Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Musings on Twitter and Intimacy

Hello All,

Here's a collection of random musings for your enjoyment :) I'm working on balancing the various elements of homework/sleep/class/eating/fun/friends but I'm hopeful for catching up on my blogs, as I promised at the beginning of the year.

Taking what Life Without Pants said sometime last month to heart, I have decided to stop spending so much time worrying about what to write, and just focusing on the writing. As an old philosophy professor once told me, "the best way to move forward is to make as many mistakes as fast as possible. then you know what not to do."

Twitter and Intimacy.
Do you think that letting all your little stories go abroad to the hoi polloi of the world via Twitter change your close relationships for the worse?
I came home the other day and realized that a flurry of tweets had exhausted my store of stories for the day. Stories I used to tell to my wife as we shared our days, I now share with a little blue bird who scurries off to deliver that wee missive to a number of good friends, solid organizations, and random people. I've made some awesome friends via Twitter, but am I losing ground in others?

It seems like not talking about Twitterable things might deepen and enrich our conversation, ridding it of the mundane, the 140 character worthy. We could explore deeper issues, get at the heart of matters, having already been abreast of the little things in each other's accounts all day. It seems too that it could make us more attentive in our day-to-day activities, because we would be more conscious of the stories we tell. We're made of stories, stories are who we are, and developing that element, telling the stories to two audiences could be powerful in shaping our daily experience. We'll see. It will take work to follow those routes. What are your thoughts?


Namaste

1 comment:

anne said...

I've noticed that difference, too, I think. If I haven't caught up on your twitter stream I sometimes find it difficult to follow any account of the day, not "getting" the references to 140-character stories.

I don't think twitter's a bad thing, even tweeting very often. But I think the value in the little things, in *personally* communicating the little things to your best friend, is, in many ways, a fantastic gateway into deeper issues.

You're right that twitter helps you notice and record all the little things you observe day to day, but I still like to hear you explain them to me :) Often, it's recounting little things like that which help in getting down to the heart of the matter.

So.. keep talking to me :) no matter how much you tweet ;)