Twitter is the hot Internet fad of the moment. As if we need more things to divert our attention, Twitter members are constantly commenting what they’re thinking or doing in short bursts of 140-character messages, about two lines of text on a normal-sized page. Unless they’re doing haiku, most messages (“tweets”) evidence little thought. We can receive the tweets of as many members as we care to follow, and we can spend every waking moment staring at the ever-scrolling screen on our smartphone or computer.
Sheep that I am, I had to join. Big-name movie stars, politicians, and athletes are flocking to Twitter, along with the generations that still have a full head of hair. The fear of being left behind overwhelms any guilt from spending time unproductively. Besides, it’s likely only a short term commitment; the wave of this fad will crest and break, then we’re off to the next big thing.
(This Wall Street Journal article provides, in my humble opinion, a balanced perspective, as the reporter describes the ups and downs of her experiences with the system.)
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