On Hating Twitter

The Angry Mr. Harris

Cream: As You Said

On Hating Twitter

05/10/2013

I’ve hated it reflexively since its beginning. But with time’s passage and deliberation, I’ve come to hate it with deeper, more variegated richness.

I have to say that I pretty much feel the same. And when I say "since its beginning," I mean since I first heard its name, which makes it sound trivial and superficial, which as far as I can tell is the case. My experience with it has been confined to reading "tweets" published elsewhere or the occasional Twitter feed on some web site, and has done nothing but confirm my desire to avoid it. I was briefly tempted recently, when a friend invited me to join, but I resisted and suggested Facebook instead. I'm not wild about Facebook, but it's fun in small doses. I don't hate it.

The rant quoted above is by Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard, and you can read the whole thing here. It's a bit long but worthwhile if you have the same reaction to Twitter.

Posted at 02:23 PM in State of the Culture, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (8)

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I couldn't face reading the whole thing, but I've not really ever got into twitter (I do have an account). It just looks like a lot of people talking past one another.

Posted by: Louise | 05/10/2013 at 02:32 PM

From what I've seen it makes Facebook look like a gathering of philosophers.

Posted by: Mac | 05/10/2013 at 03:07 PM

And now there's Twivo!

Love Twitter but dread signing in on Monday mornings for fear that you'll find out exactly who did what to whom on that new episode of "Game of Thrones" that you haven't had the chance to watch yet?
Jennie Lamere feels your pain, which is why the supertalented 17-year-old New Hampshire high school senior created Twivo, a program you can set to censor your Twitter feed from mentions of certain TV shows for any length of time. So no more choosing between seeing what the Biebs is up to and avoiding the list of "Walking Dead" characters who just became zombie chow.

Phew. Once again, our culture survives.

Posted by: Marianne | 05/10/2013 at 03:56 PM

Ok, I confess: the *real* reason I haven't joined Twitter is that I was afraid my need for celebrity gossip might make me encounter spoilers for TV shows.

Talk about first world problems.... It is funny how technology continually gives rise to new technologies that try to solve the problems introduced by previous ones.

Posted by: Mac | 05/10/2013 at 04:43 PM

I've never wanted to join, for the same reasons. I find facebook entertaining.

Posted by: Grumpy | 05/10/2013 at 07:34 PM

Seriously, Maclin? Or was that a joke?

I'm not even sure how Twitter works, but I figure I spend enough time online already.

AMDG

Posted by: Janet | 05/10/2013 at 08:47 PM

You mean about celebrity gossip etc.? Yes, that's a joke(!). Or about hating Twitter? Well, it's a comic exaggeration, but I really do dislike it. It seems to feed the tendency to reduce all conversation to OMG, LOL, snark, and slogans.

Posted by: Mac | 05/11/2013 at 12:24 AM

OMG! LOL!

Posted by: Louise | 05/11/2013 at 01:36 PM

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