L.M. Sacasas on Instant Messenger Over Instant Messenger

meanwhile, email often frustrates me because there is TOO much time to polish, it feels like I can't just say what's on my mind and work things out, whatever I send feels "final" in some sense I really dislike

I'm even self conscious now about the difference between only hitting "send" after a paragraph, and between hitting "send" after each individual line of text

he limits of writing push us toward greater clarity of expression, and, consequently, greater clarity of thought. Of course, this isn't a necessary outcome, lots of writing can be just as jumbled as our thinking. But in my own head I can convince myself that I know more or less what I mean and I'm not forced to put my thoughts in an order and form ... See more

One of my favorite lines from Walter Ong's classic book, Orality and Literacy, is "Writing heightens consciousness." I think that applies to what you're describing about the nature of conversation. Writing, that is externalizing thought in this quasi permanent symbolic way, makes us more aware of its nature and possibilities than the exchange of ev... See more