So this week we learned about Twitter. I am familiar with Twitter but I don't use it. Why? Because I have a problem with it. Well, it's not the technology itself, but with the people. Andy Warhol once said, "Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes", this is how I feel about the whole micro-blogging, blogging, social networking world that we live in. Now, don't get me wrong, I do myspace, blog and facebook...more than I am willing or care to admit. (Did I just say that?) But, I draw the line at Twitter.
There is nothing so important, so urgent in someone's life (or my own) that I need to follow and updated it every minute, every second of the day. Do I care that you cut your hair too short or that you took a dump (ewww, no)? Do I care that you are in a resturant/bar/coffee shop? That you put ontwo different shoes? That you tape you thumb to your hand to see what it feels like to be a dinosaur? No, no, funny but no.
People assume that what they are doing or have to say is so important, that others will interrupt their days and lives to find out about yours... umm, if I wanted to know what you are doing, I would have called you or better yet
asked you.
The fact that people are willing to tell someone and everyone every detail of their lives is mind blowing. I may blog and give some details of my life, (I'm guilty of doing this on facebook and myspace), but there are some things that I don't want you to know, ever. Now, I know that you don't have to tell the whole world that you took a dump (eww, again) but most people do. You know why? Because there is nothing that is personal anymore, it's like people don't have personal filters.
Now, for those who know me, know that I am guilty of saying things without caring. But the percentage of things that I do say is much smaller than the percentage of things that I think and that I want to say. You know why? It's called a personal filter!
Another problem with Twitter is that most people say things in the "heat of the moment" and say things that they A) didn't mean/did mean and/or B) later regret. Ashton Kutcher is an great example of A and of B.
As a culture are we so vain to think that we matter more than the next person? Or is "reality" tv to blame? (Here's a hint, it's not real. It's scripted). Does the mundane feel more like an event if everybody knows that it is happening? Or does "living out loud" mean that we have to broadcast of lives to everyone? Hope you have some answers because I don't.
The last (bad thing) about Twitter that I will say is this: it makes it easy for you to stalk people. Let's see, you tell people what you are wearing, what you are doing and where you are going. Now, you have a person obsessed with you or liking you in a really, really weird way. So, they follow your tweets all day long (and you for that matter), then they build a little fantasy "relationship" with you and you don't even know it. Next thing you know, there's a rabbit cooking on your stove (Fatal Attraction is more than a movie). So be careful of what you tweet you never know who is reading...and yes, stalking is a crime. But people do it anyway.
