Expressions into the Void

In the many things and place I've written, I tend to come back often to similar themes/issues/dilemma/whatever you want to call it.  One of those is whether to blog, or use some other form of social media for communication.  Every time I step back, I have these moments where I feel the urge to get back into a particular medium or platform.  Its not that I regret my decision per se (to leave Facebook, then Twitter) and so on, because I know that they were made for very good reasons, and for reasons I still maintain.

But its that urge to share, that urge to express...where does that come from?  Is it something innate in our humanity, as social creatures, that makes us want to broadcast?  (I think I can extrapolate our to a "we" here, considering the plethora and omnipresent of media platforms).  Yet, if such is the case, it seems like the current state of digital media doesn't really serve that purpose.  Certainly, it helps us broadcast our viewpoints and share our daily going-ons, but because of the ubiquity of it all, everything kind of gets muddled into the background; almost to the point where we are simply sharing/broadcasting for the sake of sharing, not because anyone is actually paying attention.  Because, honestly, how much attention can be paid?  When someone has 100 or more friends on Facebook, and its feed is filled with posts from them, and all of their likes and comments on other posts; and following a Twitter feed of just as many people, with hundreds if not thousands of tweets every day; let alone reading stories and links you see through those ubiquitous platforms; there's really no ending point.

The irony of posting this in a social media platform is not lost on me, but again, it helps fulfill that desire to share and broadcast, even if the act itself probably renders itself incomplete.  So, are we left with incomplete acts  - broadcasting with no (or very little) reception as a way to find that sociality we so desire as human beings?  Is there a better way?  Or is the act of broadcasting, regardless of who is listening or even if no one is listening, its own complete act, worthy by itself?

Is it as simple as quality over quantity?  I used to be a big believer in the virtues of social media - its ability to keep people in connection with one another; and then, not only keep certain connective strands in a relationship, but enhance and make stronger those relationships.  And I suppose, philosophically speaking, I haven't reached a different conclusion - I believe that such still could be the case.  Yet, when considering how the media is actually used and what it results in, and how it limits a finite resource such as time by dispersing it among so many individuals and interests, it seems like it simultaneously gives us a broader but more shallow world of relationships (I mean, who really has, by any fair definition of "friend," 150 friends?). 

Broader but more shallow; more connected but more isolated; this seems, to me, to be the paradoxical curse of the instant social media world in which we now inhabit.  That said, I wrote this post on my blog, after not writing anything for a couple months.  Perhaps its because a personal blog has long been a favorite platform of mine, as antiquated as it seems now (imagine saying that 10-15 years ago!).  Perhaps because I always cave in to some expression on some random platform, fulfilling some unknown, subconscious need of mine.  Perhaps because I still want to see if my philosophical position on the potential benefits of expression and connection through social media can be established - some way, some how.  Perhaps its because I'm just stubborn. Or perhaps its because, ultimately, certain acts of expression don't require or need an audience.


“I have no desires, save the desire to express myself in defiance of all the world’s muteness.” 
― Vladimir Nabokov

“Our social tools are not an improvement to modern society, they are a challenge to it.” 
― Clay Shirky