Confessions of a non-Twitterite

Say you're at the mall with some friends, just hanging out in the food court.

I don't care.

Or perhaps you just put the kids to bed and are about to sit down for the first quiet moment you've had all day.

That's nice. But I don't care.

Maybe you're in line at the Starbucks, and you're trying to make the critical decision between Tall, Grande and Venti.

Guess what? I absolutely don't care.

I don't care if you've just crafted the wittiest, funniest, craziest or most compelling 140-characters-or-less sentiment of your entire life. If it's a description of the dream you had last night, or the fact that you're currently working on your tan, or that your favorite team just ended a seven-game losing streak, then I just don't care.

Don't tweet me about it. Not now. Not ever.

On the other hand, if your wife just got pregnant after four-and-a-half years of trying, then I might like to know. Likewise if you just stumbled upon a $9.99 sale on high-quality cotton dress shirts. Or if you just finished the most inspiring article you've ever read in your life, then I wouldn't mind if you forwarded the link.

Are you getting the picture here? If you want to share meaningful information, such as where I can find discount replacement parts for my dishwasher, then Twitter away. But if the only thing you have to say is how many strips of bacon you ate for breakfast, then I hope you won't mind if I ignore your tweets, or simply stop following you altogether.

You see, I have a busy life -- just like you -- and I'm guessing that we both have more important things to do than read (or write) highly condensed complaints about how wet, dry, hot or cold it's been these last few days, weeks, millennia.

Did you want to know that I just looked up the correct spelling of "millennia" -- just to be sure? Would you like to read a tweet about it?

I didn't think so.

It certainly could be that Twitter is simply not for me. Perhaps I have somehow failed to appreciate the power of this social media phenomenon. I do see the potential, I really do. But for all the talk about "changing the rules of engagement" and "harnessing the power of real-time global communication," most of what I see is a bunch of grown ups acting like kids. For them, no thought, no action, no decision is too trivial to tweet to anyone and everyone who will pay attention.

As for me, I simply don't care.

But maybe that's just me.

(*disclaimer: The views of the author are not necessarily a reflection on the Twitter feed as generated by the Boundless team: https://twitter.com/BoundlessTeam)

Comments

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1. Dan Gill said the following at 8:17 AM on Jul 15:

Amen! I am hard pressed to think of a more pointless activity.

2. Jim H said the following at 9:16 AM on Jul 15:

I couldn't agree more. I think this twitter phenomenon is yet more evidence of a society devolving into rampant narcissism – people deluding themselves into thinking that the minutiae of their daily life will be fascinating to a lot of other people. Some people do this on Facebook as well and much of what I see when I log on is is inane drivel such as “going to work now,” “what a beautiful morning!”, etc.

3. SJ said the following at 9:17 AM on Jul 15:

I believe this reflects the problem with the Internet in general: gems of useful information punctuating a sea of worthless data.

Personally, I don't mind the occasional witty remark on strange observations or surprising epiphanies during the day, but that should be maybe a tweet or two a day, not a long, endless stream.

4. Lucie said the following at 9:50 AM on Jul 15:

Even though I haven't actually used Twitter, I have to second Dan Gill's "Amen!" The other day I read about someone who had over 1,000 Twitter followers, and all I could think was, "No one's THAT important!"

Unless perhaps you're the president of the United States...

5. Cassandra said the following at 9:59 AM on Jul 15:

But for all the talk about "changing the rules of engagement" and "harnessing the power of real-time global communication," most of what I see is a bunch of grown ups acting like kids.

Well put. I think Twittering appeals to extraverts and people that crave a lot of external validation. I hate to say this, but it can feed our more narcissistic tendencies.

But it depends on the Twitterer. I'm talking more about the "I'm doing this now" tweets. I've added a lot of pastors on my Facebook because I like hearing what they have to say!

Disclaimer: NOT saying there's anything wrong with extraversion!!!

6. AMarriedGal said the following at 10:26 AM on Jul 15:

This post reminded me of a hilarious David Crowder Band youtube video my husband showed me yesterday on the dangers of twitter...it will kill you!

7. Tami said the following at 11:08 AM on Jul 15:

Dan Gill (1) wrote: "I am hard pressed to think of a more pointless activity."

Don't worry; I'm sure someone will come up with something soon :)

8. Ashley Harris said the following at 11:19 AM on Jul 15:

I just posted a link to this blog on Twitter. It felt very wrong.

9. Bekah said the following at 11:25 AM on Jul 15:

Hahahahahaha @ Ashley!

You need a "thumbs up" feature here. I LOVE THIS! The same could be said of facebook updates as well.

10. BDB said the following at 11:42 AM on Jul 15:

Lucie (#4) wrote:

>>The other day I read about someone who had over 1,000 Twitter followers, and all I could think was, "No one's THAT important!"<<

All I can say is Taylor Swift is pretty funny!

11. Sarah P. said the following at 11:52 AM on Jul 15:

lol, Ashley!

I agree with the judgment that most people on Twitter don't know why they are there. I am starting to use the tool on purpose for Christian indie film information, and I have it linked via RSS to my Facebook profile via Selective Twitter Status (so I can send some but not all of my updates to Fbook as well). I absolutely agree that people should commit to "broadcasting" info that may be of use to others, rather than merely for personal aggrandizement.

That said, my favorite updates are the leadership quotes from FocusLeadership. :D

12. Ted Slater said the following at 11:56 AM on Jul 15:

Lucie (#4) and BDB (#10) -- 1,300 people are following us. :-)

13. Frazer said the following at 12:02 PM on Jul 15:

LOLZ @ Ashley!!!

14. Becca said the following at 12:32 PM on Jul 15:

Though I agree that twitter is a rather pointless and over-used social networking tool, I also believe it has its merits. One that struck me about this article was this line:

"If you want to share meaningful information, such as where I can find discount replacement parts for my dishwasher, then Twitter away. But if the only thing you have to say is how many strips of bacon you ate for breakfast, then I hope you won't mind if I ignore your tweets, or simply stop following you altogether."

What if the information that is important for me isn't important for everyone else? I could care less about finding replacement parts for my dishwasher, but I've found it helpful when people post tidbits about their life from time to time so that I can keep up with them and encourage them. My point is that it's important not to generalize and say that twitter is useless only because it rarely serves immediate purpose for one person.

15. J. Tucker said the following at 1:22 PM on Jul 15:

Amen, Thomas. The same goes for "status updates" on Gchat, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, AIM, and Yahoo! Messenger. Did I forget any?

16. Jacob said the following at 2:03 PM on Jul 15:

This blog post about sums up why I won't twitter. I don't happen to find what you had for lunch to be very meaningful or important, nor do I have terribly sublime ideas that anyone cares what I ate either.

I think we should all thinking about trying to spend more time not being about ourselves. Take a day and try not to be noticed.

J. Tucker (#15),

Don't forget Facespace, MyBook, MyFace and SpaceFace.

17. Kristin said the following at 2:38 PM on Jul 15:

I feel that your blog post represents the feelings of many out there. Many people who have created Twitter accounts, gave it a try for a month or so and then ultimately decided that they "hated it." I would venture to say that they just don't get it. I've found Twitter to be an incredibly helpful tool to connect with others in my profession. I'm a children's pastor and I have found a awesome community of support and creative ideas. Yes, we do not care that you are deciding what coffee to get. But, I may care what you think about current events, what you have been learning about God or what blog posts you have found interesting.

If you WERE on Twitter I would respond with this:

@thomasjeffries I'll be brave enough to say that you "just don't get it." Read this, it will help: http://tiny.cc/NhLMM

18. Thomas Jeffries said the following at 5:17 PM on Jul 15:

Kristin (#17) -- I read your recommended article, but I'm afraid it did not change my opinion. I also noticed that most of the accompanying comments said pretty much the same thing: Yes, I tried Twitter. Yes, I do "get it." Yes, I understand that it can be much more than a running diary of someone's mundane life -- but most of the time, that's all it is.

In particular, this comment summed it up very succinctly:

"I'm a [Twitter] quitter. There was a moment of awareness when I realized I was talking more about my life than actually living it ..."

Nevertheless, if you find great joy and value in tweeting, and it doesn't come at the expense of actual face-to-face relationships with your friends and loved ones, then I wish you nothing but the best.

19. Kit said the following at 8:24 PM on Jul 15:

Twitter is absolutely the dumbest internet phenomenon to grace the wwweb.

Like the OP, I DO NOT CARE what you do all day long and if I want to talk to you back..just call.

:-)

20. josh said the following at 9:21 PM on Jul 15:

You could post a meaningless blog post about something I don't care about.

You could have a bunch of random commenters give their meaningless but self-esteeming input.

Wait! Isn't the blog post just as meaningless as the subject of the post? And, wait! Twitter never asked you to join. If you did, you had options to choose from about who to follow. It's almost like reading people's statuses on Facebook. Wait! It's the same thing! We shouldn't abuse the name of Facebook...that has a point after all. Or does it? All these unanswered questions... So what if you don't like it? There is no reason to degrade it. So, just choose not to and give a reason why when people ask. There is no reason to write home (or to the world) about it.

21. BDB said the following at 10:32 PM on Jul 15:

Thomas Jefferies (#18) wrote:

>>face-to-face relationships with your friends and loved ones,<<

That's just it - people are using technology - including iPods and Twitter, to stay perpetually cocooned with their set of friends, and avoid the world outside their circle. It amazes me when people travel to a foreign country and spend half their time listening to American music on their iPod and ignoring the people around them. It reminds me of when my grandparents observed Americans going on a Mediterranean cruise and demanding Cheerios for breakfast. Part of the fun of traveling is to get out of your normal circle and experience food and people who hold a different perspective.

22. HelloThere said the following at 6:51 AM on Jul 16:

Thomas Jeffries (#18), speaking of having face-to-face relationships, why does your photo have your arm blocking your face, as if you don't want us to see what you look like?

23. BAC said the following at 1:28 PM on Jul 16:

Josh(#20),

I get the irony in what you posted, but do you? :)

As far as Twitter, Facebook, etc. go, I would have to say that I really do think that such mediums are taking the place of real human interaction to the point that some may be simply losing a sense of true conversation and information. Why else would someone need to tweet every five minutes to tell you that they are brushing their hair or staring blankly into space? Can we truly find no one in our acquaintance that cares enough about our daily lives that they would actually sit down and converse with us about it?

We use this technology to keep us 'connected', but it seems that we are kept further apart by it. If I get a blow-by-blow of every mundane detail of your day, won't it simply leave me feeling that I have already been privy to everything that you have to say, thus, rendering me relatively uninterested in actually talking to you?

I wonder what would happen if a person paused just a moment before posting some things on Twitter. If the urge to tweet were not as automatic as I believe it is for some, would they REALLY feel the need to tell everyone that they are drinking orange juice?

24. Biff said the following at 10:14 AM on Jul 17:

Your "Confessions of a non-Twitterite" is 2274 characters over what Twitter allows in a post. There may be some significance in that.

25. Lori said the following at 12:24 AM on Jul 18:

I am a Christian and state that in my Twitter bio. I have over 500 Twitter followers; many are liberals who detest Christians. It's a long story, but since I have a home-based online business I consort with a lot of web/tech people and I've earned their trust by being friendly, helpful, and genuinely kind.

What a phenomenal witnessing tool! I tweet links to my church's website, links to blog posts where I talk openly about my faith, Bible verses, and things I'm learning about God.

For many of these people, I'm the only Christian they know. I do not take that lightly...and I would not have this opportunity if it weren't for Twitter.

It's fine to go on and on about how Twitter isn't for you...about how you would use it if you actually *were* on it (you'd use it so much better than everyone else, apparently). But why not just say "Go for it!" and let people make up their own minds? I can't really respect someone's opinion about unless they've used it themselves. Just like I wouldn't read a book review unless the reviewer had read the book.

Twitter started out as "Here's what I'm having for breakfast" but it is so much more than that now. Anyone who still thinks that's all it is (or that's all it mostly is) is about 6 - 8 months behind the curve.

This: "...people are using technology - including iPods and Twitter, to stay perpetually cocooned with their set of friends, and avoid the world outside their circle." is absolutely, 100% wrong. It's the exact opposite, actually. Since Twitter isn't a closed platform like Facebook, you actually expand your circle of friends by using it.

P.S. The "Please ignore this post and follow us on Twitter anyway" disclaimer is as silly as any "Here's what I'm eating for breakfast" tweet could possibly be.

26. Mandy said the following at 10:29 AM on Jul 18:

In response to Thomas #21, we took a European tour. We were the only Americans in the huge tour bus. Everyone else (from countries all over the world... China, Pakistan, South Africa, Malaysia...) seemed to want to listen to American oldies on the overhead music. In Paris we ate Quiche Loraine at an outdoor shop while they all wanted to go to McDonald's!

27. Dana said the following at 5:42 PM on Jul 19:

Thanks for saying exactly what I have also thinking!