Social Media and Literature

 A screenshot from here.

Attention spans are not what they used to be. I can think of several times where I sit down to read the news. And. I. Just. Can’t. I will casually scan the headlines and discuss them later with others if the subject is brought up. I am terminally introverted, it’s true, so I will often listen for an opening or an invite into a topic/conversation. I am also ever minded of the phrase “Better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”. So I really don’t have a need to practice paying attention longer, right?

This could be a by-product of the times. Everything is competing for our attention lately, from television to weblogs, to school and work, politicians, movies, music: the list is endless. When people were settlers in this country, they had plenty to keep their attention occupied as well. Like staying alive. Providing for one’s family was also an attention getter. Then there is the actual job of interacting with your family members. Upkeep of a farm and the residence. Not dying because of dangerous animals and the local indigenous population that you have pissed off. That pesky neighbor Mr. Smith. He just had to put up residence two miles down the trail. But that was really it, right? We have many of those same concerns today, but the options to deal with them have exploded over the years, taking up just as much of our time but only allowing a fraction of the focus on each individual choice. Our society is hard-wired to move us faster, to make more use of our time. Then comes along social media, and suddenly there are more ways to communicate and stay in touch with more people than ever before.

One such example of social media is Twitter. In his article “Social Media and Literature” M.W. Jacobs says

“The maximum 160 characters for texting and 140 for tweeting, along with other forms of social media, have a concentrating effect on the verbal environment. Examples of that effect are haiku reviews, 6 second videos, and the 6 word memoir. “Recklessly Squandering My Happiness On Today.” The 6 word memoir was born in 2006 and soon was featured in universities, at dinner parties, on blogs, and on corporate retreats. Now it has a popular website and an expanding series of collections. At the very least, these forms of ultra minimalist narrative didn’t emerge until after social media was on the scene.”

He goes on to suggest that social media and advertising have a major part in the creation of the short attention span. I think that while he does seem to make some good points, he lessens the effect of this by using the last paragraph in his piece to schill for his book available at Amazon and WordPress, conveniently providing a link to the latter. I would like to suggest that social media is really just a natural evolution in the development of our society and that advertising is merely a byproduct of this process.