Sand (CC image source: Manfred Morgner (ka-em-zwei-ein))
I’ve heard that among journalists there used to be a saying, that went something like this (sorry if I remember it wrong):
”Newspaper reporters write in sand; TV reporters write in water; radio reporters write in the air.”
It’s a pretty clever way to describe the durability and limitations of “classical” news media. Journalists are, for the most part, well aware that what they get published will likely soon be forgotten…
Sorry, I meant they were.
So what would be the proper metaphor for writing on the Internet? Not sand, not paper, not water and definitely not stone. Whatever the metaphor should be, it’s not the mental model most of us seem to be using as “users” of media online.
I need to reach for a metaphor here, and in order to make it funny I shall deliberately make it awkward…
Imagine if there was a beast we called a “wandering newspaper” - some kind of flat animal that could form letters and photos on its paper-like skin to camouflage itself, the way insects pretend to be leaves and sticks.
Its text camouflage would appear, change itself, suddenly be amended, or even “reset” itself without warning. If you knew that such an animal existed, you’d be a fool to get overexcited about the precise words that came and went on its hide; they would be fleeting and unimportant.
(As my son would say when I’m struggling to make a point: Dad, please stop now.)
Anyhow… when a user writes a “tweet” on Twitter, many users seem to react to it as if…
- The physical durability of the text and images is of no importance;
- The ability to instantly amend the posted information is of no importance;
- The ability to instantly delete information (or copy it) is of no importance;
- The passage of time since the text was posted, during which both sender and context change, is of no importance;
And, most peculiar of all:
- Who owns the software and ultimately has the final editorial word on what gets posted or deleted is of no importance (apparently). It’s almost as if the tech bosses are gods whose decisions and whims cannot be questioned.
(Side note: Will there ever be a comedy series about an IT corporation that runs an entity similar to Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, with a weirdo CEO, perhaps like The Office, whose communication app affects the lives of billions? I’d like to see it!)
In other words, many Twitter users seem to have a very peculiar concept of the medium. It’s as if while one is using Twitter, the awareness of time and perspective seems to temporarily go on hold.
It’s not that the users are “dumb” or “mean,” or any other such value judgment. The point is that the medium distorts the users’ perception, regardless of the content of the medium.
Consider the durability of content on Twitter. How long has it existed? How long will it continue to exist? Do we assume that the content is eternal, or will always be “important”? We know that printed books can be read hundreds, even thousands of years after they were created. How much “posterity” do we expect from Twitter?
”My great-great-great-grandmother fought in the Twitter Wars of 2022. Legend has it she was doxxed, but she pulled through. Her courage is why we are now here, children. Never forget.”
Consider: How easily the content on Twitter can disappear, be distorted or amended, and how this makes the long-term significance of the “conversation” flimsy.
Consider: How time is ignored on Twitter. It resembles the attitude of a tribal feud: Every grudge, no matter how old, is treated as an active, ongoing matter. The refusal to think “But that was long ago” is typical. Everything is “now” on Twitter.
That is significant of an oral culture - the pre-literate stage of history.
Also significant of an oral, tribal culture is the matter of honor. Tribal people are touchy; the slightest slight - real or perceived - can set off a fight.
Still, traditional tribal cultures can at least claim to exist in a physical universe - blood relations are real, rival clans are real. Things get much flimsier with “communities” that can grow up and vanish overnight.
Maybe Twitter is reawakening our Neolithic ancestry. In the midst of advanced civilization, ancient tribal urges bubble up to the surface. Perhaps someday, people will pray to idols of tech bosses in their homes, to bring luck and stay on good terms with the gods of the Metaverse.
For an introduction to how an electronic culture can resemble a pre-electronic era, listen to Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage (1967).
More on this later…