Social media: How a little virtual conversation juices my life
When this challenge to write about the change in my life came up several months ago I had no idea where I'd be heading. Yes, I thought maybe I'd get some more writing. I thought I'd focus on some of my personal writing/foto projects that were being neglected because I was so busy the last couple of years.
Funny thing is, I got sidetracked by "social media." No, I don't while away the hours, days, weeks poring over others' profiles and playing inane games (there a lot of inane games on fB; after playing along with a few I've decided that I have absolutely NO TIME for this). My sidetracking has been about learning how to use these new communications tools to do what I am passionate about. And, to keep connecting with the folks who are important to me.
You see, a little while ago, at a very "important" and cerebral conference, old school storytellers (ie. print folks and movie-makers) asked of the new school media, Whither narrative? "It's all an Attention Deficit world now," they said. "How do you tell a story when it's so distracted?"
Hmmm... Yes, the story is fragmented. But that's kind of like real life. The pattern and meaning, if there is any, is only apparent in the rearview mirror. For me, the "story" of my family unfolds in various social media online, involving several generations. This could never have happened when I was a teenager. My mother is blessed (and cursed): she gets to see, more or less in real time, what her grandkids are up to, the story they're making. And vice versa. Very cool.
What this means for me is that I'm busy writing and posting and creating a series of fragments that connect. But not in a linear fashion. I've always been more comfortable in a chaotic, "field" of material. My pleasure comes from creating various stories or streams from this chaos. But it's always an improvisation (one of the reasons I love Argentine tango, btw).
My projects are still languishing. But I'm having a great time, writing and posting and engaging with folks and generating more material for the field of my dreams.
I heard that we are leaving
I heard that we are leaving the "page"-based concept of writing and websites, and entering a "stream" concept. A flow. And the only thing you can do is surrender to the flow. Like getting in a shower, do you worry that certain drops will miss your body? No, you just get clean.
Sure, there will be points where we wonder what the heck is going on, but I sense a new paradigm shift, and a new way of looking at the world. If we can have the courage to let go of our own concepts, we could have a great ride.