I might be biased. I see every twitter account as the equivalent of a Minecraft video on YouTube. It does not inspire me. I see tweets in various news media and have to restrain myself. Jimmy Fallon uses twitter in cool ways, though, and the service has been used for all kinds of mischief so it can't be all bad. But on the other hand, the volume of tweets alone is a barrier to entry. The slavishness of hashtag culture, the ruthless advertising. Twitter has as much of a mercenary heart as facebook. But who cares what I have to think or say. I still have to think or say it if it's not broadcast.
Still, I do my best, despite having posted legitimately cringe-worthy abominations, to say interesting or informative things in a neutral language which does not rest on lazy assumptions, fallacies, or promote negative patterns of thinking. I try to do my best, on the internet or at least this blog, at least sometimes but it can be so hopeless and tiring. The internet, used anonymously, has a tendency to communicate the worst aspects of individuals and their cultures. There are heartbreaking stories about these kinds of problems and what their fallout is. Unless you're not paying attention, you have probably heard one.
Probably you came here to add followers to facebook and increase your clout score or whatever. I already linked to it at the top. The specifics of the linked article are great and all, but there was one user comment that was essentially critical of Twitter, but also probably uncomfortably accurate:
The flood of user-generated everything, from literature to the internet to economics, is an incredible problem that is both happening and waiting-to-happen. An unthinkable volume of information is kind of awesome, but also kind of terrifying. This brave new world is, after all, the kind of world that spawned the hollow 'expert culture' – an institution that is essentially quackery in all but name. The fact that the article shows at least one case of people forced to contribute to twitter against their will is equal parts hilarious and sad.
It's the monkeys-with-typewriters joke, except less hypothetical. It's higher apes with internet connections and shortened attention spans. Humans gather followers and hunt for interesting or notable retweets. Celebrity twitter action is the religious experience. I don't feel like Twitter itself reveals anything pathological, but that feeling doesn't jive with what I think, so I am torn about this issue. The only honest depiction of the internet is that it's a snowballing mass of information. Information is thrown in without much heed about content, substance, or longevity – pumped in, in fact, by such things as content farms.
The world has always been cursed with too many people talking too much and saying too little. Within and without this group are the manipulators. Perhaps Twitter and Facebook and reddit are not in themselves pathological, but the content, operation, and prevailing usage of these peripheral services says something about humans in general and this human era in particular. Media. Yeah, sure, this isn't super profound stuff – it's still important.
Unfortunately I've forgotten the passwords to many twitter accounts, including my latest, and don't want to actually research or document what is happening on Twitter or even most of the internet for that matter. Facebook is an argument for true solitude and disconnection, Twitter is an echoverse of bit-sized hype and whip-snap wit, and reddit is a macrocosmic demonstration of American Reality as well as a fatal and heartrending deconstruction of Internet Reality.
If human activity on the internet produced energy, we would be fortunate. As it is, it produces information, which can be valuable or completely worthless. Sometimes the value is assigned by remarkably stupid processes. It's hypocritical, but most days I find it hard to care about the internet in general, which locks me into very basic and specific information-hunting routines. Also cynicism. It is easy for me to believe that the exact, optimum thing I require exists on the internet but is impossible to locate. So I approximate, or I follow the same path to the same safe, reassuring content. The internet.
Yep, the internet. It's amazing that this giant wastrel gets people fired and hired, that it kills, that it spreads hatred and lies, that it forms insular groups and dangerous or counterproductive modes of thought. It's amazing there's even one grain of truth around, but that is the hopeful part of the internet and it isn't small or reliable. CJR is one of those places that makes a fair go at truth, and I've got to respect that. So, in many ways, I should understand that it's a good idea to dust off that Twitter account while it's still possible. Because who knows?
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