Too Many Words?

"We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate." — Henry Thoreau

This comment of Thoreau has always struck me as particularly thought provoking.  Since I was a college student, I've seen the transition from typewriters to computer.  Then we went from going online with modems at 9600 baud and thought that was blazing speed.  When "the internet" became publicly available and then people started getting their own high speed connections -- communication skyrocketed.

People started blogging their thoughts on LiveJournal, Xanga, Myspace.  We've moved to Facebook, Twitter, and now about 210 billions emails are sent every day (70% of them spam).  Eighteen years ago I had a "bag phone" that traveled with me in the car.  People now find it hard to imagine living without a cell phone.    Now I could give many more examples, but the exponential growth of the means of communication require little convincing.  Our ability to communicate at an unparalleled level is unquestionable.  Yet, I wonder if the quantity of words has degraded their quality?

How often do you come across much of anything any more that is well written?  We are not wise to think that simply because we have a lot to say that what we are saying is worthwhile.  What would happen if we cut down on the number of words we're sending and instead focused on making sure that what we're communicating is both well said and worth saying?