Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Twitter

I realize I might offend some people with the content of this post but hear me out.

I don't get Twitter.

Oh, I know some people say it's just like updating your Facebook status but I beg to differ. I mean, I don't have a problem with the occasional tweet or the play-by-play during a life-changing event such as a birth, but to have entire conversations through a microblog ... I mean, seriously? Who has time for this?? Does every tweeter have a very forgiving boss???

What I want to know is when texting went out of style. And what about that very archaic practice of actually CALLING someone and TALKING with them on the phone... so last year, right? And frankly, I don't really care if Kim Kardashian just got a latte at Starbucks or Ryan Seacrest has deep thoughts about a sandwich. The worst is when a person doesn't have the guts to tell someone what they're actually feeling and so instead tweets it so everyone can know their business. Um, soo 7th grade.

To me all of this passive-aggressive communication is a sign that even as we as a society find new and different ways to connect through technology, we become more inept at face to face conversation and thereby less socially adjusted. Misunderstandings and unintentional offenses abound when one's sole communication is a few sentences into the Internet abyss.

So give your texting thumbs a rest and call someone. Instead of tweeting all night, go out and spend some quality time in deep conversation with someone you care about. Try not tweeting about your bad experience at Subway and ask the person behind the counter how their day is going.

You just might make a new friend and learn something about yourself.

3 comments:

Annalise said...

So...I use Twitter and I love Twitter. I'm not really offended by this post, but I'm not sure I completely get it. It sounds more like you're not really angry with Twitter, but with bad behavior by some Twitter users. And there is a lot of bad tweeting out there, I'll admit, but I don't follow them so I don't have to hear it.

Some of your complaints are ones that I have with facebook. Like, really, you have nothing better to than spend all day updating your facebook status? And then when you do it's personal rants that maybe you should just keep to yourself? That drives me crazy. I've actually linked Twitter to my facebook account so when I update Twitter, it updates facebook without me doing anything. Saves a lot of time and keeps me off facebook (which is too addicting for me).

I tweet on a fairly regular basis, but rarely more than once a day. And it takes me approximately one minute to text it in, hardly enough time for my boss to get upset. I tweet the stuff that's not meaty enough to make it as a blog post, and I enjoy reading tweets from other people who do the same. I actually get a lot of news and information through Twitter, which saves me a lot of time visiting independent websites and I feel informed.

However, I will totally agree with you that our advances in technology are negatively affecting our relationships with people. And I'm sad to admit that since I follow people on blogs and facebook, I feel "in touch" with them and don't call or get together with them to have a real conversation nearly as much as I should, if ever. That's not cool, I should be a better friend.

So those are my thoughts. Twitter ain't so bad. Maybe you should give it a try and see if it changes your mind? :)

Shani said...

I agree that my comments are colored by personal observations of bad behavior on Twitter. Ergo, my beef is not with the application per se, more with the user. But they go hand in hand; e.g. I don't hate nuclear weapons I hate the terrorists who stockpile them, but if they didn't exist, they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. See what I mean? Perhaps not the best example, comparing Twitter to bombs, but I don't know, I think words are like weapons some times.

I don't have a problem with the occasional post; I think I mentioned that in my blog. I even update my Facebook status once or twice a day with a little boring blurb about what I'm doing. It's more the gratuitous conversations that seem to take place between tweeters that I don't understand. I just feel like it's fodder for misinterpretation when you can't hear the inflection in someone's voice or read their body language. I also think, just like road rage, brevity comes with anonymity, which can lead to offensive behavior.

Words strike a chord with me (they are my love language) so anyone who is careless with their tongue or the written word tends to push my buttons a bit.

Of course, I realize the grand irony in all this is that I myself have a blog and freely put my opinion out there when it could be offensive or misinterpreted without further explanation. The difference is that I feel there is more thought that goes into the blog composition process. Or, at least, there is in mine since I'm not the best writer. I really think about something and how I want it to be perceived before I post it.

To be sure, social networking applications like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter have their place in a world where mobility is commonplace. I would not be able to reconnect with so many friends if Facebook didn't exist or my friends didn't update their blogs regularly. I guess my whole point is that nothing substitutes real human contact (when possible) and I wish people would think more about politeness and respect when they tweet.

Good response, though. And, who knows, maybe one day I'll succumb to the tweeters. :-)

Shaun and Kelli said...

You girls are too funny. I COMPLETELY agree about the whole human to human contact thing. When I talk to the young generation at church, their communication skills are far beyond in the technical world but have completely failed in the REAL world and it is becoming ridiculous. They can't have a conversation with someone without grabbing their phone in the process b/c it keeps beeping with texts or tweets.Then they look back at me and just forgot what our REAL conversation was even about! I HATE making phone calls, and I will be brutally honest that I would much rather email or text someone but I feel like emotions are totally being left out when we just communicate through technical means. I think we as humans actually NEED that emotional contact. Of course we do!

AND I think we need to get together...SOOOOON. When you are in town again, we need to have to some major girl time so we can catch up. No phones or tweets, I promise!