Thoughts on the positive and negative aspects of Twitter

There are benefits to using and understanding online social networking systems such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. I can enter a communication stream that is open- ended allowing me to find connections that I never would have found in any other way. Even though the medium is thin and narrow, it has the power to attract people to my soul message.

Learning how to use online social networking systems feels like going fishing in the deep ocean. Most people are fishing for the same reason I am; to attract people to their work and business. If the Internet is used as an indicator that directs attention to connections that have physical substance, then it works.

There are also negatives to using networking systems. Time put into cultivating the virtual world of the Internet takes time away my current reality, my relationship with my body and and my local community.

I believe our world needs our physical attention and love. The medium of the Internet, by its very frequency takes me away from my capacity to feel my own heart love. Sometimes I feel the Internet is a thief that steals the time I need to spend in more analogue carbon based communications with the earth; Plants, animals, other people and my own body.

What is my initial reaction to Twitter?

My initial reaction to Twitter is one of defense. I want to defend against using my focus and time in a way that feels shallow and superficial. I seek connections with people who have enough meat on the bone to offer me emotional and spiritual nourishment.

We greet people with simple phrases such as“ Hello, how are you?” These responses are a way to simply acknowledge one another. Too often the communication on Twitter will not go beneath this formal level to an honest discovery of the present moment. We do not expect people to bare their heart to others in superficial formal communication.

I am interested in heartfelt, honest communication where a person’s intentions to tell me something truthful and real about themselves touches and moves me to find an authentic response within my own being. There is plenty of noise and garbage in the universe. I try to be quiet except when I have something sincere to communicate.

Twitter is a derivative form of communication that narrows the field into such a small space that there is little room for depth. I am afraid twitter will steal my precious life force by using up my limited time and energy.