I don’t know about you but I’m drowning in words.  Between the emails, web articles, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, blogs and texts, I am in absolute information overload! I read loads of words and see oodles of images but I’m still not satisfied with my level of connectedness with the world.   This is why I was so happy today when I had an honest to God, real live conversation with a good friend who now resides in Texas.   I realized just how much I missed listening to the feeling and emotion in someone’s voice and I jokingly noted that my friend’s southern accent had thickened since she left Colorado.  After months of catching on Facebook and email, it was heartwarming to hear the inflections, tones and prosody of the live human voice.  The conversation was full, animated and nuanced.  It was so much more satisfying to my heart and soul than our online chats have been.

 After 19 years of giving and listening to live speeches in Toastmasters, I’ve grown very effective and comfortable with verbal communication.  I like speaking.  Using my vocal cords, lips and tongue to get my message across just feels more human than the more recent modes of communication that involve text and images on a glowing, backlit screen. It’s just not the same and I have to admit that I don’t enjoy written communication (not counting a well done novel) nearly as much as the spoken word.  I dislike texting and I’d rather not catch up with a long lost friend via email.  So much is lost with this cold form of expression.

 The other thing that troubles me about the overflowing sea of information in cyberspace is that I feel like my voice and message can’t or won’t be heard.  With the plethora of blogs, articles, IMs and tweets, how can my ideas, thoughts or expressions possibly stand out and connect with others?  To address this I think I’ll take some strategies I learned while I was in the Army and that is:  Be Bold, Be Brief, Be Gone.  It also helps to change things up occasionally, keeping it interesting.  Remember that less is often more and oh, have a point, it makes it so more enjoyable for the audience!

 So, can you hear me now?   These are my ideas and suggestions on how to survive and hopefully thrive in this information- gorged world of ours.   With my friends and family I will reach out touch someone live and in the blogosphere I will be bold, brief and then I’ll be gone.  At 437 words, it’s time to go.  I’ll talk to you soon.