Don’t Print This
I recently did something that I haven’t done in a long time. While waiting for my car to be inspected early one morning, I read a newspaper. I’m talking about one of those traditional, printed on grey wood fiber, smudged ink newspapers.
It was that morning’s paper with all the fresh news and commentary---except, of course, it wasn’t. The bold print headline stories appeared yesterday on my TweetDeck. I experienced them in near-live timestream as they unfolded on Twitter.So, what to read for the next 45 minutes??- Section A International was old news.- Section B Business was old news.- Section C Local was old news.- Section D Classifieds was ignored (thanks, searchable Craigslist).- Section E Lifestyle was old or uninteresting news.The print articles’ facts and commentary were dated and even incorrect as compared with postings I read online before driving to the dealership.Too bad I don’t have a birdcage.Along with the printed news, the ease of instant information is also whittling away at my RSS feeds. More and more of them seem to deliver dusty thoughts already received real-time via Twitter. Unsubscribe.Other communication mediums are failing, too. Email and my big, old mailbox up at the street are great for receiving packaged content, but correspondence, well-wishes, updates and invitations are all tweeted these days. Email’s coffin nails accelerated with Google Wave’s launch. Truth be told, I often forget to check my Inbox, and the mailbox doesn’t even cross my mind. How often do you send or receive a letter? I don't even know how much a first-class stamp costs. Do you?By focusing my Twitter lists and TweetDeck columns on select primary sources, a few wild cards, and Facebook, I easily stay informed and engaged with an immense spectrum of the world and my family that no other medium can match.How often do you connect via newspaper, RSS feeds, email, snail mail and Twitter? Are your communication methods consolidating?Excuse me, I have to go … my phone/calendar/browser/camera/game-console/radio/tv/to-do-list just chimed.
