Twi---r, Priorities, and Please Don’t Throw Your Keyboard At Me

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Twi---r, Priorities, and Please Don’t Throw Your Keyboard At Me – By Darren Draper

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I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely sick of hearing, thinking, and talking about Twi---r. Twi---r this, Twi---r that, Twi---r everywhere. Twi---r clients, Twi---r trends, Twi---r alternatives and "Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!"

Nevertheless, in our quest to simplify, should we not consider carefully the medium that has so fleetingly brought us a more intimate understanding of Ashton Kutcher’s thought process?

I mean seriously. Doesn't A + K really equal "Ugh!"?

In considering my own use of Twi---r through the years (as throngs of the common now rush to embrace the technology), I’ll be the first to admit that Twi---r had been an incredibly powerful mechanism for communicating with like-minded individuals. It’s also been an extremely effective path toward misunderstanding. Oddly, Twi---r is asynchronous in a synchronous kind of way – chat that’s not – and an entertaining, thought provoking, engagingly creative outlet that’s a simple way to crowd-source, a near-perfect marketing tool, and a potentially colossal waste of time.

Hmmm. Maybe that’s why we love it.

Because it is incredibly human: fleeting, sometimes thoughtless, but with flashes of absolute brilliance. (But, sheesh, it’s not like IRC ever got this much attention.)

I guess my biggest complaint/worry about Twi---r (and every other piece of abused technology out there) is that in our modern and extremely complex world, it’s become far too easy to lose sight of what’s really important in life.

Woosh!

Priorities, man! Because like it or not, our time on this globe is finite, and even Twi---r unrelentingly takes its toll.

Just last week, for example, Alec Couros (clearly one of the bright minds and powerful advocates of the educational purposes of social media), cheerfully published his 20,000th tw--t.

Twenty. Thousand!

With that kind of number of THE_REAL_SHAQ proportions, the math freak in me couldn’t help crunching the numbers. Extremely conservative in my estimations, I threw out the final tally, laced with one golden question:

20,000 tweets, 10 seconds per tweet = over 55 hours just sending tweets. Has it been worth it?

In an act undeniably surprising to me, his 20,000th tw--t clued us all in on the real things of value in his life:

Mom http://twurl.nl/zk6zqg Dad http://twurl.nl/nxlvv1 Wife http://twurl.nl/ztyo8u Kids http://twurl.nl/rmhupp Bacon. Happy 20,000.

You see, my guess is that the real treasures in Dr. Couros’ life – the things that really matter most – aren’t the latest tools, the theories he defends, or even the Twi---r followers he’s kindly guided along. The real deal, for him, appears to be the relationships that he’s formed at home: The very relationships he might easily ignore while taking the time to tw--t. Well, at least I know that I’ve been guilty of such an offense.

But haven’t we ALL?

Because it’s not really just Twi---r. It seems to be EVERYTHING, strangely amplified by technology: Twi---ring during board meetings, texting during church, browsing the feeds when you should probably be playing catch with your kid, and ultimately focusing on the distant rather than those treasures which exist right under your very nose.

Which brings us back to my golden question, a question whose answer – at least for me – has yet to be fully determined:

Is it really all worth it?

In my life, I think the key to happiness has rarely, if ever, been technology. Rather, happiness and success have nearly always been the result of a simple, keen focus on both balance and priority. While admittedly imperfect, I can still honestly say that I’ve tried very hard to live by this one simple rule:

Never allow something good to take the place of something that is better. For when that which is good replaces that which is better, then that which is good becomes evil.

Balance. Priorities. Life.

Posted by Darren Draper at 04/18/2009 03:47:42 PM |

I agree. I have never really understood Twitter. There is so much going on, and so many updates, that I don't see how people can keep up with it. At least with Facebook, I can spend 5 or 10 minutes and see what my friends are up too and get in touch with them. I don't need to know every little thing that they are doing, every second of the day. I have other things in my life that I want to do besides following a ton of people on Twitter. I had set up an account, but very quickly stopped using it because there was just too much coming in.
Posted by: Dave ( Email: ) at 4/20/2009 10:16 AM

Now I'm not saying that Twitter is any worse than Facebook.

In fact, what I *am* saying is that ALL of these social media tools can be an incredible time suck, and if we don't keep them in check, there's a good chance we'll miss out on many things in life that are simply better than whatever we might get from Twitter (and Facebook, and even bacon).
Posted by: Darren Draper ( Email: | Visit ) at 4/20/2009 1:10 PM

Thanks for eloquently expressing what I've been thinking. As a matter of fact, today on Twi---r I expressed that I hadn't been "into" tweeting, or even blogging for that matter lately. Maybe I've been too preoccupied with family and church and dog and spring break, but you know what, I'm GLAD for that! Don't get me wrong, there are some terrific people that I follow who have been very helpful, but at the end of the day I can't imagine myself saying "gee I wish I had spent more time on Twi---r" (or at work for that matter). And thanks also for my new favorite phrase-- "time suck."
Posted by: jdornberg ( Email: ) at 4/22/2009 4:18 PM

Thank you for articulating what is bothering me about many of these tools. What are we losing as we adopt these tools? I agree with the previous comment by Dave - FB is much more managable that Twitter, if we are taking a vote :-)
Posted by: Jill ( Email: ) at 4/23/2009 8:33 AM

Great reflective post.

As chris brogan has said in past "let's get over the gee whiz factor of twitter and facebook" these are just tools and the real action we need to focus on is the people to people relationships...

John blue
Posted by: John blue ( Email: | Visit ) at 4/23/2009 8:42 AM

I agree this is a time drain but I already got a good idea from someone on Twitter. Therefore, I have mixed feelings about this tool. I don't really need to know what Shaq is eating right now, or Ashton Kucher's political views, so I won't follow them. Let the people decide~
Posted by: Susan DeBacker ( Email: | Visit ) at 4/23/2009 9:08 AM

I think balance is always something difficult to attain, whether we use twitter or not. I have found twitter to be invaluable as a tool to assist me, give me ideas, find me collaborators and collaborations, and stay focused on education. I am also very particular about who I include in my PLN. I want only educators or those related to education, as that is the reason I use twitter. If I really want to find out what my friends are doing, I will call them or get together with them. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Twitter is still a valuable tool - it just can't replace life.
Posted by: Lisa Parisi ( Email: | Visit ) at 4/24/2009 8:37 AM

Great points (both pros and cons) on all accounts here. And Lisa, I agree. Twi---r can be a valuable tool for a limited number of things: sharing links, keeping (shallowly) in touch, and crowd-sourcing. It's also great for self-promotion, feeding an ego, and proving to the world how many "friends" we can acquire.

But then again, isn't that what many have been saying for years?

I wonder, Lisa, how much time it took you to build your PLN. I also wonder if there weren't better, more effective things you could have done with your time than to build your network. Along those lines, if you were to spend the same amount of time that you've spent on Twitter with fellow teachers and students in your school, would the time have been better spent (especially if you devoted the same amount of attention, focus, and energy on those in your immediate vicinity)?

Tell me: Why is Twitter so valuable and would it still be as precious if your Twitter friends and followers were individuals that you see every day?
Posted by: Darren Draper ( Email: | Visit ) at 4/24/2009 11:46 PM

You make a valuable point about spending time networking and trading resources and ideas with fellow teachers in our immediate face to face world, but one of the benefits I find in twitter and other social networks is that I can expand my reach outside the immediate area. I have gleaned countless valuable new points of view, new resources, and new methods by interacting online with people from other states and other nations! When I only networked within my district, the ideas were stale and recycled. Fresh ideas, a stream (OK, a flood) of innovation -- that's why I will continue to twitter even though I am learning to balance it with my real life priorities now that the novelty is wearing off.
Posted by: Sharon Elin ( Email: | Visit ) at 4/28/2009 11:39 AM

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Posted by: Serenity Prayer ( Email: | Visit ) at 5/19/2009 6:15 PM