Everyone's a Journalist/Writer

I remember growing up when, to understand what was going on in the world, you watched the evening news. Thirty minutes each night. Often with your parents. That was your window. No DVR.  No pause. Only 3 stations. Of course, there were newspapers,too, printed daily.  And magazines, where we might get the detailed, heavily researched viewpoint (after a significant passing of time related to the event). Most of the dialogue was one-way.


If you wanted to voice your opinion on something, you wrote an op-ed to the newspaper. You kept the word count to a minimum as described by the paper and you just hoped they'd print it. Usually, that was a local paper and that meant, maybe a few of your friends and neighbors (your community) would "hear" what you had to say. Other than that, maybe you'd have a chance to talk about your views over dinner or in a government class.


Today, we're all journalist/writers. We all have a voice that has the potential of spanning the globe, not just your community. (For better or worse!) We just flip on a computer, get to a blank screen, and type away. Better yet, tweet! Just keep it brief! And, maybe someone will read what you have to say. Maybe not. But, today, the odds have certainly increased... or at least, the audience.


With so many speaking, it can seem like a cacophony of voices. And, in the end, you may very well hear none of them. The competition is fierce. So, are we better off that we now have platforms? Or are we worse...?


I think, to the extent that writing has us thinking more, engaging more, perhaps we are better. Yes, we will find that more people than we can imagine disagree with us. But, perhaps that's ok. It just means it's a bigger world than we thought when we grew up... Maybe we'll learn something...


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