Words, Words, Words
In a meeting yesterday I was reminded of the recent marketing study claiming, in essence, "no one wants to read anything any more." Proof is in the evolution of the use of the Internet and social media: first came blogs where bloggers would write volumes on one subject or another for the world to read: then Facebook with shorter musings: Twitter with even shorter, and predominately pointless, 'thoughts': then Instagram and pictures, now videos too, only. We all agreed that no one has time to read something and, if they bother at all, will simply scan to get the highlights. (Hence the frequent use of bold text and bullet points in advertising copy- trade secret.) And also we all agreed that great photography and videography is the wave of the future.
I have to admit I was a little hurt, even though I myself on many occasion with a dramatic wave of my hand declared, "nobody's going to read all that, let's cut it". But I like to think of myself as a writer and therefore a lover of words, so this conversation yesterday has continued to replay in my mind. Can, or will, pictures and video really replace the written word?
We remember words. We repeat words. We use them as our own and form thoughts, opinions and jokes. Words, sentences, paragraphs you read stick with you. You hear words or phrases from literature and film and you finish the scene.
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day..."
"Et tu Brute?"
"It's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
"You know how to whistle don't you?"
"Those aren't pillows!"
"He's a nut, Andy. A nut!"
As I would make coffee in the back office of a large retail store where I worked several years ago, I would laugh to myself, " I measure my life in coffee spoons". Words can conjure images clear and beautiful, or dark and dreary. A fellow mom once told me several years ago during a discussion on reading Harry Potter to your children versus letting them watch the movie, "the picture their mind draws will never be as scary as what they will see in the movie". Every day we read books - good books that let them imagine what a faraway place looks like or how someone lived 100 years ago. Words creating the picture, not the other way around.
My book club just read Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas, a book about William Wilberforce. We marveled at how an entire village, time after time, would gather to hear speeches lasting two to three hours a piece. We laughed and claimed it was because they had nothing else to do. But it was how people 'watched' the news. And officials spoke to say something, not for sound bites. I believe that the 24 hour news networks have added to the downfall of the written word. I ran across a Time article on "Chappaquiddick" written in 1969 and this news-magazine article can hold its own in the literary world. That kind of journalism is few and very far between these days.
As I identified myself as a writer I am more self-conscious of what I am writing this time than usual. I feel I should continue on about the importance and significance of words, but alas, I am running out of them.
I have to admit I was a little hurt, even though I myself on many occasion with a dramatic wave of my hand declared, "nobody's going to read all that, let's cut it". But I like to think of myself as a writer and therefore a lover of words, so this conversation yesterday has continued to replay in my mind. Can, or will, pictures and video really replace the written word?
We remember words. We repeat words. We use them as our own and form thoughts, opinions and jokes. Words, sentences, paragraphs you read stick with you. You hear words or phrases from literature and film and you finish the scene.
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day..."
"Et tu Brute?"
"It's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
"You know how to whistle don't you?"
"Those aren't pillows!"
"He's a nut, Andy. A nut!"
As I would make coffee in the back office of a large retail store where I worked several years ago, I would laugh to myself, " I measure my life in coffee spoons". Words can conjure images clear and beautiful, or dark and dreary. A fellow mom once told me several years ago during a discussion on reading Harry Potter to your children versus letting them watch the movie, "the picture their mind draws will never be as scary as what they will see in the movie". Every day we read books - good books that let them imagine what a faraway place looks like or how someone lived 100 years ago. Words creating the picture, not the other way around.
My book club just read Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas, a book about William Wilberforce. We marveled at how an entire village, time after time, would gather to hear speeches lasting two to three hours a piece. We laughed and claimed it was because they had nothing else to do. But it was how people 'watched' the news. And officials spoke to say something, not for sound bites. I believe that the 24 hour news networks have added to the downfall of the written word. I ran across a Time article on "Chappaquiddick" written in 1969 and this news-magazine article can hold its own in the literary world. That kind of journalism is few and very far between these days.
As I identified myself as a writer I am more self-conscious of what I am writing this time than usual. I feel I should continue on about the importance and significance of words, but alas, I am running out of them.
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