Twitter Syndrome

[purple_teardrops]

More irony given this OP's size, but why do all current conversations on the internet feel as though they're too... Short?
Extrapolating further, what's your opinion on why a long post has become a total exception, not to mention a nearly non-occurrance? Feels a bit like sephia-colored skies... I think i've seen about one such happening for each decade of life.

[34]

'cos ppl have lower attention span than a goldfish

[Zurvan]

This feels more implicative that you're having a hard time connecting to and speaking with other people OP

I'm not saying that this phenomena isn't a thing, esp in online communities, but thats more because of what the internet is like

[purple_teardrops]

I think 34 has a point, but anyway...

Sorta. People feel a certain aversion towards me for the fact that given that humans have been my favorite study subject for decades, i have the formulas for the behaviour of most people stored within my mind... So in a way, it's not that i can't connect to other people, it's more like i'm connected to most people in a way that most people actually aren't even connected to their own self... And as for me, i'm okay with solely connecting to that which they don't show even to themselves, especially because... It's so beautiful and fascinating... Reminds me of where we all came from...

But back from my perpetual digression, i'm afraid that it's not only the internet that manifests such phenomenon... Talking small and retaining talk to futile subjects in cliched responses seems to be a problem IRL.
I didn't get to live a long time before twitter's rise, but i'm not sure that even when sms-chatting was common things were thist bad. Online or not, twitter-like talk is the new black, it seems.

[Zurvan]

I doubt people changed all that much truth be told, its more likely that we've always been like this, only something that shows more and more the older you get

and as much as I like the notion of understanding people through their behavior and usual patterns, it just shows how unconnected to people you are
then again, it takes a similar mind to see something like it, I suppose

[Stevethepi]

I mean whats the value in a long post? It mostly just gives you more time to obfuscate your point

[Prix with a Silent X]

I think OP has a point. While it's true that longer texts about anything can just be redundant, I think that the internet of ten years ago was far more given to lengthier and more complex discussions in ways. This website itself is, for better or worse, an outpost of a type of internet communication and content that is a rare find in fandom spaces these days. One of the things that initially hooked me into joining here was the simple fact that it was a web forum that still had activity and posts in the (then) year 2015. Even here, however, my writing longer posts got made fun of - usually in good humor - for being "effort posts," as though that was something that just wasn't worth it (anymore?).

My personal theory about the decline of longer posts on websites that allow for it is that it isn't just websites like twitter that demand or encourage brevity. That contributes to it, but I think it has to do with the kinds of technology and societal shifts that have allowed twitter to thrive on a changing internet. Ten years ago, most people who had an online presence maintained most if not all of it from a computer with a full-sized keyboard. They did so from within their homes or another static location. Even internet-capable phones simply weren't robust enough to bother with a lot of elements of "online life," be they fandom or otherwise. Fast forward to now, and many people lead fairly active "online lives" from the far more portable and even, in some ways, accessible medium of a phone which they are carrying around with them throughout the day. They're posting on commute or in lulls at work or school. Their online life is much more constant and habitual, but it is also engaged with in much shorter, less focused bursts. It's a pain to type diatribes on a phone, and so the best way to not feel outclassed by someone sitting at home typing on their computer is to subtly and slowly shift the "cultural" norm away from writing really long posts which one finds annoying to read or converse with on a phone.

This reply typed from a laptop with a keyboard from my house, for reference and example.

[Ratman]

More irony given this OP's size, but why do all current conversations on the internet feel as though they're too... Short?
Extrapolating further, what's your opinion on why a long post has become a total exception, not to mention a nearly non-occurrance? Feels a bit like sephia-colored skies... I think i've seen about one such happening for each decade of life.

POLONIUS This business is well ended. My liege and madam, to expostulate What majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night night, and time is time, Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time. Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief: your noble son is mad. Mad call I it, for, to define true madness, What is ’t but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go.
GERTRUDE More matter, with less art.
POLONIUS Madam, I swear I use no art at all. That he is mad, ’tis true. Tis true, ’tis pity, And pity ’tis ’tis true—a foolish figure, But farewell it, for I will use no art.

Not included: everything else Polonius has said

[mAc Chaos]

I think OP has a point. While it's true that longer texts about anything can just be redundant, I think that the internet of ten years ago was far more given to lengthier and more complex discussions in ways. This website itself is, for better or worse, an outpost of a type of internet communication and content that is a rare find in fandom spaces these days. One of the things that initially hooked me into joining here was the simple fact that it was a web forum that still had activity and posts in the (then) year 2015. Even here, however, my writing longer posts got made fun of - usually in good humor - for being "effort posts," as though that was something that just wasn't worth it (anymore?).

My personal theory about the decline of longer posts on websites that allow for it is that it isn't just websites like twitter that demand or encourage brevity. That contributes to it, but I think it has to do with the kinds of technology and societal shifts that have allowed twitter to thrive on a changing internet. Ten years ago, most people who had an online presence maintained most if not all of it from a computer with a full-sized keyboard. They did so from within their homes or another static location. Even internet-capable phones simply weren't robust enough to bother with a lot of elements of "online life," be they fandom or otherwise. Fast forward to now, and many people lead fairly active "online lives" from the far more portable and even, in some ways, accessible medium of a phone which they are carrying around with them throughout the day. They're posting on commute or in lulls at work or school. Their online life is much more constant and habitual, but it is also engaged with in much shorter, less focused bursts. It's a pain to type diatribes on a phone, and so the best way to not feel outclassed by someone sitting at home typing on their computer is to subtly and slowly shift the "cultural" norm away from writing really long posts which one finds annoying to read or converse with on a phone.

This reply typed from a laptop with a keyboard from my house, for reference and example.

I definitely don't bother typing anything long on phone, it's just not feasible.

[Twelveseal]

Not only that, but I feel that the above shift in tech also encourages a more casual experience in online communication. It has come to closer reflect everyday conversation rather than letter composition, likely in response to the prevalence of texting that peaked with the widespread availability of full keyboards on phones.

I suspect it also has something to do with the topics in question and the amount of epeen a given community awards for thorough knowledge and deep analysis...

[AsGryffynn]

Unlike speech, writing actually takes effort, more so writing legibly.

[Twelveseal]

True. Now consider how much more common glaring typos, butchered grammar, swapped homonyms, and other textual errors are now than in comparison to the internet prior to the rise of the smartphone and modern texting. Sure, some of these can be blamed on autocorrect being dumb or people rushing through autocomplete options, but even that is borne of the tech. My point still stands; rather than being like more traditional writing, the quality and content of modern online text communication is moving towards the practices of conversational speech. We are dumbing down our writings in favor of speed.

[SpoonyViking]

Unlike speech, writing actually takes effort, more so writing legibly.

If speaking well were so easy, anyone could be a politician.

[AsGryffynn]

If speaking well were so easy, anyone could be a politician.

As the very President of the United States of America has shown, this is utter bull.

Besides, you won't be a good politician unless you can lie like a champ.

[Seika]

I definitely don't bother typing anything long on phone, it's just not feasible.

I beg to differ. I make all those thirty-Tweet-long chains for you from my phone, and this is how I'm repaid.

[Twelveseal]

^^Ain't that the truth. On both counts. I swear I can feel my brain cells die every time I hear him speak.

[SpoonyViking]

As the very President of the United States of America has shown, this is utter bull.

On the contrary. He's an idiot and a general waste of a human being, but he knows how to speak to others like him. He lost the popular vote, but not by much.

[AsGryffynn]

On the contrary. He's an idiot and a general waste of a human being, but he knows how to speak to others like him. He lost the popular vote, but not by much.

Being a good liar is not being a good public speaker. He's the former, hence his success.

[SpoonyViking]

Check some of his speeches in the 2016 campaign, the Washington Post has at least one of them annotated.

[Bloble]

Trump's actually a great public speaker, especially compared to most politicians, in part because he went to the used car salesman school of speaking as opposed to the robot factory. But that has little to do with p_t's OP. Gonna vomit out some theories now.

There is more stuff on the internet now to grab your attention, which means there's less time-per-thing. We are in a post-information scarcity age where the limiting factor is our own attention. Additionally, as the internet went from being used by university professors and professionals to literally everyone, the average education and literacy levels are lower. Less educated, less literate people do not like writing as much, so they're worse at it and do it less (per person, but far more in bulk).

The parts of person-to-person communication that do not involve talking are lost when using text as a medium. The oft-cited 93% of communication that is non-verbal cannot be so easily communicated through a forum post or tweet. Voice chat is a little better but still not the same. We are actually beginning to compensate for this somewhat by changing our writing styles on the internet to more pointedly convey tone and intent, but it's nowhere near adequate compensation.

Extending from the above, empathy and the natural human tendency to be decent to each other is harder to come across online. Trolling, hate, blocking, etc. Hence conversations will always feel a little dry and lacking in substance. This is especially prevalent on Twitter where tweets are all public. It's more a platform for showing yourself off to the masses like some kind of mutant peacock than it is for meaningful conversation with other people. Hence, the most active users can often be the most narcissistic ones, more interested in being heard than listening. Part of why I don't use it, really; something strikes me as indescribably arrogant about its very premise.

Lastly, and this is probably just me: I ain't got no time for it. Full-time work, lengthy commute, sleep, eating, leaves not nearly much time as I'd like for in-depth long conversations. I used to make big posts and give everyone the benefit of the doubt when I was young. I would be excited to talk to anyone new, and to exchange ideas and listen to what they had to say, and not fear being made to look like a fool. I'm older and saltier now. More grumbling, more "those people are the problem", less willingness to commit half an hour of my life to writing a big huge post that might go absolutely nowhere or get laughed at.