Mademoiselle, March 1953
Photograph: Mark Shaw
This has nothing to do with knitting, but it's been preying on my mind lately. I hate blogs where the author goes on and on about the minutia of their lives, airs the dirty laundry, babbles on about too many personal details, etc, etc. And I'm not going to do that. I'm just not going to talk about knitting right now.
I've noticed that recently, my e-mail inbox has been, well, pretty empty, except for offers to try new lipgloss at Sephora, and the like, all of which I keep trying to unsubscribe to, unsuccessfully. But real e-mails -- those daily/weekly/monthly e-mails from my dearest friends? They're not there anymore. Not even annoying mass e-mails with links to things I've already read. (Because, you know, I'm literate too, and read the New York Times/The New Yorker/Salon/Vanity Fair/etc., just like you do.)
So, what's with The Mystery of the Missing Missives? I'm going to chalk it up to Facebook/Twitter/Myspace, where, apparently, chatting with your best friend is the same as sending out a one sentence status update to all 9,000 of your acquaintances at once. The ultimate mass e-mail, reduced to 134 characters. I may know what one of my friends is currently watching on the telly, but do I know how they are? No. Do I even know where they are these days? No. Because my attempts at real e-mail go unanswered. Do they know what I've been up to? It seems highly doubtful. I could drop dead the second this posts, and not a soul would know. Unless, of course, someone wondered why my Facebook status update hadn't been updated in a few months.
This bothers me. I don't like people much, so I can deal with not socializing in person. (Plus, being a shut-in, that's sort of out of the question, anyway.) I miss the joy of getting a Real Letter in my box at boarding school and college, but I can cope with e-mail. What I can't cope with is "Watching Real Housewives of East Podunk!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!" ("26 people like this"), and there it stops.
I don't believe that social networking sites are The Work of The Devil, but I do believe that, ironically, that despite the overload of ways in which to communicate with others we have these days, our society is perilously close to a breakdown of actual communication -- "What we have here is a failure to communicate," to quote the scary sunglassed guy in Cool Hand Luke. (Insert menacing southern intonation.)
I doubt I'll ever hear anything more from my friends ever again, other than a daily Facebook status update. So, I'll know what sports team they're rooting for. That they baked a loaf of bread. A-tisket, a-tasket, they're off to Kroger's with a red and yellow basket. But I won't know how they are, really, nor they I. And I think that's a rather sad thing. Maybe even worse than going AWOL entirely. (Which, as we all know, is THOR.)
But I guess while I'm not writing to friends, I'll have more time to knit.
So this post is about knitting after all.
7 comments:
I promise to send you more cards!
I am glad you are back. I have missed your knitting posts, and I hope you will update us on your projects. Here is a little coincidence, a pair of ladies with a website for purchasing knit and crochet pattern reproductions, routinely send out free single patterns. They recently sent out the pattern for your Velveen two-piece dress. You probably already know this, but I thought I'd mention it to let you know that it brought you to mind and made me smile, and wonder how you are doing and separately, how that project is coming along.
I am sorry you feel so out of touch with your friends. It is especially painful when your efforts to commune are unanswered. I hope it just turns out to be a coincidence of busy-ness that accounts for the silence. I hope, for your sake, that you don't become too awfully lonely, and withdraw from all contact. Keep posting, you have readers who are interested. You are a clever and witty writer, and even though we are intrigued because of what you offer us, we can't help but care about the person behind the writing. I hear a lot of loneliness and pain in what you write, and I am touched. I can't help but hope for better things for you.
WendyBee
Thank you so much for your very kind words, and encouragement, as always.
I didn't know about the Knitting Ladies! Who are they? What a funny coincidence! The outfit is nearly done -- I put it away for a little while because I found once I got to the neck, there was something awry with the sleeves, so I had to tear them out, and figure out what went wrong. But it's almost done, after more than a year. Well, except for the skirt, which although partially completed, is daunting due to its size.
Thank you SO much for your encouragement. It's readers like you who give me the encouragement not to abandon the blog, even though I don't post as often as I should, or would really like to in a perfect world.
Aw, I'm sorry you feel that way. I was thinking about this today as well . . . I have friends who blog and then if you want to know what's up you're supposed to read their blogs . . . but there's something missing! I don't think of my friends as news items a la Jon and Kate Plus 8 or someone . . . we have friends so we can have a human connection.
Exactly. At least by writing to each other. It wasn't too long ago that other than face-to-face interaction, and the telephone, that was the only way to keep in touch with friends. What happened?
You are so right! Internet is replacing human contact, even via the phone (which, with the way people overuse cell phones, is amazing to even consider). I know that in my defense, between the funeral and wedding, I've been rather AWOL on email. Now that my equilibrium is getting back to normal, I feel human again and want to make a more conscious effort to stay in touch in the "not mass media" way with those that are important to me.
At least we are of the generation that recognizes there is a difference in the quality of contact. When I look at my nieces and nephews, I feel sorry for them. They are growing up in a world where every high school kid has a cell phone and spends every waking hour texting. They wouldn't even begin to appreciate the importance of what you communicated here.
Perhaps it's the fickle-mindedness of humans where we all tend to flock to new shiny pretty things?!
I realise my blog readership is dwindling or perhaps people just prefer to be anonymous these days...but just keep blogging and knitting if that's what you love to do!
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