What hath God wrought in Twitter
By Ishmael N. Daro
The Sheaf (University of Saskatchewan)
March 25, 2009
SASKATOON (CUP) – From smoke signals sent by our ancestors, the use of carrier pigeons, through to modern communications, we are driven as a species to connect, interact, and collaborate.
The first major achievement in telecommunications was the telegraph, perfected by Samuel Morse who lent his name to the famous code of dots and dashes still used today.
Upon completing the first telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore in 1844, Morse likely sensed what a profound change was afoot when he sent the first message, “What hath God wrought?”
In the decades and centuries to follow, other innovations followed such as the telephone, radio, television, and of course, the Internet.
On the web, there are numerous ways to talk to people and spread information.
The once revolutionary e-mail is all but obsolete thanks to instant messaging, Skype, and social networks. Add to that list the perverse and often baffling platform of Twitter.
So what is Twitter? The website allows users to post about anything they want on their profile and others can become followers and get an update anytime something new is posted.
Each post has a maximum of 140 characters.
Twitter is being called “micro-blogging,” as though regular blogging wasn’t already short bits of useless information about what people’s pets wear or how fat Jessica Simpson looks in those jeans.
Most Twitter posts, or tweets, are just as useless, but in fewer words.
Nonetheless, Twitter is being embraced by companies, celebrities, and politicians everywhere. Even our own Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a Twitter feed, issuing such profound wisdom as “Heading to Berwick, N.S.” and, “Working lunch with President Obama.”
Twitter is the latest Internet phenomenon to attract a loyal following, but despite all the buzz, there are still only six million users worldwide. Facebook, by contrast, has over 175 million.
Twitter has not yet found a way to make money off its enormous growth, so it is uncertain how much longer it will even be around.
While Twitter may eventually figure out a plan to make money and stay alive, there are already competitors and copycats.
Even Facebook, the world’s leading social network, recently redesigned its website in order to allow for tweet-like status updates on what people are thinking at any given second.
It seems even if Twitter dies tomorrow, the idea of micro-blogging is here to stay. What a drag.
Micro-blogging is a very limited platform, with the effect of further shrinking the short attention spans of people. We have become a generation of sound bytes and one-liners.
Hardly anyone reads any more since books are so much more time-consuming than the mindless entertainment on TV and the Internet.
Instead, we watch From G’s to Gents and five-second clips of chipmunks on YouTube.
But more than ever, Twitter is feeding into people’s narcissism. With truly devoted tweeters updating hourly on the most boring parts of their lives, micro-blogging is only adding fuel to the culture of self.
Since people are restricted to 140 characters, what gets posted is rarely important or well composed. Even text messages allow up to 160 characters, for heaven’s sake!
The entire platform is built around promoting this self-centred attitude; as the text field on Twitter asks: “What are you doing?”
Perhaps it is too late to return to a time when people wrote thoughtful letters to one another and took time to reflect and engaged in spirited discussions about important issues.
Current trends will likely continue the self-centred lives we lead.
Twitter is only the latest symptom of our collective decline into stupidity.
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