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I’m too skinny. Not sizewise mind you. But when it comes to carrying my conversation weight at social gatherings, well, I’m the awkward girl in the corner these days.
And I didn’t used to be this way! No no no. I used to be quite chatty. Not long ago (and by not long ago I’m thinking less than a year ago) I was great at dinner parties. I took pride in my ability to be conversant in many topics but particularly in the current events category. Nothing passed by my nose for news and all of the granular details of the day’s stories. Daily I’d consume media like cafeteria buffet - a little Good Morning America to quench my news thirst; onto NPR for good soup before appetizing on a little Ryan Seacrest entertainment news; a main course throughout the day of CNN.com, NYtimes.com, LAtimes.com and anything news.com that kept me full; and I’d finish my day with a little news levity dessert of Letterman or Leno or SNL.
That was before my social calendar became too full to sit down for a news meal. That was before, when a friend or family member would call to alert me to a major news story and say, “turn on CNN.” Suddenly, I was hopping from party to party on Facebook and Twitter and a whole host of social communities. And before long, I became socially awkward in any situation that required me to know more than the headlines of the day (or a topic that was interesting to me, such as “Which Housewife of New Jersey” I most resembled or what vitamins to take for healthier hair). I’ve become self conscious of my news knowledge when talking with colleagues, clients and friends, sure that they are whispering, “Did you hear how little she actually knows about what’s going on in Iran?”
Recent evidence of my poor news diet:
I remember sitting in a class at the University of North Carolina School of Journalism in Chapel Hill pondering the future of news. At the time, we talked about how USA Today was changing America’s appetite for news (or vice versa, America was changing how news was being reported). Later with online news and blogging, the conversation centered on our ability to choose what we wanted to know. And now with social media and microblogging, we are in the know quickly but we don’t stick with the story for long. It’s a fast news diet, it’s not feeding my brain, and it’s not making me popular at parties.
Will we ever again gather around the television for hours as the news unfolds? And if this must be done in our social communities, can we spend a little more time in conversations about these really important stories before moving on to the next status update? This is particularly relevant to communications professionals - how do we truly move beyond conversation starters in social media spaces? And what is the life cycle of a story before the conversation ender sets in or the next headline takes over… for twenty minutes?
I’m back to a nutrient-rich news diet. What about you?
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July 1st, 2009 at 11:13 am
I’m also aware that the future of news is being jeopardized by a generation of journalists who may be changing the face of news in ways that don’t help deliver meaty content. If we’re feeling this way, what about the younger journalist who has to generate at least 1000 text messages a month with his/her close friends. How will they gain perspective? Government in this new environment may grow too big for its britches, and there’s evidence of that problem developing already. Drudge’s vision of a U.S. w/300 million “journalists” doesn’t fit my definition of journalist at all.