February 18, 2005 17:22 | Confession / Cyborg / WebBlogging

Did I say that out loud?

I write an inordinate amount of “weblog entries” in my head. Ninety-nine percent of them never make it to the keyboard, let alone get published. A funny side-effect of this is every so often someone will bring up an entry I did publish and I'll be like “oh... did I write that?”

Did I say that out loud?

Put another way, I think in weblog mode alot. I also think Instant Message conversations with people alot. The side effect of that is I often think I've already told someone something I wanted/needed to tell them. Not so good.

The interesting part of this is why this happens, why I have conversations with people, in my head... do you want to know why?

No I am not insane. :p

It's because with IM, at this point the people I communicate the most with are pretty much always right there. My mind expects to just communicate with them. The interface, at this point consisting of a screen, keyboard, mouse, a chat application, a network connection, is merely a conduit, a medium, an extension of me. It is an extension that my mind has accepted and uses alot and just expects to “be there”.

Sadly, this current conduit is a poor and inefficient one. The perceived reduction in my cognitive capabilities - short term memory mostly - is merely an artifact of the malaise created by this fact.

Comments

Hey. I'm sitting listening to a panel on academic blogging. Seb is on the panel and Karl is right beside me. None of us can talk to each other right now. I just left the above comment on your blog and then I looked over and saw Karl reading one of your entries. (and now you just IM'ed me because you figured out that I commented). It's funny that Karl and I are more in communication with you than with each other during this hour. It makes me wonder if seb is checking out your blog?