Oh, how social media has changed the world!
The truncated sentences, the abbreviated words, the absolute disregard for punctuation– because, really, who wants to use up their prized allotment of characters with words that are spelled correctly?
Things have changed now that we have to count words or make sure the best ones appear above the “Read More” line.
But one thing hasn’t changed, as I see it from my bench perspective. No matter what the word count, your words still matter. They count. You are still defined by your words, even in the spongy world of electronic interaction. Word count words still count.
You see, if you are talking to someone face to face, like a bench conversation, and you call someone else a blankety-blank so-and-so, and the listener has a reaction…let’s say, a look of shock, eye squint or even a smile…you know whether to back off, apologize or keep going. It’s a dialogue.
You know exactly which words had what effect. And you probably also know what that other person, the one listening to you, thinks about the word you just used.
But let’s say on social media you call someone a “——” , then hit send, you have ABSOLUTELY no idea how that will be received and by whom. That is, unless you get a message back with a shocked emoji face, a heart, or even better, a well worded reaction. Mostly people don’t let you know anything. It’s not a dialogue.
But it still counts. Every single word of that character missile you just launched counts.
If you have any social awareness, you may notice that in the real world someone is not quite as nice to you, doesn’t call, or even worse, says you are not a “friend” anymore. But you really won’t know, because, it’s not a dialogue.
And was it worth that good feeling you got when you hit Send?
Oh, I know what you are thinking, but you can’t blame it on a public official. Or a movie star. Or an astronaut (if they are even on social media out there…) They get to take responsibility for their own words counting.
So, before I skate off, a word of kindly bench advice.
Watch your words…they count. Even in the world of word counts.
SKATE ON!
Darla
(I am so glad I have this photo of an old bench behind the The Grand. It has since been removed. Deleted.)