Incredibly, after about a month of using it, I'm still not sure about Twitter.
I can't remember any good 'Tweets' that have stuck in my mind and I certainly don't think I've added much of anything to the world by being on there myself. It seems to be the adults version of gigglingly passing notes around in class, which isn't altogether a bad thing.
It is extremely handy when sitting on the bus as a useful alternative to staring morosely out the window or even more morosely into a Metro. The best philosophy for using it that I've heard of is that it 'allows you to say something funny or useful that pops into your head when noone else is around'.
Further to that, in terms of getting a quick snapshot of what a large number of people are doing or thinking, you can't really beat it. A stained glass window to the world, with many colours and prisms to really brighten one's day, would be a fair comparison too.
I do worry for our collective attention spans though, our inability to sit still and enjoy our surroundings is clearly going down the broadband tubes. I daresay there are people who can't sit through an event or tv episode without turning to their phones or laptops to jot down their every thought. People may argue that it enhances their enjoyment of an experience to Twitter it with others but I'm not yet convinced.
It reminds me of a friend who would video every big thing he was doing in Edinburgh so that he could send a record to his girlfriend overseas. Not only did I feel he was missing out on just relaxing and enjoying whatever he was doing but I was pretty sure that she wouldn't sit through a one hour video show of fireworks or a rolling shot of a car journey anyway. There may only be 104 characters but Twitter still stacks up as an analogy I reckon, shouldn't we just put the phone/laptop away and put all our efforts into enjoying the company we are with?
So, as much as Twitter is a fascinating technological phenomenon which will blow over as quickly as it blew in to our lives, I don't really think it's big and I certainly don't think it's clever but I'll probably keep going with it in the background anyway. I always liked passing notes around in class after all.
Grexit Trading
10 minutes ago
3 comments:
Well, we'll pass over your floor laying smut with Malc, but some tweets of your's have made me laugh, so you've definitely got into the spirit of it.
This one for a start:
The irony of selling cakes to raise money for a heart disease charity seems to be lost on everyone here. Still, the brownies look nice.
And your bid to become the next famous chef....
Turmeric, cumin and dodgy orange powder and you have a curry. It's like some sort of ancient magic! If only socks and water made Naan bread.
It's also undoubtedly a way for people who are feeling lonely and/or disconnected from the World to feel a little less isolated. I don't think we can underestimate the power of communication and the detrimental impact that a lack of interaction can have.
The success of all the myriad social networking platforms is not only a reflection of advancing technology but also the frenetic nature of our modern society. We just don't have/make enough time to interact at a social level once we stop being students and enter the workforce. Time is our rarest commodity, noone has enough time to talk - really talk, and even fewer have/make time to listen.
If Twitter can fill that void or provide that missing connection to other people then I think it is a positive advancement.
(And your Tweets about your ties are thoroughly riveting....no, really...)
Aw come on, what was I supposed to say in response to this:
"Laying floorboards is like sex. Close your eyes, try not to think about it and it'll be over soon. Well, 3 days later Ok, the analogy's over."
He teed it up... I just lobbed it back.
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