Nick Bilton’s zany story of the origins of Twitter is full of lies, deception, trickery, and back-stabbing. Yes, nerds can be vicious too, when billions of dollars are at stake. Bilton shows how the super-popular social media tool went from obscurity to an addictive app on almost every cell phone. My students tweet dozens of messages per day. I have to admit that I’m not on Twitter and regard it as a vast waste of time. But I understand the attraction have having thousands of followers who read about what you’re having for breakfast and where you’re going and what you’re doing. Narcissism to the max! GRADE: B+
If there’s a more vapid, useless activity, I don’t know what it is.
Bob, you’re right about vapid and useless. But you forgot extremely addicting!
*zzz*
That’s my reaction every time a news show or anything else tells me to “follow us on Twitter” and I’d be more likely to read a book about Scientology.
And stay off my lawn!
I’d be more likely to BECOME a Scientologist than to join Twitter. To me, Twitter encapsulates the worst cyberspace has to offer: addictive, time-wasting, and makes it too easy to share every stray, random, thoughtless notion that drifts into a person’s head without considering the consequences (as many celebrities have discovered to their detriment). And I haven’t even got started on the atrocious spelling and grammar!
/Fearing for the future, hails the geezerette bus.
Jeff, we share the same opinion of TWITTER. Yet, it’s enormously popular especially with my students. They are constantly TWEETING!
Deb, I think the attraction of TWITTER is generational. Young people are addicted to TWEETING. In HATCHING TWITTER, the author cites a poll of college students. Ten years ago when asked “What is the one essential thing in your life” college students replied: “Beer.” When asked the same question in 2012, the answer was: “My smart phone.”
So, it’s not all been progress then?
Deb, I think they’re trading one addiction for another.
Beer and tweeting. Thank goodness students aren’t wasting their lives by being concerned with the future, their families, peace on Earth, or the national debt. I see a rosy future for our planet.
And Deb, as bad as Twitter is, Scientology is a million times worse.
I think Tweeting is a replacement for actual conversation people used to have, on the telephone or face to face. Now people will e-talk even in the same space instead of taking a few steps and speaking face to face. Those smart phones the students value so highly have very little to do with talking on a telephone in the previous sense. It’s the web/facebook/twitter/other app capabilities they like.
To me, personal computers are tools. To a whole generation they seem to be toys with useful apps. Those apps, especially Facebook and Twitter, along with Instagram and a few others, can also be terribly misused. The twitter idea of shooting off a brief, quick message became shoot off my mouth all the time. WHO CARES?
One thing I can live without.
Rick, I totally agree. But Facebook & Twitter are the center of a lot of young people’s lives.
Patti, I don’t even own a cell phone. But I see how my students are consumed by their smart phones.
I think you might have a slightly misconstrued idea of what Twitter is solely used for. Like texting, it can be a quick and effective way to share useful information. Social media is what you use it for, its not all for telling people when you are taking a dump or going out for sushi. 🙂
Carl, I have personally witness guys texting while at the urinal. That’s over the line in my book!
I’m more answering back to the blanket statements being made here in the comments. The “oh, its such a waste of time”, “I would never do that”, “it is useless” kind of arguments that make everyone sound like their parents used to sound to them. I completely agree that Facebook and Twitter are colossal wastes of time. It probably isn’t hyperbole to say that the greatest percentage of users don’t ever do anything useful with it. However, it is just a tool. And as such Facebook and Twitter can be used and are being used as very helpful tools in various ways. Probably not by kids. And certainly not by guys in the bathroom.
But let’s be honest, in some ways Twitter and Facebook are simply this generations version of the things our parents used to yell at us about in regards to wasting time. Heck, my parents were always on me about having my nose in a book all the time, letting life pass me by. It is unfortunate, truly, that these electronic devices are so portable that people can literally take them everywhere and never exhibit self-control in regards to their use, but my point is it isn’t all “vapid and useless”.