My Heart isn't A-Twitter

Perhaps it's a sign that I'm getting old. I thought it would be enough to be online writing a blog or doing web-shopping and the like but I think I'm being left behind in this rapidly developing techno-world and evidence of it is the fact that I still do not 'twitter'. For those who don't know, Twitter is a web-based social networking site that allows users to post updates to their 'status' from anywhere and allows fans to 'follow' what their friends are doing. The catch is that you are limited to 140 characters to get your message across. What this means is that the abbreviations and short form that have come to define the web-generation's style of communication is becoming all the more ingrained and I think we're slowly seeing the decline of communication skills.

Now perhaps I could be acccused of being overly verbose in my blogs or that I take ten sentences to say what I could have said in a single phrase but I think effective communication is a skill that should be developed rather than stymied. Getting a message across effectively can mean a world of difference to someone; just ask anyone who has been wrongly accused of a crime and subsequently freed through the arguementative powers of their lawyer. If they were limited to 140 characters to get their point across I think we'd probably have more prisons dotting this nation than condos. Now perhaps I am exaggerating a bit but I truly feel that things like Twitter are reducing the creative power of writers or those seeking to write. I know some would argue that Twittering promotes creativity because you have to get the point across in 140 characters or less but at times I wonder why.

Twitter's main popularity stems from the fact that you can let your friends (or anyone else in your social network) know exactly what you're doing as soon as you send an update. I think it's great if you lead a relatively interesting life or are on travel somewhere and wish to rub it in, but do we really need to know that "I'm tired and rubbing my eyes" or that "It's almost time for lunch and I have a ton of work to do?" If that were the case then why spend time sending an update to Twitter. The old saying is that 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' but in the modern world I'm beginning to think that 'absence' can boil down to no coverage for your cell phone network.

We are putting so much of ourselves out there that it's becoming scary how little privacy we get any more. While some people argue over the legality of whether the government should be allowed to monitor our calls and e-mails if we are suspected of subversive behavior, I would argue that the point is moot because many of us put out more information than we ever need to on social networking sites or via our web-pages. As I said, some updates would be interesting if they were delivered on a semi-regular basis but do we really need to know what is happening every 15 minutes of your life? If I have nothing more to worry about than your updates, isn't it possible that that's a sign that I need something more to do in my life?

I'm not saying that sites like Twitter are necessarily bad; I'm sure if I dig around on the internet a bit I'll find stories of people who saved themselves from certain death by updating their Twitter page. I guess also it is healthy for some people who are social fiends and can't live without being in the spotlight for every minute of the day. Perhaps they have the need to elevate their own self-importance by updating frequently to lead others to think that they are extremely important people. I don't know if that is the real reason but perhaps it is. I know that after recent earthquakes in California, many used Twitter to provide updates to friends and family as to their safety and it made it easier for people to keep tabs on one another. That's one of the good things about the service. But then finding out that "I'm stuck in the bathroom with no toilet paper" is something I really could have lived without knowing.