BRING BACK TALKING!!!!

I just posted on Twitter that I want to return to talking to people -- I mean ACTUALLY talking with them. With voices - either in person, or on the phone. Because while I love all this tweeting and emailing, it has a distinct downside: it stays around to haunt and taunt you.

Yes, I know, I've always quite LIKED the fact that written communication can be archived - and, in some cases, even searched at a later date, which can certainly lead to a spot of enjoyable and humorous reminiscing - but ultimately I think the negatives outweigh this positive. Hear me out....

In a normal, spoken conversation, there are often awkward moments where one of the parties involved says something without thinking - BLURT; out it comes. There's typically a brief period of obvious discomfort but after the initial embarrassment, conversation resumes and, unless you just told the other person their mother is a whore (or something similarly unforgettable), you can be fairly sure no-one will remember two weeks later, or even two hours later, what exactly was said.

NOT SO with tweets and emails. The other person can revisit your faux pas / momentary lapse of judgment / uninhibited nonsense as many times as they choose. And each time they read it, it serves to help them form an opinion of you. This means that if you're anything like me, and you happen to be a tad too eager with your typing fingers and rather hasty with that "send" button, then you are going to develop quite a reputation in a relatively short time.

So let me ask you this... Do you think that your tweets and emails are an accurate representation of who you are as a person?

A very smart man (who I actually "know" only through Twitter) recently was "talking" (tweeting) with me about how English IS a tonal language and he is 100% correct. So much of our communication is transmitted in HOW we say things - we rely on the tone of voice and, in many instances, also body language, to convey the true meaning of what is being said. You take away those aspects from a conversation and you are left with a woefully incomplete and often very inaccurate picture of the intent of an individual's words.

There are other reasons why written conversations are less than desirable, plus one or two reasons why they are, in their own way, GREAT, but I am too tired to continue now, so I will end here. I am quite sure I shall continue tweeting and emailing, albeit rather more carefully, with perhaps more thought given before I hit that "send" button.