Assuming haven’t spent the past 5 years under a rock, you can’t help but be aware of how much our social interaction and communications habits are changing. As a matter of fact, it’s getting to the point that hiding under a rock is less and less of an option. Most rocks these days are in 3G coverage areas and the few that aren’t will be shortly.
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What about the art of conversation? Some would argue it’s being lost in the shuffle, I think a more apt assessment is that it is simply evolving and suffering some growing pains in the process. We get our news and give our views, for the most part, about 140 characters at a time. That means we talk a whole lot, but we don’t say much when we do. We don’t have the time or space for details anymore. The news is the headline and vice versa.
Not ideal, maybe, but the upside is we are at least participating in the news. We aren’t just having it spoon fed to us by ‘old media’ editors and interests. So we are a little light on the details. It’s a decent trade off I think and you never know, we may get a little more into the details as we move along.
Another big plus is the fact that our collective horizons are being broadened. A lot of people criticize Twitter as a platform for some rather mundane details. I have frequently heard comments like; ‘do I really care or need to know what Terrell Owens is doing RIGHT NOW?’. Well no, maybe you don’t. At the same time, I think that’s a fairly narrow minded take on Twitter.
Twitter updates, even the mundane ones, often give you some insight or perspective into how people in other parts of the world or in different social circles ‘see’ things on a daily basis. I’m not saying that insight is always good or positive. However, becoming more conscious of larger society or world views would seem to me to make us somewhat less disposed to or at least more aware of local or regional biases. I don’t see that as a bad thing at all.
I do have one major gripe with all of this though. Cell phone etiquette was already bad 10 years ago. It’s getting much much worse now. Updating your Twitter, checking your Facebook and all that is fine and good... but not if that attention is being diverted from someone sitting right next to you. Do you think it's rude when people you are with spend their time texting?
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