Writing Around

I've been reading a lot recently bemoaning the lack of culture out there, people sinking down to the fainting couch and fretting about the kids who spend too much time narcissisticly writing about themselves on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
What they miss in all of this is the fact that the new media and other web tools (blogs!) have completely transformed how people entertain themselves. Whereas 10 years ago, people may have been just sitting there, passively watching TV, these people are now probably actively engaged in the television show, texting their friends about plot points, mentally composing their reactions for a Facebook or blog post, etc. And they’re doing all of this through writing!
This increase in writing can only be a good thing. As Anne Trubek sez:

I would hazard that, with more than 200m people on Facebook and even more with home internet access, we are all writing more than we would have ten years ago. Those who would never write letters (too slow and anachronistic) or postcards (too twee) now send missives with abandon, from long thoughtful memos to brief and clever quips about evening plans. And if we subscribe to the theory that the most effective way to improve one’s writing is by practicing—by writing more, and ideally for an audience—then our writing skills must be getting better.

For someone who writes for a living, I welcome the use of more and more text to communicate. Regardless of what people are writing about, writing itself helps one organize one’s thoughts and helps them shape the meaning of their world rather than accepting whatever rationals happen to come down the pipe. Sometimes a little self-absorption in the form of writing about oneself is a good thing if it means that people are able to better express themselves.