Is the "Lost Art of Writing" Back? Society from 1989 to 1999

Back in the early 80s I got my first computer, a Commadore 64. Back then Bulletin Boards (BBs) were the rave. With BBs' you had to directly dial-up to the actual Computer that was hosting the board, there was no web. So if the Board you wanted to call was in California and you were in Iowa, be prepared to make a long distance call (that is of course unless you had a hacker friend who could get you pirated calling card numbers).

After spending a lot of time exchanging message and playing games on several different BBs I decided to start my own board. My screen handle (nickname, username, whatever) was "Smuggler's Blues", what can I say? I liked the song. So "Smuggler's Blues Hotel" began to take shape.

I talked my parents into allowing me a private line, and away I went. I forget the name of the Bulletin Board Program, but I found a nice pirated copy from a "smuggler" friend at little cost. Back then there was no such thing as a web master, we were "Sysops" (I've always like Sysop better then web master.) My board did well for several years until a hacker managed to break his way past my security firewall and into my computer, and then promptly shut me down. (Even back then you ran into creepy people through your computer.) I decided it was time to move on. But, it was not before the writer in me had begun to take shape.

What was cool about the BBs was the ease with which I was able to communicate with others outside my social niche -- my little safe group -- and the idea of sharing experiences and information with others was harvested from my inner need to know who's out there. Are they like me? But most importantly, just communicating with strangers was exciting, new, and fun. (Even back then you could find nice people through your computer.)

Whether it was posting messages on a board, chating (there was real time chating back then) or participating in interactive stories (stories where everyone and anyone can add something. Eventually after many weeks we'd have a complete story. Some were terrible, but some were funny, off-beat, and hip.) It was by these means that I fueled my passion for writing.

Today the Internet has helped spawn tens of thousands of writers. The fading art of written communication that developed in the 80s has been restored here in the 90s. To be apart of the Internet, you must be a writer. Whether you're writing emails to an executive friend, exchanging messages on that quantum physics board, or chatting about the new Star Wars flick, you're learning better English, punctuation, and you're learning how to better communicate in the written form. We've all become better writers, and it's about time.

We've gone from a culture of "wanna-be" rappers to "wanna-be" writers. I believe writing will slowly take over speech as the preferred form of communication. More and more people would rather log onto a web site and hand select the news they wish to read instead of having it forced feed to them via the TV. Most of us would prefer emails to phone calls, cheaper that's for sure. So whether it's by choice, or necessity, we're writing more then we ever have.

The post-MTV society has stopped sitting in front of the TV vegging, and now sits in front of the computer screen vegging (granted, there are cons as well, but at least they are being interactive and learning.) Too much information, too fast? Making the web safe for everyone will take time, and indeed that may never be accomplished.

There are a lot of bad things on the Web and a lot of bad people. However, if they or it weren't on the Web they'd be someplace else, so ultimately as a society we'd have to deal with the "thems" or the "its".

Over 100 million people use the Internet, and 41% of those are new to the web this past year. More and more people are choosing the web for their primary source for news, information, communication and entertainment. We are, as a society, becoming a "web culture." How we view the world, and how we see ourselves fitting into that big picture is influenced by our grasp of the world wide web.

"The lost art of writing," too strong of a statement? Maybe, I might grant you that. But tell me this, if you had to pick MTV or the Internet to raise your child (no offense), which would it be? (And you can't say neither.)