Twitter

I have recently experimented with Twitter. I thought it would help my writing. Character limits appeal to the Zen minimalism in me.

 

I posted a few tweets. Seemed harmless enough. No great stretch. I did find I needed to be concise in expressing my mental process. "Cool," I thought.

 

I was not interested in followers. The concept of followers of any kind irks me. It raises my anti-religious and anti-conformist hackles. In fact, I suspect the developers of Twitter may have Fascist tendencies because of this choice of paradigm. I acknowledge, however, that their Frankenstein has been used for some good, as well as bad.

 

I opened my Twitter account today to find that some clown had posted several tweets under my name. The tweets were commercials for some Facebook quick-money scheme. It was sickening that the tweets were published in a Val'-girl voice next to my picture. The tweets were easily de-tweeted. I suspected the one follower of my Twitter account, a woman from the UK who seems to have absolutely no reason whatsoever to be following the likes of me from her posts about retail goods and current fashion. I hope I am wrong, but being my only follower makes her the only visible suspect. Even paranoia seeks an object to fear.

 

I may well abandon Twitter. I don't think it is prepared for my honesty, nor am I prepared for its potential for dishonesty. This all makes me think about technology's value in my life once again. I walk a middle path through technology's vast landscape. It isn't becoming any easier. It is a steep path as materialism and hedonism corrupt even the most elevated places on the Web with ads geared specifically to needs some algorithm has decided to be mine.

 

My thoughts about Twitter cannot be tweeted. They are too unformed, too nebulous, as yet.