Everyone and No One is Famous

Consider the sheer volume of blogs, social media postings, forums and comments that are created in a 24 hour period. I know there are many good things said, lots of good advice and wisdom shared, as well as provocative debate.

In this digital world, however, it is extremely difficult to pick out the quotes, the wisdom or the advice that is contains real value. Because there is sooo much to be sorted and sifted, the real wisdom is lost in the noise. And because the amount of written thought is re-generated every day, you cannot possible get to the good stuff before some more good stuff is published.

It was so much easier to find the wisdom in our written world before the digital age, when paper and pen was the main form of communications. When you had the time to really think through the phrases and the rhythm of your words, you could create a meaningful sentence or thought that would last decades.

It was easier to find the wisdom in the world when meaningful statements could be clearly heard against the noise of the culture. Your words could be repeated and passed on, spoken and shared, printed and viewed. And the knowledgeable and best words and phrases would percolate to the top.

With the rush to get information out, with the shortening of letters to email, to texting to tweets, fewer and fewer real words of wisdom are generated. It becomes like fast food, easy to eat with questionable nutrition.

Perhaps the next phase in our digital evolution will be return to more significant conversation, using the digital medium to create full bodied thoughts and conversations. Perhaps the digerati will push back against the short, abbreviated, symbolic text that makes up our daily conversations and dulls the wit and wisdom of the youth. Perhaps then we will find it easier to find the smart, illuminating, inspiring words that we know are out there.

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