I still haven't signed up at the Twitter site. I guess I'm not looking for what I feel (at this early stage) to be yet another distraction. Maybe I'm just not getting it yet...but I really don't have much interest in hearing a constant blow by blow of what a world of others are doing in that instant. Is it that I feel connected to the "real" people enough that I don't need the random community friends? It's probably a great tool to build yet more awareness for one's personal brand, (is it?)...but at what cost for interruptions,etc.
I find it very difficult to get into the "zone" of creative "flow" type thinking where I can crank out quality content, think through multi-layer issues, and really produce with the interruptions that I have now. I'm still attempting to scale back the things I do (number of feeds that I read, projects in the air at once, periodicals I read, etc.) so on the surface, Twitter offers me nothing I'm seeking.
As we keep building tools, widgets, and disruptors that sap our analytical "long term" thinking, I think it may become very easy to stand out in the crowd say for jobs or in school. I'm already skeptical of what our education system could become if we abandon writing entirely for example...since after all, who uses a pen anymore? Will the good writers be hailed as intellectual goddesses and luminaries because they can put a 1500 word opinion piece together with non-wikipedia evidence?
I already find myself skipping punctuation on emails to "save time". I also use w/John to communicate "With John" in emails to save 2 strokes. Add in the 2500+ marketing messages that bombard us daily and what will result? I'm not suggesting that we squelch development of these technologies...but I am commenting on their long term affect on human mental development. Short term thinking which I like to call "Media Crisis" thinking, breeds panic, wild eyed solutions to complicated problems, and the kind of politicians and electorate we seem to have cultured today.
Perhaps the human brain will adapt and become more powerful that we can possibly imagine. Or, we may just atrophy the parts of our brains that let the skin on our knuckles heal.
Doug: BINGO! Must be like minds...I also went to Twitter and frankly just did not get it. You are right...do we really want to know what is going on with folks minute by minute? Maybe OK if we've got nothing else to do... Great post..thanks.
Posted by: Michael Libbie | March 19, 2007 at 10:13 AM
I couldn't agree more. text messaging has great utility, but as a replacement for interpersonal communication, it doesn't cut it.
Posted by: Will Herman | March 19, 2007 at 05:09 PM
I just signed up for Twitter to see what it was like. I'm with you, Doug, in that I don't find much value in it. But to the youngsters (one of Iowa's target marketing groups) it might be valuable, so I am going to keep it on my radar for a while.
Posted by: Claire Celsi | March 20, 2007 at 09:26 AM