When I wear clothing with text, I expect most people that I come in contact with to take the time to read it. I never wear elaborate clothing with song lyrics or a poem, instead I wear clothing with either a school name or a short, meaningful phrase. Maybe I am crazy for reading everyone's text on their clothes, but I believe most people do. It is human nature to read clothing because it often serves some purpose. People wear clothing that represents who they are. I wear Hofstra clothing, tennis sweatshirts, a marching band jacket, or clothes with short, thoughtful phrases because they represent me. This is not say that no one wears clothing that has no meaning to them (in my hometown, Goodwill clothing is becoming popular). I consider myself to be a very observant person, so I likely read clothing more than my peers. However, I often have conversations with friends and acquaintances about text on clothing. I do not think jewelry or tattoos have quite the same effect, because they are harder to see and read.
The world of Twitter is very different. When I tweet, I only expect Professor Lay to read what I write. My tweets consist solely of my observations of text; therefore, my 10 other followers likely have no interest. I do not like the writing space Twitter provides which is why I choose not to use it socially. Most people expect only there followers to read their tweets, whether they are a high school student or a celebrity. Tweets are successful at portraying a meaning, but in many cases people have no interest in what others have on their mind. It is much easier to post a tweet into the virtual world than it is to wear clothing with meaningful text.
I know what you mean about wearing text as having an expected readership and tweets as more silent potentially.
ReplyDeleteI am going to be wondering a lot about your note that you expect people to take the time to read worn texts. Do you think most folks are like you in this regard? Thanks for a thoughtful post.