It's only because I have been working a lot more than usual, and I've just been running out of hours in the day. I keep meaning to make myself a schedule - write down what I need to do as well as what I'd like to do, and organise each day so I get done the necessary and have time for the fun. But I never do and instead simply lurch through each day and lie in bed each night and curse myself because I didn't get done nearly enough. Because of course a bed is this magical place where you remember everything you forgot to do during the day.
I haven't written a word all week, and that's causing chaos inside my head , with the result that I am even more disorganised than usual. I just can't think clearly if I don't write often, every day preferably. I really don't understand why, except as I have explained I am sure before, if I get the words out of my head and onto a (virtual) page, I can organise the thoughts left much more efficiently.
A peek into my brain right now would confuse anybody, even the most efficient organiser! I have random, unfinished thoughts swirling around, and every few minutes one will shine like a beacon and I grab onto it and examine it briefly before another shining thought distracts me. So I am thinking I must clean the bathroom, remember to sort out that box of junk, the character in the werewolf book is definitely not a vampire but what is he?, maybe I should make the facebook novel partially a diary sort of thing with the messages between the main characters, I need panadol, I have to walk the dog, don't forget to wash the towels today, should weed that front garden and fertilise, should I change the cover on the published book, I need to cut my fringe today, is the werewolf a leader of a pack or a renegade or a plant by a bigger group in a bigger story, and so on. None of the thoughts stay long enough for me to get them into any kind of order. The only way to do it is to sit down and write a list and prioritise it which of course is the schedule that I keep meaning to make.
Instead I get frustrated that I can't think clearly and end up doing only a few of the things inside my head and generally the least important ones, and while I'm doing those other thoughts keep popping into my head and it's really quite exhausting! Then as I lie in bed at night it all seems to realign and I think more clearly and decide on a plan of action which vanishes with the morning mist as the random thoughts start swirling while I drink my morning tea. But when I write each day, it seems to calm these thoughts and I can think and plan and map out my day. Of course it never goes according to my plan, but at least I do achieve more than when my mind is like it is right now. We all think differently, and some of us are much more efficient in organising thoughts - I do not put myself into that category!
One of the random thoughts that keeps popping up is general musing about social media. That of course is most likely because the facebook novel is about the impact social media is having on the world. I've read plenty of times that we are all becoming more insular, with many online friends and not so many real life friends. Children are not playing real life games but virtual games with friends in far flung parts of the world. People are becoming dissatisfied with their lives because of this access to other lifestyles and cultures.
This is all true of course. But do we decry this change or go with it? The world has certainly changed, but it is not the first time. There have been many times throughout history that the world has changed. Maybe not as fast, but with exploration obviously there was exposure to different people, lifestyles, culture. The world did not adapt well to these changes, as it is well documented. I could do a little bit of research here and give a few examples, but really I think anyone reading this will easily be able to think of several instances in history where the world has changed and not easily.The world is a little bit like me in fact, resistant to change.
Here is where I am going to play devils advocate. Sure there are many drawbacks to the internet and social media. But there are many positives too. Social media is breaking down all the barriers that were themselves put in place by society. Social media is destroying the barriers of race, culture, appearance, religion, age - all the things that we usually take into account when we decide to get to know another person. Through social media the only thing that matters is who the person is and what that person's thoughts and views are. I know a lot of people are suspicious and of course there are a lot of trolls and con-people out there. But so too are there those same sorts of people living in the same neighbourhood. It is up to us, as it is in 'real life' to differentiate. Talking to people in different societies and cultures expands our knowledge of our planet and increases tolerance of the many and varied societies that live on it. A friendship with a person in another country is no less real than a friendship with the next door neighbour. People have long had penpals - essentially social media is a faster, more efficient and more immediate version of that.
Social media is also teaching us so much about the rest of this world we live in, and hopefully raises questions in enquiring minds, both young and old. Google is brilliant as a learning tool, you can learn so much more from Google and so much faster than you can searching through a reference book that was outdated before it was even printed. Of course to use Google properly you have to reference and cross reference, but still you can do it so fast and so efficiently. Truly, as a person who is endlessly curious, for whom one question answered always raises another, I consider Google to be a priceless gift!
My youngest son talks gamer/nerd talk to me frequently. I understand very little, and that's ok since I have no desire to be a gamer :) He was brought up in a world where computers are common place. There is a whole generation of people raised in this manner. Whether you believe this is wrong or right, what it is, is different. It is change, a world wide web of change in fact. This generation has access to far more knowledge, education, and entertainment than ever before. They can talk to someone on the other side of the world in real time and with a camera. The world has shrunk, boundaries are being breached and we are becoming more of a global society. Given the differences in cultures, environment, religion and education the global society of science fiction is a long way off, if it ever happens at all. But I believe that a world with more tolerance and less barriers and boundaries is a positive thing.
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