Digital closure (and why there’s no such thing)
91 days.
That’s how long it’s been since I last wrote a post here on the blog.
Despite the delay, there was never any doubt in my mind that I’d be back writing again.
Why was I so sure?
Because I would have felt very awkward and uncomfortable otherwise.
Awkward and uncomfortable in the knowledge that anyone stumbling across this place in future would see that the last post was written in April 2009. A house in utter disrepair.
Now, I realise that this already sounds like an extremely superficial reason to be writing again.
But the shame of neglecting my blog got me thinking about the concept of “closure”, the popular psychology term which generally refers to a feeling of conclusion to a traumatic event.
In my thinking, I took liberties with the concept and stretched it slightly to mean the feeling of completing anything, traumatic or otherwise.
For example, the air-punchingly joyful sensation of having crossed everything off your to-do list at the end of the day.
What I concluded was that, because of its very nature, the digital to-do list is never ending and so impossible to complete. In saying ‘its very nature’, I’m referring to the instantaneous feedback loop of communication that the internet provides ad infinitum.
Everything is always in beta; including your blog, your email back-and-forths with friends, your IM conversations, your twitter feed, your facebook profile etc. Nothing on the internet is ever finished.
The author of a book can complete her works and have them bound. Even if just for a fleeting moment, she can bathe in closure.
The author of a blog, on the other hand, must be happy with the idea of never ever finishing it.
