W.W.S.S?

I sat down tonight with the express intent to send a few emails to a few friends I fear I don't keep in touch with often enough. I didn't have much of anything to update, I just wanted to reach out a little, just give a "hello" and let them know they were still on my mind, yet when I sat down to type, nothing came out. Not because of the naught I had to say, but because I didn't know how to give updates of the little life events I used to be able to talk about.

I used to write letters. Long letters. Hand-written tales of the moments of my day-to-day existence I wished to share with friends. As email became popular and prevalent, I simply transferred my scribbles into electronic mailings, and kept up decent correspondence with friends across the country. But more and more often, I find myself stuck when it comes to coming up with something to say when sitting down to write, and though I place no blame on anyone or anything, I worry that the advent of easier ways to keep people in touch with one another has done the exact opposite of its intended purpose.

MySpace comments came first, where you could leave little notes of worth on a person's profile. This was followed by Facebook, which exploded the idea, only in a less interesting or personal way. So, why write someone a letter or even an email, when you can simply stop by their on-line social-networking profile and drop a sentence or two of air? The creator of Twitter apparently thought comment boxes, though finite in character amount, gave people too much leeway. He specifically sat down to offer up an extremely limited way of expressing thought.

Texting is another example of the reduction of communication. Like my loss of writing ability, I often look at my ringing phone with suspicious rather than anticipating eyes. When I was in high school, I could spend all day with my friends, then go home and spend half the night on the phone with them bullshitting about nothing. We would talk for hours about music, teachers we liked or hated, sports or whatever else popped into our little minds. The thing is, we already knew one another's thoughts on all subjects, but that didn't prevent us from hashing and re-hashing the same shit over and over. Now I rarely talk on the phone, to friends or otherwise; I offer up texts, little nudges that are designed for nothing other than self-amusement.

Now that I'm mere months away from middle age, I understand with better clarity the phrase "back in my day..." From my vantage point, television has changed for the worse. I'm not talking quality, which can always be argued by supporters and detractors, presentation is what's on my mind. When "Pop Up Video" premiered, it was a novel way to place little factoids into music videos. As videos can be understood with interruptions, the notes actually added to the overall experience. Today, "Twitter TV" takes place on serial shows. While the drama or comedy is occurring on screen, studio peons pretending to be the actors of the show "tweet" stupid shit onto the screen over the scenes. It's distracting, but almost a necessity for kids who have no ability to remain focused for more than a few seconds. It's why a hyper-edited Michael Bay movie will earn more money than an intelligent Michael Mann character piece.

With the destruction of the ability to concentrate, comes the inability to express thoughts. I see it personally, as said, in my own failures when sitting down to write. So I wonder what will happen when a generation of distracted idiots attempt artistry, and fear I'm already seeing the results. I'm generation X. Those that came before me gave the world The Beatles. My generation offered up U2 and Nirvana. Generation Y gave us Britney and The Backstreet Boys, which was bad enough, but now we're being inundated with whatever the fuck a Lady Ga Ga is. Sadly, I believe that the shrinking attention span is a pervasive infection that doesn't limit itself to one area.

As entertainment standards are lowered, the bar is dropped across the board. The person who says, "I don't read books, I wait for the movie" will be the same one spouting support for Sarah Palin 2012, because of the belief she's an intelligent person and coherent speaker. Thus, instead of serious debate over any issue, we will have reactionary citizens who shout down anything they don't understand, because it's easier to have Glenn Beck tell you what to think than it is to educate yourself.

I'm going to think about making an effort when it comes to expanding my consciousness and retaining focus beyond the ten-second mark, maybe try to do better when it comes to writing out my thoughts, but I can't say whether or not I'll follow through. After all, the easy way out is tempting for a reason: effort requires, well, effort. It's why Guitar Hero is more popular than learning guitar, and why diet pills sell so well. Swallow this little miracle instead of monitoring my diet and exercising daily? You betcha!