TWEETING IS FOR THE BIRDS

I am becoming increasingly annoyed at new technology. In the past, my husband has indicated that I am the most technologically challenged person that he knows. And, although he is absolutely correct about my affliction that is not why I am annoyed with every new fangled gadget that comes down the pike.


I realize that there is a learning curve for everything that is new and different. I know how to basically use my email, my cell phone, and my iPod. My annoyance comes from the constant bombardment of communication. We have email, snail mail, telephones, cell phones, pagers, tweets, and blogs. Our information comes from the internet, television, radio, newspapers and magazines. While this is all very nice and sometimes even immediate, I think it is the immediacy that is most troubling and yet at the same time, helpful.


Tweeting, when I was young, was something that birds did. And, it made sense. Birds communicated with other birds by tweeting or chirping. Tweeting today, allows an infinite number of people around the planet, and perhaps beyond our planet, to know what a person is doing or thinking at the exact instant that they are doing and thinking whatever it is they are doing or thinking. Do we need to know that a particular person thinks that salespeople in the metropolis where they are shopping are rude and disgusting? Some things might better be kept to yourself!
I like my cell phone. A cell phone is particularly helpful in emergencies. I like to travel with a cell phone and have one with me in the event that a family member or coworker can reach me in an emergency. I do not like to chat. My college aged daughter communicates almost exclusively through chatting. The main reason I don’t like to chat is that when chatting, a person can’t see your emotions or hear your tone of voice. The second reason that I don’t like chatting is that I don’t understand most of it. Chatting seems to use a lot of slang. Often, my daughter will pepper her chats with little coded messages like “LOL” and “bc” and “GTG”. There are actually manuals online that list many, many different ways to “say” different things when chatting. For instance, the following all have to do with laughing: LOL, ROFL, FOFL, LIS, LMHO, LMSO, LOLA, LOLZ, and LOOL, to name just a few. Why can’t people just say, that made me laugh? Or, that is funny? Or simply—funny!

There are times in my life when I actually want to be alone. I crave the quiet. My best thinking moments are those spent on the deck listening to nature. I am able to focus more on important issues.

My undivided attention allows me to think through a problem and create solutions. I think that more of us should find that type of quiet and alone time. It should be time without a radio, a cell phone or any of those modern gadgets that shake or rattle or roll.
In this case, I believe there is more value in life in watching the birds and hearing them “tweet.” I have no interest in “tweeting” myself.