I read that, and--while I enjoy your engagement here in my comments--I think it's rather facile. The pedophile who abused me directly and specifically because I was a girl had no such qualms about whether or not children are sexless. Male fetuses aborted by radfems are recognized as male. Girl children who are sold by their fathers into marriage, girl fetuses who are selectively aborted by parents who want an heir, particularly in the one-child China of the past--there are myriad scenarios where sex is in fact recognizable in children and acted upon. Material reality actually matters. Philosophical game-playing on this point is facile. And I think you know that. I'm not sure why trying to play "gotcha" over this is appealing to some people.
The idea that children don't have a sex is silly. If left alone -- no puberty blockers, no outrageous levels of malnutrition -- they will go through their puberty and become able to reproduce, and we can predict with well over 99.9% accuracy which puberty they will go through. Because children have a sex. And you know this. I get that it's fun to take shots at people like Heather Heying or Colin Wright, but this isn't the way to do it. It makes it seem like you're playing the Woke game from a "clever" angle.
This is silly. Prepubescent children have a sex, which is why for millennia religions have differentiated in how they are raised, cultures have differentiated in how they are educated, and why we can predict with greater than 99.9% accuracy -- which is *way* more accurate than the vast majority of measures on which we base life-and-death decisions -- which puberty they'll go through if left alone. I'm locking comments now because this is a Twitter-style waste of time. And I know you know better.
RE: your flash fiction experience. How long is "flash" ? I still think that the inability to consistently read 280 characters, or even notice FOUR WORDS in a username, indicates Twitter is responsible for it getting much worse.
Thank you. And thank you for reading, for *actually* reading. So many people I've met online are great writers and I sometimes feel bad that I don't keep up with everything they write, but I'm going to stop. Because when I do read their stuff, I *actually read* it.
The word conversation means to exchange ideas back and forth. I have been writing about how most of us online don't have conversations any longer. People talk TO people, not WITH them. This may be what Josh (Disaffected Podcast) has said about Twitter making us more narcissistic. It doesn't help that we all have different ideas about what a single word means, let alone all the words that make up a post.
In response to your being "back" on Twitter, this is just a guess, some of those people may realize you're not actually back posting things manually, but they're just happy the account isn't banned and is "back." When you have different meanings behind the word "back" it leads to not understanding each other. They also may be just using it as something to say to respond to the tweet and bring your account to other people's attention knowing full well you won't see it or respond.
People often project through social media. They will "read" something and it triggers a judgement about something they themselves do and then they project it onto the other person. It can happen the same in person, but I think maybe these online social media platforms make it a lot easier.
The person complaining about you being an atheist and believing in the metaphysical may have something in their life where they are being superstitious or faith-based and they don't realize it. They are likely pissed off that they're being irrational in some way in their life but projecting it onto you. You can find a lot out about a person when they project in this way.
Yeah, you're probably onto something about at least some of them and "back," but others of them are "Oh! I've missed you!" followed by a question, or exultations about how much they can't wait to hear how I'm doing, etc. A lot of them really do think I'm going to be tweeting as I used to.
The projection thing is an interesting angle, especially since the guy made up his own reason for my atheism/agnosticism. I don't think the reasons I've articulated are even close to what he said. Hmmm.
Yes, I am sure some people misunderstood you and don't pay attention. I am certain that many people don't read as well and have very short attention spans. There are a myriad of reasons for that. I am sure Twitter's small character limit plays a role. Media, short commercials, cut screens throughout YouTube videos, etc can play a role too.
It's impossible with a huge account like Holly had but I do find that the much smaller number of follows/followers I have Twitter feels more like a conversation. I try really, really hard not to do "drive by commenting" on accounts that aren't part of my little social bubble.
I appreciate that Twitter brought me many wonderful things -- people I expect to be friends with until I die, and a far bigger platform than any trailer park dork should have, for any reason. But it's really, really, *really* bad for me. Enjoy it on my behalf. :-)
I’ve never even been on Twitter and I have noticed my attention span has gotten much shorter over the years. Maybe it’s the memes? Maybe it’s age? But I’m trying to make it a habit to read an actual book (ok, kindle) for at least 20 minutes straight every day in a desperate attempt to exercise my brain. Wish me luck...
I read this in the morning as I was starring my day and I agree. I will fight to regain my focus. Thank you for posting and now I am off to face reality.
I have noticed this. I read more words/day than I ever did in my pre-social media life but when i sit down to read a real text i find myself struggling with comprehension and focus. I often need to re-read paragraphs several times to stop my mind from wandering while my eyes are still "reading".
It’s a bit of a brag I know but I’ve never been on Twitter or Instagram and only briefly on Facebook. That short stint on FB was enough to convince me to ditch social media and keep relations long form and in person when possible. I use LinkedIn only as a deposit for my resume and professional credentials and I subscribe to a few YouTube channels centering on cooking and crafts. The reason is simple. My mental health is infinitely better avoiding the Bullshit that is social media. I have two daughters also not on social media and hope to convince them to remain that way as they enter into adulthood.
People have become addicted to "short form" from the constant use of social media. From 240 characters to 60 second shorts on You Tube, flitting from one blurb to the next, barely comprehending the message, as Holly's examples show. Once in awhile I get caught in a Shorts immersion and before I realize it, I've spent a half hour scrolling scrolling scrolling, the speed increasing the longer I watch. Time wasted. It leaves me feeling irritated and dissatisfied - like junk food.
Long, meaty hour + videos and reads are so much more engaging and worth my time, but I do have the luxury of living a slow life so that does make a difference, no doubt.
And another thing that is responsible for diminishing clear communication is the ubiquitous use of acronyms. Frankly, I hate them. Apparently, time is so lacking that writing out or saying a complete phrase is no longer possible.
ha ha ha ha you think YOU hate acronyms? I have an excruciating time differentiating between B, C, D, E, G, P, T, and V sounds. I want acronyms outlawed on pain on death!
My experience working in the service and fast food industry, near a military base of all places, reduced my ability to trust human reading comprehension, literacy, and basic common sense a long time ago.
"Can I get a number 3 but on a biscuit?"
"So a number 4?"
"No a number 3 on a biscuit"
"Sir that's a number 4"
"Why is this more than what's on the menu?"
"Cause you had me add extra meat, and changed the drink to a shake"
*Car tires screech as they pull out of the drive thru at high speed while I'm holding the bag with their order in it*
"Ma'am we change over to lunch menu in 5 minutes so our ability to serve breakfast might be hindered"
*Lady proceeds to order 90 dollars of breakfast items and then complains to manager about how it was rude of me to warn her that breakfast was almost over when that was all she was going to order*
I'm sure Twitter has made things worse, but I am skeptical that it wasn't already getting fairly bad even before that. Though the person who didn't understand your Tarot post was fairly hilarious to me given a previous relationship I was in with a person who did use Tarot a lot so I am well versed in trying to be more interested than I actually was.
I read that, and--while I enjoy your engagement here in my comments--I think it's rather facile. The pedophile who abused me directly and specifically because I was a girl had no such qualms about whether or not children are sexless. Male fetuses aborted by radfems are recognized as male. Girl children who are sold by their fathers into marriage, girl fetuses who are selectively aborted by parents who want an heir, particularly in the one-child China of the past--there are myriad scenarios where sex is in fact recognizable in children and acted upon. Material reality actually matters. Philosophical game-playing on this point is facile. And I think you know that. I'm not sure why trying to play "gotcha" over this is appealing to some people.
The idea that children don't have a sex is silly. If left alone -- no puberty blockers, no outrageous levels of malnutrition -- they will go through their puberty and become able to reproduce, and we can predict with well over 99.9% accuracy which puberty they will go through. Because children have a sex. And you know this. I get that it's fun to take shots at people like Heather Heying or Colin Wright, but this isn't the way to do it. It makes it seem like you're playing the Woke game from a "clever" angle.
This is silly. Prepubescent children have a sex, which is why for millennia religions have differentiated in how they are raised, cultures have differentiated in how they are educated, and why we can predict with greater than 99.9% accuracy -- which is *way* more accurate than the vast majority of measures on which we base life-and-death decisions -- which puberty they'll go through if left alone. I'm locking comments now because this is a Twitter-style waste of time. And I know you know better.
RE: your flash fiction experience. How long is "flash" ? I still think that the inability to consistently read 280 characters, or even notice FOUR WORDS in a username, indicates Twitter is responsible for it getting much worse.
Literature classes were just Woke shit. Critiquing the author's race, sex, sexual orientation. Atticus Finch was a white supremacist, blah blah blah.
I've retweeted this, because every word of it is true.
Thank you. And thank you for reading, for *actually* reading. So many people I've met online are great writers and I sometimes feel bad that I don't keep up with everything they write, but I'm going to stop. Because when I do read their stuff, I *actually read* it.
I know those feels.
The word conversation means to exchange ideas back and forth. I have been writing about how most of us online don't have conversations any longer. People talk TO people, not WITH them. This may be what Josh (Disaffected Podcast) has said about Twitter making us more narcissistic. It doesn't help that we all have different ideas about what a single word means, let alone all the words that make up a post.
In response to your being "back" on Twitter, this is just a guess, some of those people may realize you're not actually back posting things manually, but they're just happy the account isn't banned and is "back." When you have different meanings behind the word "back" it leads to not understanding each other. They also may be just using it as something to say to respond to the tweet and bring your account to other people's attention knowing full well you won't see it or respond.
People often project through social media. They will "read" something and it triggers a judgement about something they themselves do and then they project it onto the other person. It can happen the same in person, but I think maybe these online social media platforms make it a lot easier.
The person complaining about you being an atheist and believing in the metaphysical may have something in their life where they are being superstitious or faith-based and they don't realize it. They are likely pissed off that they're being irrational in some way in their life but projecting it onto you. You can find a lot out about a person when they project in this way.
Yeah, you're probably onto something about at least some of them and "back," but others of them are "Oh! I've missed you!" followed by a question, or exultations about how much they can't wait to hear how I'm doing, etc. A lot of them really do think I'm going to be tweeting as I used to.
The projection thing is an interesting angle, especially since the guy made up his own reason for my atheism/agnosticism. I don't think the reasons I've articulated are even close to what he said. Hmmm.
Yes, I am sure some people misunderstood you and don't pay attention. I am certain that many people don't read as well and have very short attention spans. There are a myriad of reasons for that. I am sure Twitter's small character limit plays a role. Media, short commercials, cut screens throughout YouTube videos, etc can play a role too.
It's impossible with a huge account like Holly had but I do find that the much smaller number of follows/followers I have Twitter feels more like a conversation. I try really, really hard not to do "drive by commenting" on accounts that aren't part of my little social bubble.
You really do need to come back to Twitter. Conceptual James is back - the whole gang is here.
I appreciate that Twitter brought me many wonderful things -- people I expect to be friends with until I die, and a far bigger platform than any trailer park dork should have, for any reason. But it's really, really, *really* bad for me. Enjoy it on my behalf. :-)
Come on, one beer won’t kill you! ;)
I’ve never even been on Twitter and I have noticed my attention span has gotten much shorter over the years. Maybe it’s the memes? Maybe it’s age? But I’m trying to make it a habit to read an actual book (ok, kindle) for at least 20 minutes straight every day in a desperate attempt to exercise my brain. Wish me luck...
I read this in the morning as I was starring my day and I agree. I will fight to regain my focus. Thank you for posting and now I am off to face reality.
I have noticed this. I read more words/day than I ever did in my pre-social media life but when i sit down to read a real text i find myself struggling with comprehension and focus. I often need to re-read paragraphs several times to stop my mind from wandering while my eyes are still "reading".
It’s a bit of a brag I know but I’ve never been on Twitter or Instagram and only briefly on Facebook. That short stint on FB was enough to convince me to ditch social media and keep relations long form and in person when possible. I use LinkedIn only as a deposit for my resume and professional credentials and I subscribe to a few YouTube channels centering on cooking and crafts. The reason is simple. My mental health is infinitely better avoiding the Bullshit that is social media. I have two daughters also not on social media and hope to convince them to remain that way as they enter into adulthood.
Why can't you understand that belief in tarot cards is irrational? That guys totally right, how can you be so silly?
So are you back on twitter yet?
What's the TL;DR version of this post?
People have become addicted to "short form" from the constant use of social media. From 240 characters to 60 second shorts on You Tube, flitting from one blurb to the next, barely comprehending the message, as Holly's examples show. Once in awhile I get caught in a Shorts immersion and before I realize it, I've spent a half hour scrolling scrolling scrolling, the speed increasing the longer I watch. Time wasted. It leaves me feeling irritated and dissatisfied - like junk food.
Long, meaty hour + videos and reads are so much more engaging and worth my time, but I do have the luxury of living a slow life so that does make a difference, no doubt.
And another thing that is responsible for diminishing clear communication is the ubiquitous use of acronyms. Frankly, I hate them. Apparently, time is so lacking that writing out or saying a complete phrase is no longer possible.
ha ha ha ha you think YOU hate acronyms? I have an excruciating time differentiating between B, C, D, E, G, P, T, and V sounds. I want acronyms outlawed on pain on death!
The only thing harder than reading well is writing well.
My experience working in the service and fast food industry, near a military base of all places, reduced my ability to trust human reading comprehension, literacy, and basic common sense a long time ago.
"Can I get a number 3 but on a biscuit?"
"So a number 4?"
"No a number 3 on a biscuit"
"Sir that's a number 4"
"Why is this more than what's on the menu?"
"Cause you had me add extra meat, and changed the drink to a shake"
*Car tires screech as they pull out of the drive thru at high speed while I'm holding the bag with their order in it*
"Ma'am we change over to lunch menu in 5 minutes so our ability to serve breakfast might be hindered"
*Lady proceeds to order 90 dollars of breakfast items and then complains to manager about how it was rude of me to warn her that breakfast was almost over when that was all she was going to order*
I'm sure Twitter has made things worse, but I am skeptical that it wasn't already getting fairly bad even before that. Though the person who didn't understand your Tarot post was fairly hilarious to me given a previous relationship I was in with a person who did use Tarot a lot so I am well versed in trying to be more interested than I actually was.