tweet

A few weeks ago I happened upon this charming little notebook at the Walker's Bookish Fair, made by the lovely Abigail Mullen. It was just the notebook I wanted to use (I added in the title) for this project I had been mulling about for awhile––taking the concept of Twitter and applying it to a personal journal. My daily poetry/prose/meanderings (in 140 characters or less) serve as a creative writing exercise, as well as a diaristic form of therapy. 

I want to indirectly examine the technological concept of a Twitter, and the reasons why people Twitter and Tweet. Is is really about communicating information? Is it another sign of our society's increasing narcissism? My generation has grown up being told we are all special, and now we behave accordingly, wanting to get our way constantly, wanting everything at our fingertips, all the time. Yet in this age of googles and facebooks, twitters and blogs, are we losing an appreciation for staying power and tradition, morality and meditation? We run the risk of treating all people as pop-culture icons, or seeing human relationships merely as shallow, passing ephemera. 

I am not out to bash Twitter. To do so within the context of a blog would be especially hypocritical. I am merely trying to come to terms with this information age, and questioning what it says about the future. Information at your fingertips is priceless, and a means to increase globalization and human connection. Yet when everyone feels they have something important to say, we stop listening to everyone else. And when our lives are constantly about what is new, we run the risk of taking the time to appreciate what is now. 

"What's missing from our immediate day-to-day lives that this would draw us in?" --Julie Engel Manga, written in response to this. 

I am tired of this ME generation, and worn weary by the information age. I want a cabin in the woods, and a vegetable patch.