautiful and reasoned and heard, I also don't want to let my communication slip into virtual belching of whatever trivia is happening at that moment. I still want my communication to MEAN SOMETHING.
This is why I don't do facebook. It's too far in that direction for me. People say I'm stubborn or a snob. I'm not. I don't criticize most people for doing it - I may make fun of some of the worst excesses, but by and large, people are staying connected that way, and good for them. I just fit somewhere else right now. And having this blog seems to do it.
There's just one problem.
I really really suck at keeping it updated at all.
So I am going to try one more time.
Recognizing that my ability to post less often but with more important and meaningful info is not particularly keen right now, I am going to try to post once a day. Really. I am. It's on my list. If I can make myself get up early to work out, I can stay up a few minutes later to give a daily update on the goings-on in the Specter Family, which is what most people who follow it really want in the first place. So the posts will mean less, but they will at least be regular...and more important than a tweet.
So, keep checking back. Expect daily updates for real. Now.
Thanks all,
Matt
