To twitter or not to twitter… Is that the question?

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Twitter seems to be all the vogue right now. I was asked recently “Do you twitter?”
Nope. I don’t twitter and don’t particularly want to twitter.

Basically there are a couple of reasons why I don’t:

Reason #1:

I don’t think my life is interesting enough hour to hour, day to day to twitter.
Wait, that didn’t sound right. My life is fine for me. It’s not interesting enough for anyone else to follow what I’m doing or thinking at any given time. Yes, I exist in a world where it was far better not to know how distractible, rude and narcissistic our congressmen’s thoughts are during presidential speeches and important legislative meetings.

Reason #2:

I can’t say or type anything meaningful in less than one paragraph, okay so maybe it’s two, three or ten paragraphs, who’s counting anyway? Apparently twitter is with its 140 character limit (a near impossible feat for me to accomplish without acquiring a nasty twitch and smoke pouring out of both ears). I could write a six page paper on virtually any topic without a problem. Any topic… even twittering. Don’t worry, I won’t and yes, I heard that sigh of relief (along with the curses).
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How is twittering really that different from texting on my cell phone or messaging online? Both are things I do often, but those messages are tailored to specific people that I assume care to know the information I’m sending. Perhaps if you asked them, they might feel my messages aren’t all that relevant but nobody’s complained (yet anyway).

I put unlimited texting on my cell solely because I have to type whole words out, and I mean it: I have to. No omg, lmao, b4, or 2morrow’s 4 me… My e-mails look more like letters in structure though less formal.
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English has been my favorite subject next to art since I was around four (scary right?) I read and write a lot. I’ve taken graduate English classes for fun. I know the value of research and I’m not bad at it. If I misspell a word and it gets by me: I HATE IT. My kids always had me proof read their many, many papers. My oldest son called me a Nazi with a pen with an odd pride but always had me proofread regardless. I guess somehow that was a compliment. Grammar is important to me. I love writing complete sentences that make sense, linking the thoughts together and if I’m really lucky it turns into something interesting that’s worth reading.

Perhaps if I found a legitimate use for twitter I might consider it, but honestly I haven’t found one yet that makes it in any way essential for me.
“Because it’s there” never was a reason to do something in my mind… Why? “Because I don’t want to” works far better for me.
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A week ago I dropped my cell phone into a cup of water, if I understand twitter my entry would have looked like this: “Dropped phone in half cup of water, doesn’t work now, OMG I’m a complete idiot.”
I think that’s acceptable but it doesn’t say how it happened, where I was or why I think I’m an idiot (which is a choice few pages worth right there).
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Ode to Twitter

Twitter, twitter
Little star
No longer wonder
What you are
Typing furiously from up high
Dropping diamonds from the sky

Twitter, twitter
Little star
I preferred to wonder
From afar

©L Hazel 2009

G’night,

Laura
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