Interesting article about Twitter on MSNBC this morning. Personally, I dig it, in part because I get a vague connection to the folks I vaguely know from the Internet. On the other hand, it makes me realize just how routine and dull my life is (how many times can I post "waiting for the bus"?).
(I've also seriously suggested a Twitter-like solution for communicating support information. Web 2.0 meets Corporate IT)
However, as I get older, I realize how out-of-touch I am with the current culture. I certainly don't get some things--much of the music, or other pop culture trinkets. I do feel like the crystal is flashing red.
See? “Logan’s Run.” Twitter is the lifeclock crystal implanted in the palm of your hand at birth. Once it starts blinking, it’s your time to renew on Carousel. And nobody ever comes back from Carousel. Admitting you don’t “get” Twitter is like admitting you can’t hear those specialized ring tones only audible to the young. That your crystal is blinking. That you’re no cooler than your parents complaining about “the rap music.” And raging against the blinking of the crystal, or calling Twitter “stupid,” feels a whole lot better than admitting that.
I’m betting the majority of all these Twitter-hatin’ cranks are war-torn veterans of Web 1.0. They’ve been through the bubble and bust. They experienced the unbridled excitement of wicked-cool technology with all it promises … and they got burned. Bearing all the cynicism that typifies Generation X, these Twitter-haters sneer at un-jaded Generation Y with anticipatory schadenfreude and jealousy.
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