According to the dictionary “tweet” is “a weak chirping sound, as of a young or small bird”. In the old times, pigeon was one of the earliest and most important medium used by people. Many messages were going back and forth through these small birds which helped people communicate. Many years between those times and the 21st century in which we are living now, witnessed many discoveries in technology world and supplied us many ways of sharing news with other people. Clearly, internet became the best area containing those ways. Among many of the websites created for this purpose, the one Jack Dorsey opened, in 2006 took us to nostalgia and brought that little bird back into our lives with a new name: Twitter! Twitter started as a social networking and media blogging website in which people can follow each other learn and learn other people’s statuses. Each person uses an account under his or her name and composes phrases stating where he or she is or what he or she is thinking at that time. Tweeting depends on preference of course! Some people prefer just to follow people, while some spend their whole day on Twitter commenting on every single tweet they see in their homepage. They see the tweets of people they choose to follow which can include their friends, friends of friends, celebrities, authors, even politicians. With this way, they get the chance to bring their comments on ideas of the people they cannot even reach in real life’s ideas and get into discussions. 
With no offense, human being is a curious creature. Moreover, everyone wants their ideas, project or actions to be known much or less. Therefore, this website became too popular in the recent years since it offers live news of everyone and I cannot reject that I am one of those people. Yesterday, while I was trying to write a paper for a class, I noticed how often I check my Twitter, both from my computer and my cell phone. I caught myself updating my homepage every 10 minutes to see if anyone did anything new or anyone started a discussion. When I realized that I could write so little after a long day, I questioned myself why Twitter attracted me this much. Was I looking for some specifically or was I in the need of proving that I constantly have opinions on things going around me? At the end, I accepted the idea that, I really feel left and distant when I’m not moving with the speed of people. I always want to learn new things and look for either support or critique for my ideas. Improving myself and having a small idea about recent things make me feel connected to life and excite me for future. When my paper finished very late, I blamed the Twitter first and thought that maybe we should have stayed with the telegraph like the old days, only getting informed about urgent things. But then I realized that I grew up in the 21st century and I’m only satisfied with the new things I learn every day. Why blame that little bird?
you're my idol in this whole blog thing. i'm so eager to read your next entry, very creative and interesting. you're definitely gifted!
ReplyDeleteIn general, why blame the medium if people "overuse" or become obsessed with it? The medium itself is never the issue, it's how people interact and become connected with it. So I propose that we are to blame for our loss of productivity, not Twitter.
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice blog entry with appealing pictures. I think mentioning that we should have stayed with the telegraph instead of twitter is looking at the negative aspect of it and putting the blame on progression rather than ourselves. We are the ones choosing to spend hours on twitter and on our computer (internet). However, without this technology our country would in no way be as successful and powerful as we are today. Be optimistic. We need the internet and the present day technology to spread information and news. Our military needs the fast pace spread of knowledge and awareness in order to sufficiently function. Twitter publicizes issues that could create awareness of national security threats that we may not have been aware of before.
ReplyDeleteWith that we can consider how society often conforms to stereotypes making people dress the same, have the same opinions, and making people nervous about voicing their own opinions. Twitter allows people to express themselves and voice their individuality when too afraid to do so in public (while remaining annonymous). It keeps some people sane.
Since twitter is somewhat like the news feed of Facebook do you think that our lives would have been better without one or the other or both?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that an attention-yearning society is gaining momentum like never before. With today's media comes a consequence, the idea that people must be more connected. In turn, individuals are losing their independence in a sort. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteI loved your connection between the messenger pigeons and the little tweet bird. Very refreshing. It connects historical and contemporary media together. Great job!
ReplyDeleteYou have a talent to make interesting observations about your own experiences. It'll be even better if you could dig a little deeper and analyze the psychologoy of the 21 century mind--why are we obsessed with the new and why are our attention span become shorter? What does it say about our relationship with our history and our future? I believe you can generate more interesting questions toward that direction.