Different strokes for different folks,
And so on and so on and Scooby dooby doo-bee.
(Everyday People by Sly and the Family Stone, 1968)
I get it. You are more than capable of making your own decisions concerning social media. Because I am profoundly committed to the idea that you possess free will, you do whatever you want. As for me, my aversion to Twitter has developed into full blown bitter contempt—a loathing born not from its requirement for brevity, which I admire, but from its mode of expression demanding abruptness, inspiring haste and facilitating the clandestine spread of gossip at the touch of a button.
Top Ten Truths Trumpeting Twitter Termination:
1. Life is short. Fifteen minutes of Twitter a day adds up to over ninety hours per year! There is simply more to life than typing on your cell phone.
2. Nuance is nonexistent. Missing is the subordinate clause, with all of its subtlety inducing beauty, patiently creating interest and establishing tone.
3. Speech requires thought. Shorter messages truncate thinking, reduce idea marination, and rush cooking time—making food for thought tough to digest.
4. Composition is distracting. Exchanges occupy life’s gaps—in line, prior to a meeting or while eating lunch. When it’s time to leave, tweets get rushed.
5. Bluntness is rude. The 140 character format promotes a directness so often mistaken for sheer cruelty that “Twitter War” has entered our vocabulary.
6. Stalking is evil. You don’t call, write, text or post—you follow. From a distance. Knowing their every move. This sounds like the language of stalking.
7. Being followed is scary. Suppose a stranger follows you down a city street. Uncertain of his intentions, you feel vulnerable and exposed. Because you are.
8. Falsehood is rewarded. Lenient registration terms invite Fake Identities—masks behind which cowards may sling mud immune from any consequences.
9. Why repeat gossip? Retweet it instead, using the most efficient gossip delivery system in world history. Press the button. Your followers and theirs will too.
10. Other options exist. Why share frequently blunt and hastily written notes prone to spread like wildfire with unidentified and possibly hostile followers?
Tolkien wrote, “All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost. ” But I say, “All are not sold on this Twitter. For too few are counting the cost.”
And I was just going to create, “FakeRickPatrick”. Wow.
Actually, I was honored to find that FakeDaveMiller had been created, until it went inactive.
I use twitter – my son is the “machine-learning genius” (his unofficial title ; perhaps a slight father’s overstatement) behind twitter, so I cannot speak against it.
But while it can be used for good, I think your warnings are well-taken and ought to be heeded.
When you passed from high office, your fake account went dormant. You lost half your followers and it just wasn’t worth it anymore.
At least, that’s what my sources tell me.
Do you realize the irony behind tweeting this article to all your followers?
Bawahahaha….
It’s a shame that tools like social networking sites that could be used for so much good often are abused instead. Even by Christians.
I like Twitter, but agree with your observations about how it can be misused. And I’ll continue to use it to stalk Dave.
Stalking Dave is the second greatest use of Twitter possible.
A close second to that second is celebrating SEC sports and mocking the Yankees.
Both of which help with stalking Dave.
Just an observation, but people use to say exactly the same thing about the internet. That Christians should “avoid” using it to communicate ideas because of many of the same reasons you just listed Rick. Now the technological boogieman is twitter. Perhaps it is not the means of communication that is the problem, but how we communicate in general that is the problem. I act on twitter, Facebook, forums, ect. the same as I do in real life. I do not change how I am. And I wager that most people are the same. Those who are boisterous, confrontational, hateful,… Read more »
I certainly disagree that people are willing to say in person everything that they are willing to say on the internet. Therefore, we all must be careful in how we act on the internet.
However, you are absolutely right in another respect. Out of the overflow of the heart the finger tweets.
Some of us don’t command the social consideration to be able to speak out loud face to face what we would say if we could. Social media is attractive to people like me who don’t get a lot of socialization otherwise. Sometimes a digital friend is better than no friend. But my character is the same online as it is in real life, except with words.
” Out of the overflow of the heart the finger tweets.”
Coining a new phrase?
Wait…Or dost thou quoteth a newfangled translation or something?
It is the NCT…New Calvinist Translation.
😉
Lol.
I would agree that some people don’t say things in person that they would online. But that is more about issue with public speaking in general, rather than Twitter empowerment (twittempowerment? if we are coining new words/phrases). That is something that I have struggled with. I was a very quite person due to feelings of inadequacy (stemming from being bullied), and I rarely spoke up. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, ext have actually helped me, precisely because giving me one avenue to express my thoughts have given me the encouragement to express those very same thoughts at other times. Ultimately I think… Read more »
I don’t have a twitter account. I do “follow” one person in the sense of bringing up his feed every other day or so. He’s a College Station-based reporter for the San Antonio Express News and the Houston Chronicle and he generally has a finger-on-the-pulse of things related to A&M sports. He’s also a believer and it shows in how he differentiates between character-related gossip and news-related rumors. I probably read my FB newsfeed a couple of times per day. The majority of what most people do there is share/link to stuff which–as in retweets–is a form of regurgitation more… Read more »
We do have to give Rick props for an inventive title.
What about the rest of the plane?
Looks like I’m not the only one. http://usat.ly/1dsHgMP