In regard to social and other new media, I have come to recognize more clearly that, naturally enough, my views are affected by my (1) age and (2) personality. My natural bent, I think, is to focus on elements I find dysfunctional and harmful to mental health, good manners, literacy, and what-have-you. But then I read a piece like this one by poet and Christian college prof Aaron Belz in which he describes how he has found a way to use Twitter that he finds satisfying.
What I find interesting is that Belz doesn't swallow new media uncritically (he went off Facebook, for example). Instead he looks for ways to "redeem" (if that's not too pretentious a term) a medium. As a poet, he values brevity--thinks tweeting superior to blogging because it forces windbags to "put a sock in it." (With no editor keeping us in line, some of us do tend to go on and on, it is true...) However, Belz dislikes Twitter as a means of updating one's movements, for example. Instead, he tweets like the man that he is--a wit and a poet. For a sample, go here.
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