To Tweet or not to Tweet

I thought I'd never change my mind about this. But I have, and I'm ready to own up.

I wrote a column for LEGACY Magazine hatin' on Twitter last fall. I argued that the benefit of Twitter, enacting social change or spreading short and valuable messages via social networking, was far outweighed by the commercialization of narcissism--an effect of our mentally/emotionally/physically crippling social media.

Pretty dramatic, I admit. I still believe we're overstimulated by Facebook, YouTube, etc. Heck, I'm overstimulated from our society's soul-sucking media dependence. I text like an addict. I'm a social networking junkie. I'd probably need an adult beverage if my computer hard drive crashed again, and a hug if I couldn't access my Skype account. But my Twitter hate has lifted. Here's why.

My women's and gender studies teacher introduced me to the "SMASH" of gender binary via Feminist Hulk earlier this summer. Spoken from a big, green, sensitive and gender neutral Hulk-figure, the tweets craft intelligent humor/ protest of social injustice in 140 BOLD characters or less. It's delightful. Nothing can replace creativity and humor when packaged together into a much-needed manifesto for gender equality. It's tweeting with purpose and flare, and I've been following it ever since (just not in the literal sense. I'd have to have an account for that). From there, I've branched out, and found a few other ways people are using the site to spread valuable information--not just against patriarchy, but compelling, current issues like human trafficking and the oil spill. Since our brains are already fried from instant gratification (i.e. texting and fast food), these short snippets are an interesting way of playing the game alongside our less well-intentioned, Vyvanse popping tycoons of pop culture.

The Formspring following, however, is countering my fading Twitter animosity. I'll save that for another opinion column, someday. If you want to ask me a question, or comment on something, you can anonymously do it here anyways. (If not, looks like I'll have to write about abortion again!)

My intentions to go so far as to get a Twitter page were fleeting (I'd estimate about 1.2-3 seconds before I physically shook off the thought). For now, I'm content reflecting on life by rewriting some of T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,"which beautifully toys with the concept of disillusionment within our society: "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." We live in a world where this anthem rings true: I have measured out my life in status updates.

And to further inundate you with Web culture, here's some thoughts by Terence McKenna. Another little something from friends in WGS. Happy browsing.