Where U Been?

I haven't written anything in a while. I realize it's because I always want what I write to be eloquent or impacting. Frankly, that is an exhausting thought, and even more so an activity.

I have been reading Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, and apparently John Steinbeck would start most of his days by writing letters to people - to get the juices going. I was thinking of him as a social networker. But the more I read, the more I realize that letter writing was more than social networking, it was knowing people, and allowing one's self to be known. More is said in handwritten letters than in all the text on Twitter or Facebook. People call the countless individuals in their lists "Friends" but in reality, they only about them - what's happened to them, who said what, what they saw - but they don't really know WHO they are.

The point is that JS revealed himself in these letters to friends and acquaintances, and I cannot think of the last time I truly received a sense of someone through any electronic means. It's always, ALWAYS superficial. I watch people talk about their friends and their "communities" but they have no idea who any of their neighbors actually are. They show no real interest in the PEOPLE who are next to them, that live with them. Rather this desire and longing for connection is placated by the hope that these electronic connections with people we never see, never touch, never feel, never smell, never laugh with, never hold, never pick up, never help are more real and these people are closer to us than the people with whom we could actually share these experiences.

Social media is reducing people's ability to walk up to other human beings, introduce themselves, and develop relationships. It's scary. It's cold, and it's alienating. Couples sit together for hours staring at their phones or PDA's desperately seeking more emotional stimulation from the 1000s of people online instead of facing the discomfort of trying to connect one-on-one with the person in the room.

Maybe that makes me old fashioned. But it is what it is. I am not trying to change the world or make an impact with these thoughts. I am just writing what I feel to get my juices flowing. This is mainly for me. Maybe there are more like me...but if there are...I am hoping that they will answer the door when I knock.