So I quit twittin a while back. To be honest, it was just
boring and narcissistic. I mean really, I don’t care what you had for dinner,
or what movie you just saw, or what you listened to on the way home from work.
I really don’t care that it is laundry day at your house. And my assumption is
that if I don’t care about that stuff about you, then I really doubt you care
about all that stuff I’m doing (or not doing). Not that I don’t care about you,
in fact it is just the opposite.
But I guess before I get ahead of myself, I did (do) enjoy
some things about twitter. I sold my Mute Math tickets quickly with a single
tweet (personally I wish the collective twitter masses would say twit not
tweet). As my church is launching a second campus, it was cool to see some
twitpics (see… not TWEETpics, TWITpics).
Same with Facebook to a lesser extent. I stopped caring
about seeing high schoolers post pictures of beer pong in their parent’s
basement. I hide people from my feed who are into those mafia farm games. I
hide people who take quizzes. I hide people who post lame things. So really I’m
only left with 3 friends in my feed. And while a few facebook stati make me
chuckle, most are just an attempt at being clever…with only moderate success.
But here’s what I’ve really found. If these are supposed to
be part of social networking, I think they are failing. In the truest form, I
guess they are connecting. I’ve “connected” with people I haven’t talked to in
15 years. It’s been fun seeing old, embarrassing pictures, all grown up with
kids pictures, and to see what people are up to now. So now I really don’t have
to go to my 20-year high school reunion. But with people that I’m actually
friends with… not so much. A tagged photo, a comment on a status, or a mention
in a note are not the same as a real interaction. I wonder sometimes if these
things actually hinder real interactions. I don’t know.
Blah blah blah…
So I’ll cut to the point. Instead of hearing (er… reading)
what you had for dinner, why don’t you come over for dinner and let’s have a
real interaction. Instead of tagging you in a note, why don’t we go out for
coffee, a pint, an old scotch, or heck, a bookstore, and actually make our own
note. Instead of me trying to make a clever status/ twit, why don’t you come
over and watch Arrested Development… it’s way more clever than you or I will
ever be.
So the invitation is out there. My schedule is extremely
full… but Emily and I talked the other day about this. It’s worth making intentional
white space to hang out in person.
Your life really can’t be summed up in 140 characters.
Our relationships go way beyond a tagged anything.
