“And lest we forget, text itself is an invention, a technology. We treat it, however, as a base-level given in thinking about the essence of a message or a piece of communication.” – Maria Popova
In this quote Maria Popova points out that in our ever-changing world of technology, we forget that the things we have grown so used to were once brand new. People hold literature on such higher standings than modern technology even though what they think to be superior was once something to be wary of. When thought of in this way Twitter should really be thought of as nothing less than any other form of writing. Just as writing once became an essential part of communication (letters, emails, texts, etc.) Twitter could very well be headed the same direction. Everyone learns how to write in school and they use those skills learned to develop ideas into larger pieces of texts like essays. However, now people aren’t spending the majority of their time reading long winded articles or even blog posts. Being able to condense information into 280 characters is a valuable skill to have. People get their news and entertainment from the same source now, and in the same format. It’s not crazy to think that eventually kids will be taught how to cram the most information into a tweet, or how to make a cohesive thread. Writing changes with the times, and as we continue to make new ways to communicate it will have to adapt. Plays used to be written to last all day and provide a longer entertainment, but now that we have books and movies and the internet, no one’s focus has to be on one thing for any longer than they want it to be. While new inventions continue to draw our attention thinner, the normalcy of writing changing all together seems like a plausible solution to keep people consuming information.
