Confined Thoughts [Media Meditation 2]

I have taken several media related courses at Champlain in the past three years. For most of them I have kept a blog and have written about my favorite blog, PostSecret. Apparently, this blog won't be any different because PostSecret continues to amaze me every Sunday.

First, I will recap what PostSecret is for those of you who don't know.

PostSecret, according to Frank Warren, the creator, is "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard." Each week Frank picks around 20 secrets that he posts on the blog.

Here is a YouTube video project that PostSecret created in December, 2009.



I encourage you to visit the blog and check it out for yourself to get a better idea of the concept, as well as the website, and the Twitter account.

In the past, I have focused on the blog as a whole. This time I want to talk about one specific secret. It relates directly to media issues. I have been thinking about it for two days.

This is the secret I found this week:



The secret relates to the social media tool, Twitter, which restricts updates to 140 characters. Twitter forces people to start using short hand, for example "ppl" for the word "people." It is confining our thoughts and condensing our written language.

It is easy use the Action Coalition For Media Education power tools to break down videos. I often forget that these power tools can break down any medium. That's why I chose to critically think about this one specific secret, and apply the power tools to it.

The Brain:
The neocortex is engaged. You have to read the secret, and in this case, I continued to use my neocortex to think about the secret, and how it applies to life in the 21st century.

Eight Shifts:
This secret is part of a technological shift. It was sent into Frank Warren, and then he scanned and uploaded the secret to the Internet blog.

It is also a personal shift. This is a personal secret of a person who then chose to anonymously share it with the world. Who ever wrote it is now participating in the PostSecret community.

Seven Principles:
"Reality" Construction/Trade-offs is definitely used with this secret. The secret says "I think I'm starting to constantly think in 140 characters." It appears on a screen shot from a Twitter update. The content of the secret is bringing up the goods and the bads of our media world. Twitter is an excellent social media tool; however, it has it's trade offs. One of them is the condensing of thoughts because of the limitations of the characters. Is this a bad thing? Is it a good thing? Is it changing the way our society is thinking and communicating? It brings up the "reality" of communication with social media.

Persuasive Techniques:
The person who sent in this secret probably wasn't thinking about persuasive techniques when they submitted their secret.

The secret can partially be considered as hyperbole. Does this person really think that eventually their thoughts will be completely in 140 characters?

They also used symbols while creating the secret. They use the identifiable Twitter forum for submitting a tweet.

Each week PostSecret makes me really think about life, and my own secrets. I've never submitted one, but each week I think about if I were to, what would it say? The secret saying, "I think I'm starting to constantly think in 140 characters" makes me think about my own fears of the media and how it will shape my future along with society. I wonder if one day all of our electronic communications will have a limitation. Language and expression is a key aspect to our interaction with others. What would happen if it were to completely change? How would it limit our means of communication? How would it change our lives? Has it already?