ABC, Easy As 123
BY Mel Campbell
Mel Campbell’s mother told her never to write anything down. She writes about it here.
It was kinda hot when I called up the IT guy to see if I could install my phone USB charger, and I could hear his breathing in my ear over the phone. 01:06 PM June 22, 2007 from Facebook
My mother isn’t a politician, nor the CEO of a tobacco or mining conglomerate, so hers was a fairly random and paranoid piece of advice. But, more intriguingly, it’s unfashionable advice. Regardless of the banality or obscurity of an idea, people these days are really into writing things down. Me especially.
Thursday, March 08, 2007 9:54 PM Ew, I finally heard my housemate and his girlfriend having sex. God, I can still hear it in my room with the door closed. I had to put on music myself!
I maintain many blogs and social networking profiles, and I text and email people whenever something strikes me as wonderful. As a writer, my words are my babies, and I hope other people cherish them as I do.
Saturday, July 28, 2007 3:13 PM Is it like a company rule that every Brown Gouge dry cleaner has to have a daggy old wedding dress on display in the window?
Your words certainly make a history of you. The paranoid or cynical among us like to point out that they also expose us to sinister forces (chiefly marketers, intelligence agencies and shadowy ‘identity thieves’), as people set out their preferences, their associates and political views on their Facebook profiles.
Just got an email with subject line “Dr Plonk”. I was all, “Finally, a hangover cure!” but it was a presser about a new movie. 03:25 PM July 20, 2007 from Facebook
But the appeal of writing things down isn’t some Web 2.0 thing. People have kept diaries, corresponded and self-published for centuries. It’s always had a romantic and vaguely dangerous appeal.
Saturday, March 31, 2007 3:10 PM The smoothness of a spoon slipping through your mouth as you slide the food off is really satisfying.
I’d go even further and say we love to write things down precisely because they might be read. And we like to read things that we believe give us some personal insight into the writer.
I feel incredibly sad. How long does this last? I am sick of waiting it out. 05:05 PM May 21, 2007 from web
Am I ashamed of things I’ve written? Yes and no. I’ve censored myself when to speak honestly would lose me friends or get me fired. But even the most retrospectively humiliating sentiments are part of the way life felt to me when I wrote them, and I’d never try to erase that.
Oh, my crush on this man is brutal! He owns my heart! I’m just leaning back in my chair stupidly repeating his name! 07:44 PM May 08, 2007 from web
Recognising this, I came up with the idea of ‘flashposting’ on my blog – realising that something might embarrass me later and deciding to publish it for a window of 24 hours, after which time it gets deleted. That’s a luxury you don’t get in text messaging.
Friday, July 20, 2007 9:49 PM I still think about you sometimes even though we never did and probably won’t fuck.
Friday, July 20, 2007 9:50 PM Agh! pls disregard my last message i sent it to you by mistake!
Sometimes I worry that my friends find my bursts of bite-sized communication irritating in their lack of context.
Thursday, May 03, 2007 12:15 AM My blouse is blowing in the wind. I feel like I’m in a power ballad video!
But another thing my mother impressed on me was the importance of “reaching out”. And that’s what I’m trying to do. You can’t have it two ways, Mum. Also, hi if you’re reading this!
