tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post8929806162346105777..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Social Media - A Citizen of No CountryKen Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-80725104446593892782015-11-07T11:31:04.174+00:002015-11-07T11:31:04.174+00:00I wonder how much we have in common. Not just you ...I wonder how much we have in common. Not just you and me. All of us. We don’t like pain. We don’t like being hungry. Or poor. It doesn’t matter where you live those are a given. But what about missing out on stuff? Is there anyone on the planet who really doesn’t mind missing out on stuff? Do the people in the UK who don’t have Sky Atlantic mind that everyone else can watch Game of Thrones on a Monday evening? And do those who do have Sky Atlantic mind that people in the States get to watch it before them? Some will. Some feel unfulfilled if there life is not full. Isn’t that what the word means? The problem is there’s too much out there. No one has time for it all and every day there’s more. And most of it’s shite. When did we all turn coprophagous? Of course when you pick through the shite there’s the odd crumb worthy of attention, a morsel that made its way through the system without being properly digested. A bit of sweetcorn maybe.<br /><br />I’m on Facebook and Twitter because someone said I should be and every day I dutifully check both streams. And it’s depressing. Because you have to wade through so much that’s uninteresting or irrelevant or just a plain waste of everyone’s time. And time is precious. So I find I care less and less if I’m missing out on stuff because the energy you have to expend to get it isn’t worth it. I’ve no idea how much you post but you’re listed as a close friend so I’d hope most. I never miss a notification of a post but then I see them in Feedly too which is another reason not to pay too much attention to Facebook. Twitter I do not see the point of. I follow a couple of dozen people and that feels like a burden especially when some guy posts eighty tweets in a row. Seriously! Who does he think is reading them? What is the point? <br /><br />So I could quit tomorrow. There was a time—like you, about seven or eight years ago—when I was terrified I was going to miss something and I spent hours—literally hours!—every day following people only for them to give me the slip after a couple of years and go off and do something more interesting instead (I’m reminded of a kid’s show from the seventies). For the last five months I’ve done nothing but work on The More Things Change. I call it editing. It’s polishing. Nothing’s changed but I keep finding more and more in the book that needs highlighting. I just realised yesterday that Jim’s second flat has a single door and one window—I was very specific about the one window—and so had Noah’s Ark which is not a big point until you realise that there might be a connection here with Noah. Which there is. A slight one. But now I’ve caught that it needs some attention drawn to it. The book’ll be fine if I can’t figure out a way to do it without being too obvious but it would be nice to. The thing is I’m writing. Not from scratch but this was always my favourite part of the job. Hiding the Easter eggs. Besides I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write another book like this again. I don’t have it in me.<br /><br />I’m not sure about the future of my blog either. It takes me a couple of hours each week to write my wee notes and some days that’s all the time I’m clear-headed enough to work. So that’s a day lost. And the same goes for the weekends when my friends tend to post. I can use up the best part of a day just commenting. But at least it’s meaningful communication. I don’t mind that. Writing should matter and not only fiction. <br />Jim Murdochhttp://jim-murdoch.blogspot.ie/noreply@blogger.com