I know its the thing to think that cyberspace is a "place" where huge amounts of connectivity takes place but the reality is its so overrun with data, with a lot of it being junk, just the opposite can occur. I'm sure most people, especially in the early days of the internet, jumped into cyberspace and assumed they would be rubbing shoulders with vast populations of fellow cyberspacers. I know I did. The reality is mixed. Just like with a viral YouTube video one might just have the right info to put out there that catches on and is a "hit", so to speak, and with others in order to get noticed they do an incredible amount of work and are recognized by those who are interested in their subject matter which can often be a small audience. More often than not most people find that due to the trillions of bits of data that are firing through cyberspace, their info is lost in the shuffle.
There's another "modern" factor involved and that is that people are "too busy" to want to communicate "old school". By "old school" I mean pre-computers. If you've ever found a postage stamp from the late 1800's and think, "Wow! This must be worth something because its so old", the opposite is true. Pre-telephone communications by necessity were carried out by hand written letters and thus there were huge amounts of these stamps printed. Can you imagine letters being sent in the 1800's with messages like "C U later, dude. LOL". Most letters were thoughtfully composed with an emphasis on handwriting skills. Letter writing was somewhat of an art form for many people. That art form also included the use of word smithing where words were carefully chosen not only for their meaning but for their almost poetic sense.
As Mark Twain said:
"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
Most people now days "don't have the time" to differentiate between lightning and the lightning bug and tend to use communications more like they are banging out rapid Morse code signals. In fact, it seems more the case that for most people words actually get in the way of them communicating what they want. Are most people really that busy? Doubtful.
There was an interesting experiment done with a volunteer woman who was "super busy", a Tweeter and a texter. In the experiment she was not allowed to use any form of electronic communications for three months including her computer and cellphone. All her communications had to be done with handwritten letters. At first she went through withdrawals that were anxiety laden but then she more and more immersed herself into the depths of quality letter writing so much so that after the end of the three months she dumped her computer and decided to continue "old school" since it was bringing out a quality of life she never knew she could have.
So, I will assume that all the lightning bugs out there will never take the time to read what I wrote but you folks who appreciate it when lightning strikes in the right place at the right time might enjoy what I have written.
Mark Twain signs me off:
"I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead."
---Tom Sanger
